Between thoughts and words

I was not feeling very well yesterday. It has been this long-drawn cough, cold which had morphed itself into a sinusitis and headache. As soon as I wound up clinic around 1.30 PM, I decided to leave for home. My friend, a physiotherapist had come to clinic and whenever he comes, I hitch a pillion ride on his motorbike till Chengalpet from where I take the train home. But yesterday was not a routine day. Early in the morning, I got a call from the wife of one of my long-term patients and good friend. He had been fighting for life in a critical care unit with complications of chronic kidney disease for more than a week now. He passed away early yesterday morning. This was running in my mind throughout the day. I was conflicted between going to to their home and going home to get some rest. I decided I will go home. I got on to my friend’s motorbike and almost reached Chengalpet. Throughout the ride all I could think of was the man who had passed on and his family. So somewhere just befor...

He is a thin built middle aged man with balding hair. Whenever he comes to our clinic, he would stand in one corner quietly with his hands folded across his chest and head bent in what I assume is reverence. So far, I have never seen a smile on his face (except yesterday, read on..). I would classify him as quiet, but I never got the mental picture of calmness. Mr. S, is a tailor by profession and has his own tailoring shop in a village near our clinic. He stitches shirts, pants, and women’s dresses. I have heard from our community health worker who makes home visits to follow up on him that he also has some land in which he does agriculture, usually paddy crop two times a year.     Mr. S has type 2 diabetes which is very poorly controlled. I first saw him only a few months ago. He came one day to the clinic with a panic-stricken face and in hushed tone told me that he was coughing up blood since early that morning. After a series of tests and back and forth interactions with ...