Wakefulness & Mindfulness

I have been here, just a different name, but they all look the same.

As the night falls, corridors become quieter, like deafening silence. During the day, it was buzzing with people opening and shutting doors and no place to sit. Now, as I ponder, I wonder how many people struggle to live, hoping to recover or have a child.

Everyone is in pain, but not everyone is crying. Concealing their tears with pride or just accepting reality as is, the realization has set in. From here, people will change into a better version of themselves. This bolt is grave enough to change anyone or become grave for one. Life gives second chances and even miracles; this place has great stories to tell.

They keep this place swanky and clean. More cleaners than the guards they keep. I walk from one corner to another and back and make many rounds like that. If I had a company of a doctor friend, I would know a lot more then. I have memories of the government wards, where you know more people than you thought. Even the helpless help that’s remarkable about this place, government or private.

SHE – Smile, Hope, and Encouragement form the backbone of this health institution. Without her, nothing is possible. She is essential for this institution to grow and care for broken bones and hearts—these values I see in every nurse or helper and all professionals who come to serve.

Even the celebrations irk. Next to you, there may be someone destitute and broken. Babies come into this world and bring smiles. The wallpaper of Teddy and Kitty reflects the girl and boy. New beginnings for a couple, a fixed leg for the crippled, a facelift for the wrinkled, a cancer survivor, and the list of how many lives magically touched.

Our journey begins from here. A doctor helped us out from the darkness of the womb. Then, I also saw people departing from here, taking a flight to nowhere. A place they call heaven. Relieved of their worries  and pains, no suitcase they carried bare bodied they went. This place is named a Hospital, distinguishing it from an airport terminal. We, people, are transient, we come here, and we go.

I’m an attendant who has visited this place many times. I have spent nights like this in wonder. Today, I pen down my feelings as a lot has changed from then to now. The Green curtains have gone, and the smell of phenyl is not there anymore. Lines of people standing in the queue get seated in the lobby zone. Health food shops and chic café add to the necessary pharmacy. As you enter the building, there is no lobby music but a fresh lime fragrance to calm your mind of worries.

As the night passes, it gets quieter. I may not be able to sleep a wink.

No one wishes to come here, but they still come. Sitting and reflecting, I miss my dad and my darling husband. It’s painful, those memories of the time spent with them here at the hospital where I am. Then, I say to myself; I’m just a guest here. Some work here tirelessly and face the odds daily – the doctors, the nurse, and the staff. They are warriors, rightly so.