Wednesday, November 7, 2007

Frenetic filosophy and foam

Life doesn't have an orchestra playing in the background. If it did, every event would have resembled the movies. Life doesn't have action replays either. If it did, we would've relived very many moments a la soap operas.
Life is fired upon us point blank. Life is one day at a time.

Life stops. Randomly.


Suppose you were on your way to a bookstore. You'd just gotten off the subway. Let's say the map was something like this:
Subway > Hospital > Mall > Bookstore

We need a setting, say, dusk. There aren't many people in this set. Only you, a few cabbies idling their Sunday dusk away, and a guy lying on the road. For dramatic effect, he's having a fit, there's foam frothing from his mouth. And he's convulsing just outside the hospital gates.

Let's now say that you've spotted this chap. No one else has seen him. You run to the cabbies. You ask them for help in carrying him to the hospital. Smart world-wise people that they are, they ask you to bring a stretcher from the hospital. Naturally, you rush in. Then what? Then you spot an ambulance and two attendants. You ask them for their empty stretcher and assistance, right? What do you do when they tell you that they don't have any? You look at them in disbelief, don't you?

But you need to do something. There's a foamy chap writhing in the dust. So you rush into the hospital. You see two burly guards massaging their bellies. You ask them for help. They're from the police, they are meant to help. But they politely tell you that it's not their job to pick up people from the street. You scream at them for increasing their fat bellies perhaps? Maybe you shout at their callousness. But there's a man outside in the grip of a seizure.

So you rush in to the emergency ward. There are three doctors filling prescriptions. A few patients paying bills. You're excited. You're angry. You're stammering. You ask the doctor to please send two boys with stretchers. You're expecting help. You get a polite refusal. It's a
Sunday evening after all. People have more important things to do other than saving lives. They need to increase their wallets, don't they? The doctors are here to do their job. You know, the saving lives bit. You might have had the orchestra playing high beats and a rapid violin piece at this point. But this is life. There's no music. It's just you screaming your lungs out asking for life savers to save lives. You are not pleasant to hear. You are screeching like a banshee.

This means you rush outside again. You need help to bring this chap in. He looks like he's having an epileptic fit. Yes, his limbs are rigid and shaking and the froth is flowing fast. You convince one of those previous cabbies to help you save a life. The both of you hoist the chap up. You are supporting his spine and cradling his head. The froth dribbles over your shirt. The cabbie holds his legs. You two jog into the emergency ward. Remember the ambulance attendants and guards? They are looking bemusedly at you. But you don't care. You need to get this chap to the doctors so that they can save his life.

But the doctors are earning money. They grunt at you to set the patient down in a corner. You do that. Then you ask them to conduct their miracles. You pant at them. There's not much breath left in your lungs. Of course, you're sounding like a dog now. Who listens to dogs? Not doctors, oh no.... they've got money to make, prescriptions to fill. Who wants to attend to a dusty, dirty ragamuffin having a fit on the road. He probably won't have any money. Let him be.

You're also a hot-headed idiot prone to violent anger. You want to see some action. You scream at the doctors to stop and come do something. All you get is a young intern who wags his stethoscope in your face and asks you what's wrong with the bloke. You yell at him for being an idiot. You have another intern. A female who tells you that they have handled far worse cases than an ordinary epileptic patient. Now remember, these are just doctors. You shouldn't be angry with them. They're just supposed to make money while saving lives. The female intern receives an earful from you along the lines of being a pathetic show of idiocy. The male is standing stock still, unsure of what to do. He probably has never had a stranger from the street tell him he's incompetent and inhuman for not saving lives. He saves lives on a daily basis. How dare you tell him that he's a sick fag who doesn't have basic humanity and ethics?

That's when the politerefusal doctor brings his toolkit out. Toolkit? That's supposed to be a first aid box. Just ignore the rust. Yes, he wipes the foam away. The patient has stopped convulsing. Maybe he's dead. You didn't notice. You were too busy yelling. Oh, the interns have started reanimating his hands. The female is massaging his feet. The male is checking the blood pressure. Someone grabs your shoulder and requests you to stop yelling. You rudely inform him that as long as doctors refuse to save lives and policemen refuse to take risks you will keep raving. Everyone is looking at you. Maybe it's you who need help. Is there an insane asylum nearby? No... people are just money mad. There's no asylum for that. Everyone's got this disease.

You stumble out. It's become darker. The cabbie just drives off, away from the whole scene. There's a drama unfolding inside the emergency room. You hope that the chap makes it. He didn't look more than 25 when you lifted him off the dirt.

The orchestra stopped playing long ago. The only sound I heard was my heart thumping as I walked to the bookstore.





20 comments:

Macadamia The Nut said...

this is the saddest post i have read all day. the language is superb of course, it is the content that saddens me. yet i know that this is how life is most of the time.

