Duty First,Love Next

Dr. Abdul Karim joined Father William Hospital located at Master Canteen on a meagre remuneration of rupees 15000 a month. But the young doctor was bubbling with mirth and laughter. He was after all now at least employed.

Now the affluent businessman Tariq Sheikh whose daughter Lubina he loved and wanted to marry,could be persuaded to consider the wedding of the love birds. Karim was twenty five but he looked like an eighteen year old schoolboy.  

Karim's bad habit was taking khaini(tobacco). He would also light a cheap cigarette every now and then. What was worse,the young doctor had not a single hair on his crown. "So young but not a single hair on your head? " A staff nurse had once cracked this joke to the utter displeasure of the young Muslim doctor.

There was a lot of politics in the hospital. The hospital owner Stephen Matthews,seemed to be not so interested in the young doctor Karim. People reported to the boss every detail of Karim's behaviour that might merit some scolding and slighting comments. Matthews had warned him several times to maintain common etiquette in the hospital. There was still some reason,some sort of sympathy that prevented the boss sacking the young Muslim. Perhaps despite his strange unwelcome manners,the young man was always eager to learn more and more of his calling without any selfish or known motives. A seasoned cardiologist Matthews couldn't help admiring the young man's dedication to medical science. This was the reason why the angry owner of the hospital allowed the young doctor to continue in his work.  

Dr. Matthews had a special fascination for Dr. Sangitha Narayanan,a forty something divorcee who was enamoured of the boss and posed herself to Matthews's unusually obese wife as the only sincere well-wisher of her family. The wiley divorcee's glossy cheeks were enough to cloak her ongoing revelry with the simple Mrs. Matthew's old boy. She was too loving to point her finger at anyone. She was like most of her race innocent of the nefarious designs people carried in their hearts and always tried to locate the bright side of everyone's character. This was the only thing about his wife Matthews openly admired and sincerely valued.  

Although complaints were piling up against the the young doctor's behaviour,Dr. Matthews didn't show him the door. Now the hospital employees mostly found Dr. Karim collecting medicinal plants and herbs. He would read and read and read sometimes all through the night. His profound curiosity to know more and more about the metabolism of the body and its curious functions attracted everyone's notice but not in a positive way. Karim made it a point to remain alert and present during the performance of each and every surgery. He hardly ever minded being bullied and slighted. Talented but not deserving of acclaim was his current status.

The young Muslim's peculiarities were a never ending source of endless amusement. One thing he invariably did was his exhaustive knowledge about the patient's life history and secondly he would ask the old patients he treated about their children and grandchildren and also a lot about their childhood days. This was something no doctor in the city's private hospitals did. His argument was that every doctor must take hundred percent interest in knowing them and make him endeared to them. According to him,a doctor must look to his patient as close as a family member.  

Once a large number of people came to the hospital. The city's greatest and richest jeweller had been admitted in there. A piles operation on the old jeweller had led to some serious complications and the hospital staff given up all hope of bringing the patient back to life. The atmosphere that prevailed was one of extreme sadness and gloom. The jeweller's sons were burning with rage asserting that Dr Matthews was responsible for their father's critical condition.

Dr. Sangitha Narayanan was desperate trying to convince them that everything was going to be okay. Dr. Matthews was in his chamber observing the jeweller lying on bed alone. He had sent word to two of his doctor friends to rescue him from the precarious situation. The jeweller was a bulky man. He was having great difficulty breathing in and out uttering guttural words of pain.  

Now the jeweller's enraged friends demanding to see Dr. Matthews. Dr. Narayanan was in serious trouble. Dr. Matthews screamed fiercely sighting Dr. Karim climb onto the jeweller's bed and stand on the patient's belly!The doctors and nurses rushed to Room No 11 and were violently thumping at the door bolted from inside. Dr. Matthews cried savagely:"Where is Dr. Modi?Who allowed that madcap into Room 11?" Dr. Modi was inside the lavatory and trembling all over.  

"You devil. . . !Open up. . !Open up. . I say!Kill. . "

Dr. Karim was absolutely calm and waiting for the jeweller to get back his consciousness. In a few minutes the jeweller opened his eyes and very soon he appeared to be immensely relieved. Now no one was making any noise. Unbolting the door Dr. Karim came out in his usual strides totally unperturbed. He said, "The patient is all right. No cause for any concern. . "

He entered his own cabin and drank a lot of water and lighted a cigarette. Dr. Matthews and his mistress were anxious to get to the heart of the matter. But they were certain that the young doctor had saved the jeweller's life. . Dr. Matthews and his disciples were too dense to detect that because of a silly mistake of their boss's,the jeweller's inside was packed with air. So Dr. Karim had to stand on the patient's belly.  

The next morning Dr. Karim submitted his resignation letter to his boss and said, "My old Sir.

. . !How many people have you killed in life? I am also in love with a charming girl just as you are in love with this dolly bird. . Hospitals must be there for service to the sick, not for love making. . All the best. . !"

After some fifteen years later I went to a noted hospital in the city and as I was discussing my gastric problems with the doctor, I could call to memory the photo of the young doctor in a newspaper. Dr. Karim shook hands with me most genially and emphatically assured me of his help any moment I needed it.