For starters – I break my leg in an ugly bike accident, as a drunken jerk rams into my bullet. My leg was in its worst shape, but it pained me more on seeing my bike shaped into an inimitable piece of art – An artist’s creation if I needed to be sardonic. I was in the hospital for a few days and here I am looking better after three weeks of bed rest.
In the first week, I was teleported to my hometown and I was taken to the family doc who specializes in orthopedics – fortunately for me. The man I am referring to is an octogenarian and has been the consultant for us over the past two decades – Reason – My mom’s back. He also happens to a ‘Once upon a time neighbor’ and so we share more than doc-patient relationship. To speak about his professional prowess, he is the one of those to receive scores of awards from the medical colleges and not many showpieces were required to decorate the hall as these tributes took up most of the space. So, I bet the knowledge he has on bones and muscles to be phenomenal. His communication is telegraphic to say the least. He hasn’t changed his way of speaking and when my mom called him up on a Sunday for an appointment, all he had to instruct was something like this. ‘Avinash + The X-rays + Dispatch Summary at my place at 4’.
And as the evening arrived I was at his place. A sports freak he is, I found him watching a cricket match in his loose shirt and pajamas and bathroom slippers. As I walked in, he inspected my gait and asked me stretch on the make shift bed. I explained the regular details about the event that has got me bed-ridden. He didn’t seem very impressed and then he pulled out the x-ray and keenly studied them for a few seconds and then let out an exclamation of satisfaction, which was explicitly cited that my leg would be fine in some time to come. Then he was busy studying the dispatch summary which was provided by the hospital. He forgot about the game for a brief period. I then asked him for any changes in the medicines that were prescribed. He went inside to get a writing pad and I was sure that he was going to give me a fresh dose of pills to recover faster. Who wants to be bed-ridden for 3 more weeks? I want to be up and running within a week. Unfortunately, this wasn’t to happen. He scribbled something on his pad and kept it to himself. He asked me to discontinue some medicines and that’s about it.
When I asked about the piece that he had scribbled, I got the most surprising answer. He said, that he got reminded of a medical term that was quoted in the dispatch summary which he had forgotten a few days back and to remind himself he wanted to document it. Here is an octogenarian who would scribble things about his profession with trembling hands and to go through it with his visually impaired spectacled eyes. This speaks of unadulterated dedication at an age where one would get tired of the knowledge amassed in a professional experience spanning for half a century or more.
Hats off to you old man and a salute to your perseverance & dedication to work;
And the enthusiasm and allegiance that sees nothing as a barrier – Even age!
