CHAPTER 1
END!?
Monitors beeping, doors sliding open and shut, sirens of ambulances, screams and cries heard everywhere. The news anchor exclaimed "Three thousand six hundred forty five deaths reported today!". The aunty in corner started to sob while her little son , unaware of the situation , innocently gives her his handkerchief. Sat in the corner a group of people praying hard for their loved once in front of the mural of Lord Ganesha. The prominent odour of disinfectant could be smelled even with double masks. Nurses and doctors rushing to the emergency ward brushing off the crying relatives. "How can God be this cruel?", shouted someone. "Bhaiya, it is not God's fault, it is our own fault", shouted another.
Loud cries approaching them intensifies. Girl with tied up bun, hair falling all over her face. The bun was not doing it's job. Her eyes swollen apparently from all the crying. Her face was not clearly visible as the wet mask covered the half of it. An old man lay on the stretcher lifeless. "Code Blue", doctor in PPE kit shouted. No one heard the first time as the hospital was short-staffed. He shouted once again ,"CODE BLUE!". This time a nurse came running. "Sir, no ICU beds are available.", whispered the nurse. Doctor rushed the stretcher outside the Intensive Care Unit. The girl was asked her name and relation to the patient ."Durga, he's my father." ,snorted Durga who was told to stay back. She could not stop crying and squatted near the gate.
Once again the gate opened, the boy tripping over Durga exclaimed ,"Fuck!" ."Haye! Haye! What a young age! " ,an aunty stood up from her chair seeing the girl on the stretcher. The boy gave a sharp look to aunty and screamed for the doctor, "Doctor! My name is Sahil Oberoi...","Oh yes sir the ICU bed is ready for your sister, nurse take her fast. Sir would you like a coffee? "."No, I am fine. Take good care of her.", imposed Sahil.
The sanitizing team entered and requested everyone to wait outside. Durga, not in her senses did not stand. "Madam! Madam!", shouted the team. She was numb. Sahil tapped on her head gently. The gentle tap was similar to the tap her father used to give her when she said or did something silly. "PAPA!" ,she regained her senses only to see it was not her father. "Excuse me, they need to sanitize the room, we need to move out." ,Sahil requested. "Uh uh." ,Durga wiping her tears.
The waiting room had become more of a funeral house. The dead bodies which could not be cremated were present there. The scenario was heart wrenching. Durga watching all this started to cry once again. Aunties praying loudly. People talking to each other. Intercom buzzing. Such chaos had never been seen in the hospital. The mere scene was depressing. Sahil was just about leave for a smoke, when intercom buzzed and the beeping of one the monitor stopped. "We have one fatality.", doctor replied from the other side of the intercom.
