Prasad came running to Prakruth's house and banged the door.... "Saab... Saab" he stuttered.
It was 11pm in the night, Prakruth opened the door as he could recognize Prasad's voice "Relax Prasad, first take some water..." said Prakruth.
Rajamma brought a glass of water... Prasad drank full glass, yet he was panting.
"Do you want some more?" asked Prakruth.
"No saab, please come with me saab" he begged.
"Prasad explain properly... What happened to whom, where should I come??" he asked calmly.
"My son, my son was suffering from fever. Tonight after dinner, he's acting weird... Please come saab" Prasad started crying.
"Ok come" Prakruth took the car keys and left with Prasad. They arrived at Prasad's residence in 10 minutes drive. Prasad's wife brought the small boy wrapped in a bedsheet... They boarded the back seat of the car. Chilly came running and Prakruth lifted her up... She was crying for her younger brother. He consoled her.
"Where's the nearby hospital?" asked Prakruth sitting inside the car.
"There's one at the town Thumbe, 8Kms away. We'll go there" said Prasad.
"Ok..." Prakruth started driving towards Thumbe. Chilly was sitting on Prasad lap, she was scared as hell... They arrived in 15 minutes.
The hospital looked deserted. Ten minutes later, they could find duty nurse. She instructed them to fill the forms and admit the patient. Prakruth shouted "Life is in danger, kindly check once. Later I'll fill out everything you ask". Hearing which the duty doctor came to check the baby. After detailed examination of the baby, the main doctor said "I'm sorry mister, this is respiratory disorder. It needs incubator. So please take the baby to Lifeline multi speciality hospital in Mangalore as we don't have such hi-fi facilities."
"Thank you so much for your help" said Prakruth sarcastically and headed to Mangalore immediately.
At Life line hospitals, the staff addressed the baby well, they admitted the patient as they saw Prakruth coming along with the family of the baby.
"Please wait here Sir, night duty doctor will come in few minutes. Till then the baby will be in the ICU" said the nurse and walked in.
Prakruth sat down calmly with chilly in arms. He signalled others to sit down. Chilly was asleep... She was tired continuously sobbing for her brother. After 20 long minutes of waiting, Prakruth couldn't see any doctor walking into the ICU. So he silently got up, handed over chilly to Prasad's wife and went to the doctor's room on the right side of the ICU. He could hear giggling from behind the door, he didn't want to peep so he boldly pushed the door open. His mind froze and the scene inside enraged him.
He rushed inside the door and held doctor's collar and shouted "You Bastard, this is what you do during duty hours?".
"Who are you to ask me???" asked the duty doctor.
"Come I'll tell you who I'm" said Prakruth and pulled him out of the room.
"Disciplinary action will be taken upon you... Security... Security... Save me" shouted the doctor.
"I'll give you full security. First button up your shirt and go treat the patient inside" said Prakruth and pushed him into the ICU. Another duty nurse ran behind the doctor into the ICU.
He grabbed a land phone and called his father. No response. He called his mother. No response. He pulled out the phone and slammed it onto the floor in anger.
After half an hour, the duty doctor came out of the ICU and said "Nothing to worry Sir, baby is now stable. He's breathing properly. But he has to be under observation for 24 hours" politely. May be the duty nurse informed him who this angry young man was...
Both the parents were relieved hearing this from the doctor.
Prakruth scowled at him, "Call your seniors now".
"Sir last night we had anniversary party, your parents were very happy and enjoyed completely. They went home late so they might not be able to respond to your calls" he said.
Prakruth smirked "Sloshed to enjoy extreme happiness huh? They didn't let you drink so you made doctor's room into bed room? Wow such great service oriented doctors you people are...." he made a disgusting face.
Doctor stood with his head down... "Go away from my sight. Get some senior doctor immediately" ordered Prakruth.
Everyone sat at the entrance of ICU and waited for the main doctor.
At 3 am, a nurse ran out of ICU and came back hurriedly with the Junior doctor. They rushed in and closed the door. Prakruth didn't understand what was happening.. He couldn't control his anger, he banged against the wall. Luckily Murthy came to the hospital at 3.20 am. He immediately rushed in to the ICU talking to a lady nurse.
Prasad came to Prakruth "saab" he said.
Prasad's wife was sobbing, chilly couldn't sleep anymore. She started crying too.