Exploring Madness said...

its sad you have sucha sad view of life... people are not that crude... not everybody... had everybody in the world been so crude then you also would have been 1 of them... not caring whether a man dies or lives... afterall.. all you are concerned about is ur bookstore!!! its dusk isnt it?? n the store wl get closed shortly... u hav 2 buy that last copy of "dead man walking"... it was published just last week... n its gone out of stock within just a week!!! u cant miss that last copy... or else you wl have to wait for another 2 weeks before it comes into the market!!
so??!!!.... the big ques actually is... do u wait n help this perfect stranger... or do u walk by... getting ur hands on that perfect story????!!!!

even if u do decide 2 help... m sure u wudnt waste ur whole evenin running frantically around 4 a person whom u dont even know!!! will u??? just 5 mins... n if nothin work out... the book .. yes the book.. last copy.. urgent.. 2 weeks waiting... aarrgghh.. 2 hell with this stranger..!!!
hmmm.... the mystery's solved!!!

n as for the doctors n the policemen... life's much better than what u believe it 2 b...
believe in humanity... if nothing else!!
adios!!

Dyaus Spes said...

Emotions float in upper layers, but the core is as hard as gravity. Materialism is the mantra, which never ceased to exist. It's human thing. But the life goes on... coordinated or hostile.

Best one Arks.

dreamy said...

There is no cure for money madness.
What I think is, it all depends on what YOU are doing....why did you help ? because you felt like helping him. You couldn't just walk away from a man who's most obviously in pain. You shouted, abused and made people listen to you. It was because of you that a few eye-brows were raised. A few people were told how incompetent they are.In the end , the man WAS attended to. It doesn't matter whether it was already very late or more than early, what matters is YOU took the pain to at least bring the man inside the hospital gates. You made a difference. And thats a lot.

Unknown said...

Ur expression is fab as usual. Its good tat u did wat u should have
done. But who are we to judge and qsn ppl for what they do and not do
? You discharged your duty , be happy with having done that. If not
then stop squatting and feeling morose about it and trying to get
opinions or trying to motivate ppl to make this world a better
place.Go out and do the thing That YOU feel needs to be done. If you
do this other ppl will feel ashamed and follow. THis is what a leader
does...leads by actions not by rhetoric as in the days of Adolf
Hilter.And then mentor from the backgrnd and move on to new things.

In view of this fact : Good expression as usual...good spell binding
creative writing but go out and do your thing and then tell us about
it. Have heard of many leaders not met even one yet.

And am not sorry for being rude and breaking protocol this once I
hate seeing potential and capacity wasted.

Sreethi said...

scroll, scroll...hmm, long post...read, read, read...good post...5 comments...macadamia...mephistopholis...dyaus...some names!...end of comments..."frenetic filosophy and foam"...hmm, foam may mean two things here...the foam in the poor guys mouth...and the big ado tht the writer made of the whole situation...much ado about something, definitley not nothing...im reminded of another friend of mine who picked up a guy...a leper... and helped him cross a busy street...he had told me how the people around made faces obviously finding the act repulsive.....to him and you Arka...Bravo!...it takes a lot,yes...

littlelooney said...

gr8 one!...
but hey...did this actually happen??

Unknown said...

If you find a destitute in need to medical assistance, try taking them to a govt. hospital. Not that it'd help much, but then the docs at least are obliged to treat the patient without expecting any fees.

I live in an area inhabited by the deadliest snakes — King Cobra, Russel's Viper, Krait, and others that can kill you very quickly. Even though the local Mahatma Gandhi Mission hospital here stocks antivenins, but in case you're bitten, they'll demand anything between 25-50,000 to save your life. If you cannot cough up the cash, you're left for dead.

My friends are expert snake handlers and one of them was bitten by a cobra, only to be shooed away by the hospital staff becase he didn't have Rs. 50,000 spare in his wallet. He drove himself to another Govt hospital 5 railway stations away and was saved. He only survived because he knew how to slow down the poison.

Just last month they did the same for a 5th grade student. The kid died a few moments before his mom finally managed to raise the cash after selling off her mangalsutra and everything else that was on her. This issue was later taken up in newspapers and subsequently forgotten. Meanwhile, the hospital staff are back to their old unscrupulous ways. I and a few others share the responsibility to rushing my friends to the govt hospital in case of a snake bite amongst us.

I remember how a few years ago an entire hospital was obliterated by the workers of a political party after their leader died due to negligence. People should do that more often — for valid reasons for a change. When these doctors and medical establishments realise that they will get the living crap beaten out of them, they wont dare pull off such shit again.

Next time you denied treatment, tell the doc that you will throw acid on his wife's face and murder his kids. Do anything, just dont take it lying down. If the Hippocratic Oath doesn't compel them, then let the prospect of a very grisly end coax them into doing their jobs.

A little violence when used in the right context can work wonders. What will the doc complain to the cops? That he got his ass kicked for criminal negligence on his part?

