The story of a severed finger

“This is an imaginative Story. If there is a resemblance with somebody dead or alive, it is pure coincidental”

(I have to make this disclaimer to stay alive… LOL)

Sea-Queen is a modern city that has all the entrapments of a modern city & one that is suffering from a sudden spurt of economic growth. The difference between the haves and the have-nots, the increasing crime rates, roads brimming with both old & ultra-modern vehicles, the neo-urban crowd getting out of the air-conditioned offices, driving their priceless passions to the near-by discotheque or the club… Bang in the middle of the City, where the road is named in memory of the Father of the Nation, majestically stands the 8 floored “Trust Hospital”. One of the Star hospitals in the City, which only the financially upper crest in the society have access to.

It was a humid evening in the seaside city of Sea-Queen. Despite being the monsoon, there is no sight of any rain clouds & the sun had battered down the city the whole day. The Atul family is currently vacationing in the City meeting their extended family. Atul is an executive with an MNC based out of the USA, his wife Sindhu is an analyst with another MNC Bank and their daughter KunjiPennu is just 3. They are staying with Sindhu’s brother Njanja who works in the city & Sindhu’s sister was supposed to join them that evening. They all were waiting in the bye-pass junction at around 7:30 in the evening when that eventful incident happened! Sindhu decided to get out of the car & closed the door on her own left index finger causing a blackened & severed finger.

Thunder struck! Black clouds rolled in from nowhere! Lightning blazed out a couple of transformers! The world came to a stand still!!! Njanja went to a nearby juice store to get an ice cube so that the finger could be saved… Sindhu was grief-stricken by the horror of seeing her index finger…blackened by the blood clot, how would she write design documents any more? How would she do shopping? How would she travel in the sub-way? Ohh my God! That is when the idea struck Njanja – “Lets take Sindhu to the Trust Hospital” – he said. Atul was like… WHAT!!?? To the Trust Hospital? It is past 7:30 now & we would have to take her to the Emergency/Casuality then… But he held his thoughts. He already knew that good sense doesn’t prevail & listening skills was something both of them have not learned or mastered. He agreed – “Woookaaay…Let’s go then”. Even though he said OK, Atul knew that the challenge is on him now. 7:45 PM, City of Sea-Queen, Traffic situation, Gandhi Road… well the destined has to happen.

All the while Atul was wading through the traffic, he was thinking of an idea to save the embarrassment. You have the Trust Hospital on one side and 2 people who refuse to listen on the other… What will he do to save his face? While the question remained, he managed to get a paid parking space and the procession started – Sindhu with a blackened finger leading the procession and a group of 5 people following her to the Casuality of the Trust Hospital. Just then a gentle man who was profusely bleeding (he apparently met with an accident on his bike) was rushed to the Casuality with multiple injuries and they went past this procession.

Then Atul spotted his savior! Smiling at him was an ATM. The Green and White SBI with a Key hole smiling at him… He thought for a second…”Was ATM named as ‘Any Time Masquerade’”? He told Njanja that since Casuality is going to charge a fortune, he would quickly go to the ATM to draw some money… And he would be back before the doctor arrives… And he just scooted from the scene. He came back after a couple of minutes (well, more than a couple of minutes J) to evaluate the situation. He heard cries long before he reached the examination room… But was that a male voice? Did something happen to her voice? May be something to do with the nerves… Those stuff are more complicated than the voice control rooms… And what did he see!?

An elderly lady in a green gown looking at Sindhu’s fingers while a group of white gowned attending to the gentleman who was brought in after the accident. The lady just mentioned that there is nothing to be done except that if it pains, then take some pain killer tablets. Atul was so relieved that she did not say that – “It will take an hour for the psychiatrist to come…”… The procession turned back, this time silent, more due to a studied silence by everyone… just like a mourning procession.

The vacation was over; the Atul family flew back to the USA where they went to meet Sindhu’s cousins on a weekend. While having dinner, he asked – “Ohh wow! You are an ideal citizen. Even though you just had a short vacation, you did not forget to vote! That is inspiring!!”