Life as it is ... Part 1

Nakul was 23, and had just passed his MBBS from one of the private medical colleges in Kanpur and he went to Hyderabad to find some job in a big hospital as a doctor. He was so happy to finally get the tag of being addressed as Dr. Nakul Choudhary after the long period of studies and struggle. As luck favours the brave, he finally got a job in one of the most reputed hospital of India. He started his practice there.

As he was from a family where principles and values were ranked higher in priority, the same were embedded in him since childhood. He was studying hard when his other friends were exploring childhood, he was competing when his other friends were wooing girls, he was struggling to find a job when his other friends were making and wasting money by wrong means.

As soon as he got a place in hospital as a doctor, his parents and relatives started the process of finding a girl for marriage. Arrange marriage is not an alien word in India. Almost 90% of the marriages in India happen to be arranged. He had not thought of marriage at all for so long. All his focus was on being a nice human being and getting a job.

Almost all of his friends had a girl friend, and being a doctor was one of the reasons for that. But he was unaware of the dating process, though he found a replacement for girl friend mania, he caught the bug of listening to soothing music with glass of whiskey and a cigarette which was known to be his girl friend among his friend circle because he used to smoke Gold Flake and they used to call it GF, an acronym for Girl Friend. This doesn’t mean he wasn’t a nice guy, he was, nor was he heavy drinker, but a chain smoker though because resident doctors in their medical college were known to be the famous chain smokers.

He told his parents to delay the process of marriage for few years, as he wasn’t ready for it and wanted to explore life as it is. He wanted to achieve something in life first, reach a certain point in life and then move forward towards the path of married life. His parents too agreed after some rounds of phone call discussion they had. Nakul was doing well at his work place and was getting to know the world in real outside the books. Few things used to make him happy; others were just unclear to him. The logics around things and relationships he read in books or had seen in family were just not exactly the same people were following in real in this world. He felt disappointed many a times, he tried to change the system at times, he tried changing himself some times to adjust to the society. But things weren’t placed on the table as he had dreamt.

Nevertheless, he completed 3 years in that hospital working day and night, was getting enough money to live a better life. But something was happening inside him, something which was residing in for long and something that he has forgotten for so long. The principles he had before he moved into this world of professionals and money. When he was pursuing his MBBS, he always thought, he will become a doctor to serve the poor in his small town, he will go and work in villages and tribal areas, where there are no hospitals, and he will contribute to the nation by his profession. But on the way of becoming a professional doctor who works for money, he missed the turn to his own way.

The sleepless nights, without any reasons were becoming part of his life style. Sometimes he thought, it was his loneliness, sometimes he thought, it was the work load, sometimes he thought, it was the ambitions. But none of the answers were giving him relief. He felt bonded by his own life style.

One such long dark uncomfortable night, he finally recalled his aim to do something for the poor and needy. And that made him sleep again. The very next day, he realized that nothing in his life right now is fulfilling his dream of working for the poor. So he decided to quit his job and do something towards his aim. The very same day when he was thinking to resign from hospital, one of his patient visited him for the regular checkup.

‘Good evening doctor’

‘Very good evening Mehta sahib. Come inside. How are you feeling these days. I hope you have changed your routine and exercising regularly. ’

‘Yes doctor. As Health is wealth, so I need to be fit then. ‘, Mehta sahib laughed out loud saying this.

Nakul said with a smile on his face, ‘Are you taking the medicines regularly. It is very important that you follow the prescription Mehtaji.’

‘Yes doctor. ’

(to be continued ...)