my thirty minutes with a patients mother

It was my night duty at the ICU.As a house surgeon,we mostly work in the free teaching hospital where we treat the poor.i write these drug charts,sign them,fill in blood tranfusion forms and arrange for blood from the bloodbank for the ones that are critical(not much of the important work is done by me) and then once i was done for the day i leave.the minute i get into the shower i get a call from the duty nurse at the ICU saying i had to accompany a TB meningitis patient(the infection has spread to his brain and the coverings of the brain are inflammed,in "layman" terms) to the radiology department for his CT scan.i was obviously irritated that she didnt choose to tell me this fifteen minutes ago,just before i left.i drive all the way back,agitated,my hair semi-drenched,looking like a wet rat.i meet the patient and his attenders in the lift so i accompany them. we reach the ct scan room and they are getting the patient off the gurney,theres this woman who pulls her sari tight around her shoulders,watching from the doorway anxiously.she was kind of in the way of the proceedings,so they ask her to wait outside a little rudely.so i feel bad despite all my agitation and i ask her to come sit with me and i tell her that they will take care of him,as i think shes worried.she says-i ve never seen a scan being done before.i wanted to observe.so i find out shes the patients mother.i also learn in the next thirty minutes that her 29 year old, son of modest farmers,a prosthetic limb technician(the only one from their village),is missing his wedding day which was supposed to take place the morning after as he is in a coma.it started as a simple fever,so they printed all the wedding cards,distributed them among friends and family-when he goes into a coma.here they are now,thirty days after,minus sixty thousand rupees they saved for his wedding,all gone.shes not very sure the brides family will be consistent with their decision for the alliance after his illness.i enquire if the bride is here visiting him and she says-it is not in our ways for the bride to see the bride groom before the wedding,so she waits for him to get better,and hopes for his safe recovery.she continues to tell me about other things-random things.it was comforting just to watch her,so strong,yet so innocent despite her many years,she smiled at all the right times,cringed at their poor judgement to take his illness seriously at the start,cried when she feared the worst;despite our difficulty to communicate with each other,there we were,two women-age aside,class aside,sitting and talking about the wedding,her children.i was glad i came back.i was glad i met her.she showed me strength when all else was lost.