As the weekend approached, Inara felt like she was alive again after being dead for the whole damn week. They had an assessment during the week, for which she had studied hard but when the result came out she couldn't score very well. She didn't fail but also didn't get a high score. She was hurt seeing her result. Whatever she would do, she wasn't able to score well.
Why?
What went wrong every time?
During the past four years of medical college, she had tried numerous times to improve herself but she never got the expected result. Her mind was filled with such thoughts that she was a failure who could do nothing better in life.
It was saturday morning, and she woke up late in the morning. She walked downstairs after having breakfast to get some fresh air. In the lawn, she saw Zulaid sitting on the chair, holding a newspaper in his both hands. In this digital world, he was an old soul who liked to read newspapers. A coffee mug was lying on the table.
Ye aj ghar main kia kar rahe hain. She thought. She couldn't decide whether to move forward or go back to her room.
(What is he doing at home)
"Come! Why are you standing there?" He said casually, folding the newspaper. He put it on the table and held a coffee mug in his hand.
"Shouldn't you be at the hospital right now?" She asked, moving closer to the chairs.
"I have off today" He told her.
"I just came for a walk" She told him casually and started strolling in the lawn.
"You had an anesthesia test on Wednesday" He suddenly asked her.
She nodded but she was surprised he knew everything.
"How did you perform?" He asked further.
"27 out of 50" She had no choice other than telling him.
"Good. At least you didn't fail!" He commented seriously but in a sarcastic way. Inara realized, he was making fun of her.
"The test was hard" She made the same universal excuse every student makes.
"Only for you" He looked at her.
"No, for everyone" She shrugged her shoulders.
"I don't want to hurt you by saying that most of the students performed well and the test wasn't hard either. There was deficiency at your side. You need to understand your weak points Inara! Scoring just 50% in an easy test isn't worthy enough" He made his tone as polite as he could.
She understood what he was trying to say but the question was he took all of a sudden interest in her. She had spent 4 years in medical college in the same way. He never objected before. He might never have looked at her result ever. Then why now?
She simply nodded.
"Come! Sit" He pointed at the chair beside him. She slowly walked near him and sat down. She was a little awkward sitting next to him.
"What's the actual matter with you Inara? Don't you study?" He was genuinely asking her.
"I do study. Not that hard but I do prepare for tests but.." She left the sentence incomplete.
"But what?" He asked softly.
"But I can't score well. Something is wrong in my head. I can't retain things. I don't have much interest in studies like my class fellows have. I think I am in the wrong field" She let it out. She wanted someone to hear her even if it was Zulaid.
"Why did you choose medical then?" He was in America when he came to know she took admission in medical college.
"Papa wanted me to become a doctor like you" She told him the simple reason.
He nodded. She had no interest in this field but was stuck in it due to family pressure. He knew how difficult it was to cope up with medical study. He could understand her condition.
"Listen Inara! I understand your point of view but now you are in this field. You will be a care provider in a few months. You need to get this thing out of your head so that you can't do anything. You survived in medical college because you had potential otherwise you couldn't have made it through. You have something in you. That's why you are in this field. Allah will give shifa in your hands. You just need to be confident in yourself.
Study hard thinking about the future that you will have a patient's life in your hands. Your one mistake can cause unimaginable harm to the patient. So you need to know what you are doing.
I am not asking you to ace your exams. In medical practice, grades don't really matter but skill and knowledge. Work on your knowledge. Clear your concepts. Improve your skills. It will certainly make a difference in your assessments too. For that you need to first identify your weak points because willingly or unwillingly you are in this field. So it's better to improve yourself for the future.
You need to study smart instead of studying hard!!" He spent five minutes trying to make her understand.
She silently heard his lecture. His voice was soft and so were his eyes which were fixed on her face. She understood his point of view. He wasn't wrong.
"You are right" She muttered as he finished.
"And if you need my help. You can ask me anytime" He offered his help once again.
"Thank you!" She nodded and rose up from the chair. He picked up the newspaper once again.
Inara walked inside the house with hundreds of thousands in her mind.
He isn't that bad if he speaks like that always and doesn't make a poker face.
His voice can be soft too. Dracula bhi to insan hi hota hy pagal.
(Dracula is also a human, you idiot)
...
In the operation theater, the patient was lying down on the OT table under the effects of general anesthesia. Inara and her colleague were standing near the OT table, washed and dressed in navy blue scrubs.
Dr. Babar gave an incision to the abdomen. After five minutes, Dr. Zulaid joined his junior doctors in the OT. He was dressed in a sky blue scrubs, green gown, a cap and mask. His hands were washed and pointed in front of his chest to stay away from any contamination. A girl from the OT staff, knotted his gown at the back. He walked to the trolley, a boy from OT staff, opened a pack of surgical gloves for him. He skillfully wore the gloves and walked to his team.
His gaze fell at her who was standing near the head side. Their eyes met for a second and he averted his gaze. Nobody at the hospital knew about their relationship, neither did he want to tell.
"All good?" He asked his team
He skillfully started doing the surgery. Inara was standing just beside him. She was impressed by him. She wasn't uncomfortable seeing the blood and human tissues.
"This is small bowel" He was teaching them in between.
"What pathology do you see here?" He asked the two students.
"Ischemic bowel" Inara blurted excitedly.
"Shabash!" He muttered.
(Good)
Inara kept looking at him during the whole surgery. He was no doubt a skilful surgeon. He was teaching the whole procedure to his trainees. He supervised Dr. Babar when he was closing the abdominal wall.
At the end of the surgery, Inara was fully impressed with him. He was an excellent mentor. She understood the reason why he was so popular in his department despite his reserved nature.
"Azwa! What's the next procedure?" He asked, removing his gloves.
"Yes sir! There is an appendectomy which Dr. Babar and Dr. Maria would perform. After that, there is a laproscopic cholecystectomy" Dr. Azwa told him about the OT list.
"Do supervise them during appendectomy" He instructed her as Dr. Azwa was the senior PG among them.
"Definitely sir!" She smiled at him.
"And you Miss Gall stones. Can you tell me what cholecystectomy is?" He averted his attention to the girl standing at his back.
"Of course Sir! Its removal of the gall bladder and I know what gall stones are called" She clearly minded him. Wouldn't she know such a basic thing. What does he exactly think of her?
People around them laughed at her bluntness while Zulaid watched her silently with a small smile lingering at the corner of his lips.
He was walking to the surgeon's room when she came behind him and met his footsteps.
"Zoi bhai! Ap ny mujhy samjha kiya hua hy. Kal itna bara lecture dy ke aj khud hi mazak urra rahe hain" She narrowed her eyes at him. His soft behavior gave her courage to talk casually to him.
(Zoi bro! What do you think of me. Yesterday you were lecturing me and today you made fun of me)
"Shut up! How dare you call me that" He looked around if someone had heard her.
"The same way you called me Miss gall bladder. Main koi gall bladder hoon. Yuck!" She made a disgusted face at the end.
"Tumhain to main ghar ja ke dekhta hoon. Now out!" He said with seniority.
(I will see you at home)
"Dekh lain yahin dekh lain. Ghar jany ka kiya wait karna" She enjoyed teasing him.
(You can see me here. Why would you wait till going home)
"Out" He said loudly enough to be heard by people around in the theater.
Out. She mimicked him in the face before running for her life with laughter.
..................................................................
Friendship is blooming slowlyð«
Dracula isn't that bad. Nahi!
What do you think of them?