"Don't worry, your baby is in best hands" assured Prakruth. He carried chilly little away from the tension....to breathe fresh air. He couldn't see the crying anymore. He took her to canteen and got a glass of milk.
"Dear, my brother will be ok na?" asked Chilly.
"He'll be fine, don't worry. Drink milk" he said.
"He's my only brother, he didn't talk to me from afternoon, we had a small fight. Since two days he has fever. Amma told me not to trouble him and I've promised her that I will never trouble him. I will not take any of his toys, I will allow him to sit in Appa's lap... I should tell him that I love him. If he knows that he'll talk to me. Can we go in??" asked innocent chilly.
Prakruth's eyes welled up and he could only say "We can go" and guided her to drink milk.
When he came back, the ICU was still looking busy. He asked Prasad "Anyone came out?"
"No saab, they took some medicine in a tray and went in" he said.
"Save my son, saab" cried Prasad's wife.
Doctor Murthy came out of the ICU and stood next to Prakruth. "You must be that boy's parents??" he asked looking at Prasad and his wife.
They just nodded.
"From how many days the baby has fever??" asked Dr.Murthy .
"From a week" replied Prasad.
"Why didn't you bring him immediately?" he asked.
"What happened Dad?" asked Prasad.
Dr. Murthy ignored his question and scolded Prasad "You people neglect it initially and then blame us at last moment. Baby had hay fever. It has reached an end point at 12.30-1....if good treatment was given at that time, we could save him" he explained.
"What do you mean doctor? Could save means??" asked Prasad.
"I'm so sorry mister, we couldn't save him" said Dr. Murthy in a pitiful voice.
Prasad and his wife bursted out crying.... "Vittu"... Their only son after chilly, 5 years younger than her. Prasad's wife was yelling and crying as if her heart popped out. Prakruth couldn't believe what he just heard. Yesterday afternoon he had seen the baby, was it so weak to die. He wondered.
"Dr, you said if proper treatment was done at 12.30-1, we could've saved the baby right??" asked Prakruth.
"Yes, you people came late" blamed Murthy.
Junior doctor was standing next to Murthy, Prakruth asked him "What time we came in junior doctor??"
"I do.... Don't... Do not know" he stuttered.
"You must remember when I thrashed you. Should I remind you again???" asked Prakruth.
"I don't like misbehaving with my staff" frowned Murthy.
"Your staff can misbehave with other staff and neglect the emergency cases, but we shouldn't misbehave with them....Wow what a service oriented staff???" he satirized.
"Prakruth mind your words, don't blame us for your mistakes" said Dr. Murthy.
"Saab, being born poor is our mistake, having no influence is our mistake, loving children is our mistake, believing that you people are God is our mistake, being illiterate... unable to fill out your forms is our mistake, calling your doctor to treat our baby is our mistake.... He comes out of his room and tells us everything is ok. Now baby is in observation and goes back to his duty at room. He didn't even care about my baby's breath... He was worried to satisfy himself yet it is our mistake to trust his words and wait patiently because we're patients. Deaths are common to you people Sir, but not to us... Now if you have decided it is our mistake, kindly punish us for our mistake.. We'll ask sorry. Bring back my child..!!!.. You're not ready to admit your staff mistake, it is again ok with us.... We'll forgive you and your lustful staff... Kindly bring back my child. Bring back my child doctor please..." Prasad started crying madly.
"Answer Dr. Murthy... Answer to this father who has lost his son" said Prakruth.
"I don't understand his pain as I don't have a son" said Dr. Murthy.
"Saab for our sake, you people don't break the bonds.. Please" begged Prasad.
"See Dad, Prasad has lost his son, yet he cares about me and my father. That's love dad, not like physical pleasure which you people enjoy" said Prakruth.
"Hand over the baby, we'll go" said Prasad.
"Pay the bill and take the body" said Dr. Murthy.
"Dad... You want money even at this stage???" asked Prakruth.
"Yes I would let you go, if you agreed to be a doctor as per my wish. But you chose not to be my son. So as a stranger pay the bill and get lost" said Doctor Murthy.
"Great... I'll finish the formalities. Give the baby and please don't call it a body" said Prakruth and headed to the counter.
At 5 am, Prakruth brought them back to the farms. They buried the baby at the river end with great difficulty and pain. Prakruth was totally devastated by this incident.