Page 176 - FATE & DESTINY

FATE & DESTINY

The cabbie picked up the speed at 100 km/h. Still, I felt he drove at a snail’s pace. He reached us at
Alipur Railway Station at 10: 50 am.
“Hurry, we have ten minutes,” I said. “Six hundred fifty each.”
Everybody hurried to the platform. The cabbie ran after us and demanded. “Arey, tip dao na?”
I grabbed the wallet. “Kitna?”
He grinned. “Ap ka marze.”
I gave him 200 rupees. “Ab khush hai?”
He smiled, putting a considerable charm into it and waved. “Salam sahib.”
I saluted him and scurried to the platform.
The train arrived. Dendup went to his compartment. Chojey and her sister’s seats were in the next
compartment. I visited the two sisters often and ordered their meals.
At the Katpadi station, we reserved a cab to R.J. Mansion Lodge.
After we checked into the lodge, we made an appointment with our surgeons.
The next morning, we entered chamber no. 03. Dr. Sampath Karl was sitting beside a bespectacled man
in his late 50s. The bespectacled man introduced himself as the head surgeon.
“It’s the baby,” I said. “We brought him for the review. Diarrhea recurs.”
He skimmed through the papers. “We’ll conduct a Barium Meal X-ray.”
“Sure. Where’s Surgeon Jacob?”
“He resigned,” said Dr. Sampath Karl. “He is in Assam.”
“Assam?”
The radiographer carried out the Barium Meal X-ray. The luminous barium flowed down his esophagus
on the monitor. I mumbled prayers. Choki stared at me with a drained face. I could tell she was worried as
much as I did. The procedure took more than half an hour.
“No sign of intestinal obstruction,” said the radiographer.
With my mouth a little drawn back at the corners, I said, “Oh, really? Thank you, doctor.” I looked up
and muttered, “Thanks heaven, for your incalculable blessings.”
“Surgeon would explain everything to you,” said the radiographer.
We bowed and exited the X-ray room.
Chojey was supposed to show her sister, Pema to her surgeon, but she came to our room. “Help me,
please,” she said, biting her lips. “I don’t know where I should take Pema.”
“You must go to the doctor’s chamber,” I said. “They would do everything.”
“Why don’t you take them?” said Choki.
“Okay. Follow me.”
We went to the Orthodontic Department building, next to the gate. The orthodontist was another
polite guy. He fixed the date for Pema’s operation.
Next Monday, Dr. Sampath Karl prescribed medicine for Rinchen. “You don’t have to bring the baby
here next time,” he said.
“Why not, doctor?” I said.
“You come from a very faraway place. You can show him to the doctors in Bhutan.”
In the evening, we admitted Pema to the surgical ward. She would have surgery the next morning. So,
Chojay attended to her that night. After surgery, I went to see them.
“How did the operation go?” I asked.
“I have no idea,” said Chojay. “I didn’t even ask.”
“Okay, I will ask the doctor.”
At the counter, I asked the on-duty doctor to explain the procedure of surgery. He read the file and said
it was successful. I waited for the orthodontist, but he didn’t turn up that evening. So, I returned to the

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