The Weekend with a Doctor

Prem's alma mater had this Great idea of making the Christmas weekend memorable for its old students. Each student would get a chance to spend the weekend with another student at his place and know his new way of living. Prem prayed that let his partner be the model Shriya, so that like Madhur Bhandrakar, he can get a 'meaningful' insight into the Fashion world.
But Prem had to be content with Dr Uday. This doctor who had studied and grown up in the concrete jungle, now had a clinic in a isolated location somewhere near the border between North and South Karntaka which was inflicted with Naxalites. When Prem reached the location, he felt as if he had landed in a Pre-Independence India.

While for Prem, the work days ended on friday evening exactly at 6.00 PM, for Dr Uday, his clinic was open even on Sunday mornings. Even the cinema theatres wouldn't be that full on a Sunday morning as his clinic was. In a span of sixty minutes the doctor had attended nearly 20 patients. What a stress! thought Prem. Prem used to relieve the stress at office by listening to music, by chatting etc. But the doctor had no such options at all.
Prem spent the afternoon and evening with other members of the family. After a sumptuous dinner, It was time for Prem to return home. Monday morning he has to be in the office. Hardly they had covered two to three kilometers, a villager stopped the car. After exchanging few words in a vernacular language, Doctor came back to Prem. "There is a emergency! It seems a baby has been taken seriously ill. Shall we attend it. It hardly takes five minutes." Prem had to say Okay.

The car had to be diverted from the main road. It was a very bumpy ride and Prem nearly flew out of the seat many a time. But the doctor had got used to the same. Prem had seen these kind of tracks and the jumps only on the video games. It took ten minutes when the car came to a stop. Prem thanked God thinking that they had reached the destination, but it was not the case.
From that point onwards, the road connectivity ended. They had to walk through what seemed to be very bushy area. Prem used to enjoy having a walk after the dinner with his i-pod playing soft music to the ears and the path, brightly lit by the street lights.
But here, the picture was different. It was hard to find one's way around the bushy path even with that gaslight. The mosquitoes were having a Christmas feast biting Prem all over his body. The howling and the hootings was all the music that was being played that night.
They reached the place, a small house. There was no other houses anywhere nearby. The house looked more like a small store room. A thin figure came out of the house and welcomed them and showed them the patient - a four year old baby boy who had high fever and was vomiting since the evening.Temperature was around 106 degree Fahrenheit and Dr Uday's face said it all. It was a medical emergency and the baby had to be taken to the hospital.

As Prem drove the car back to the hospital, Dr Uday applied heat removal technique by using wet cloths etc. On reaching the hospital, Doctor applied advanced techniques and with some medications, the baby was out of danger. Uday's five minutes had taken five hours. But Prem had no complaints. On his way back, Prem complimented Dr Uday, "I think it's a great feeling when you are the reason for a smile on someone's face, like that on the mother. Na," Dr Uday returned it with a smile, "Yeah. But not always, I am that lucky. And those times when I don't succeed, it really disturbs me. But Life and death is not in my hands."

It was only after noon, that Prem reported to the office. A colleague was explaining something about Santa Claus, probably for the next promo, "Santa is one who slowly comes in the night and gifts you what you need and brings a smile on your face."
Prem just felt the statement was so true and for him, Dr Uday was the Santa for the moment.