There was no private opd in Govt Hospital, Srinagar. A very affectionate Dr Reeta Darbari used to favour us by examining wife out of turn. Her husband Dr Varun Raina was Indian Airlines part-time medical officer. On Sept 7, 1987, we visited army hospital too where some Colonel Doctor advised us the expected time of delivery after a week. Returning, we purchased a thermos flask (still with us) from Lal Chowk. While we were passing through the Govt Hospital, she felt some pain and we tried to contact Dr Reeta around 7pm. Fortunately, she had come early for her night duty. After examining, she told wife to pack the bag as she might have to come in the night itself. Very true.. we had to find some cab around 3am, and reached the hospital at 4am. As did luck always favour me in the dark hour, we faced no difficulty as Dr Reeta was there. Neha was born at 05:45 hours! After few days, I posted an appreciation letter for the Doctor. We left Srinagar in 1988 to celebrate Neha's first birthday in Delhi.
After 20 years, one night in 2008, when I was very much busy at IGIA for boarding of our Singapore flight, one pax suddenly asked me, "Do you recognise me?" He was Dr. Varun Raina. In turn, I asked, "How is Dr. Reeta Darbari?" As there was no time for such talks, he gave me his visiting card having numbers of both. Returning home after night duty, I called Dr. Reeta and asked if she ever got and remembered my letter appreciating her 20 years ago. "Yes!" She too was delighted.
No comments:
Post a Comment