Angry Voices said...

@ Macadamia: The saddest thing about life is that death makes it move on.

@ Mephistopholis: You might have missed the point entirely in your verbosity. FYI, the book was "Footprints of God".

@ Dyaus: Thanks Aks. Never been truer said about materialism being the realism.

@ Dreamy: Actions speak louder than words. In this case, words spurred the action.

@ Sarang: What had to be done was done. I did the needful the best way possible at that point. Then wrote about it.

@ Sreethi: It doesn't take much to imagine a loved one in place of a victim. That in mind, anyone can do the same. Your friend being a shining example.

@ Nazneen: Yep.. this happened last sunday.

@ Nachiket: Violence is "societally" wrong, but it accomplishes a lot. In this case, hopefully someone got saved. The right things sometimes require wrong steps, but there you go. Kudos to your friends.

JD said...

Everything's been said. All i have to say is, it sounds unreal. That's what makes it all the better :)

Dhivya said...

First time here- Really enjoyed reading some of your blogs! You have an awesome writin style :)

About this post, it is very sad that this really happened- Incidents like these really make you lose faith in people. But, you did the right thing!

CreatiWitty said...

Things happen.
That's reality.
It affects us.
That's reality too.
It affects each one in a different way.
Again, ditto.

But I can sense what you felt A, even if you hadn't told me earlier. Though this cynical world does not allow for 'common emotions' I think its people like YOU who can feel who make the difference.

Shadow Dragon said...

I don't have words t say! I am just piucturising as to what ever was happening... and really feeling the guilt of not being of any help to any one!

I am really sorry.. I wasn't there besides you when you needed someone to help!!!

Shadow Dragon said...

But truly saying... I really don't agree with what mephistopholis said... How cud 1 just engage himself in moving on with his life after watching a person writhing in pain in front of him! Just so that he doesn't miss the oppurtunity.. of watever his purpose was while crossing by!

With every step he moves forward... he is 4 sure moving with a heavy heart... and with something pulling him behind... dragging him... saying him.. U CAN B OF SOME HELP IF NOT ALL!

And even if you make your way to your destination... 4 sure u'r mind is distance away with that person...

and i guess bro... That even after helping that chap, u must have been with emotionally.. if not physically.. all evening!!

ad libber said...

I applaud you. You had the nerves to tackle them all headlong. In this day and age, people still die, injured and unattended, on roadsides, unheeded or plain ignored.
As Dreamy said, you made a difference. And that is a lot.

Faith said...

First things first, did this actually happen?
I guess it was all in our imagination. If this particular poor chap frothing from the mouth was rescued and taken to the hospital, it must have been a private one, because they DON'T take emergency cases. They wouldn't have accepted even if the patient had been dying on the footstep, they would have calmly handed the dead man over to the police.
Secondly , interns do NOT work at private hospitals. All medical colleges are government-aided, so all interns HAVE to do their internship in government hospitals. And on Sundays, you have the SAME number of doctors in the same unit ( in this case emergency ). It is a careful distribution of duty hours that try to make a government hospital run smoothly. By the way, I am not glorifying these hospitals, they have their fair share of problems.
Now my dear Arka, maybe I'm not talking about all, but certainly for a major group of interns , who work their ass of EVERY Sunday, to attend emergency cases. They too have a life, they too have a family, they too need to brag to their friends that they are doctors now after sailing through their entrance exams. But they can't , simply because your or mine socializing hours are their duty hours. And while we create blogs and write comments, they are getting peanuts for their work. And attending 10 patients frothing from their mouth every night. And cursing as too why they chose medicine over engineering. They are not heartless, they just want one word of appreciation.
They're human too.

Angry Voices said...

@ Pratiti:

This happened just outside Shambhunath Pandit Hospital. En route to Crossword. Private or public? You know better. Whether they were interns or full fledged doctors is something I cannot vouch for. The phrase "interns" is probably a misnomer in this case. They sure looked old enough to be doctors. Unless there are really mature looking younguns in our medical schools.

True, I don't know how many persons these doctors saved on that particular day. How many lives were enriched or sustained by their efforts. But it was truly appalling to see their cavalier attitude. Worse to see the cash exchanging hands and the blase, "Ekhane amra jibon bachai na".

Hippocrates' oath is homonymous to Hypocrite.

Bengali Economy said...

very well written, as usual...not much too say, except that I empathize with the situations and emotions...

RAY7 said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
RAY7 said...

this post left me shaken...it's not like it's new to me or any of us...just open the newspaper and you find a story like this every other day..but everytime i hear something like this it makes me want to do something...something so drastic that changes the system...but we live in an imperfect world...at the end of the day all of us have to accept this fact and move on with life...that doesn't mean humanity is dead...like you yourself have proved it in this ocassion...
Fantastic language on your part as always...must have been a stirring experience for you...when most of us these would have just walked away unbothered, your effort was commendable...