Ride to the Emergency Room

Sita is saying something downstairs to Bir. She yells unusually loud and I get up from bed and run down. I ask, "What's going on?"

Sita says, "Something has happened to bhai... we must get there right away."

I assume it's bad, but I am scared to ask.

I run upstairs to take my bag. I don't put anything in it, and I head out the door.

Sita is on the phone and pacing. She's on speaker and she's saying, "Pragati called crying, that’s how I knew. We are on our way there."

Sita paces further by taking long quick steps, and she forgets to end the call.

After walking for a minute, we see Ishwor. He's standing in front of a taxi and he puts his phone back in his pocket; he must have been on a call just before we arrived.

Sita asks him, "Is it really bad?"

He says, "I have informed Grande Hospital, the ambulance is on its way there."

He gets inside the taxi. Sita peeks from the driver's window and asks Ishwor, "What if we took him to the Trauma Center instead?"

"I have already arranged everything. I'll call later. Let's see what happens," he tells her.

I get in the taxi with Ishwor. As we leave, he gets a call. He says, "I don’t really know what happened. Is it better to take him to B&B or Grande?" He listens for a while, then says,"Oh! Really? Okay, I'll call in a bit then."

Ishwor calmly takes out his phone again and dials a number. "Babu, you have headed out from there, right? How many people are there in the ambulance? What has happened to Upakar?" He listens, then he hangs up.

He does not tell me anything about what the person on the other end had said. Instead, he tells the taxi driver, “There are three people in the ambulance and one of them is in critical condition."

Ishwor keeps getting calls and he keeps repeating himself: "I don’t know much either. They are in an ambulance right now, and I am on my way to Grande."

On the third call, his tone changes. He raises his voice, as though a little irritated: "I don’t know much yet!" He says and abruptly cuts the line.

Now he raises his right hand in the air and asks the driver in a loud voice, "How would I know? I have not seen it myself! Who can make me understand what's going on?"

Ring Road is crowded. Traffic is thick and horns are going peep-peep constantly. The driver complains about this traffic on Ring Road that happens every evening. The road feels long and bumpy.

Ishwor gets another call. "I am going there. Everything is hearsay right now. Apparently there are others who are more critical than Upakar," he says. "Okay, then, Babu. Talk to you later."

We reach the entrance of the Grande Hospital's emergency room. There are police officers, nurses, and guards waiting. One of the officers immediately begins asking Ishwor questions. As he asks, he writes in a small notepad. Meanwhile his colleague's pager is ringing off the hook.

Out of the three police officers, there is one asking the questions: “Sir, your contact number and address?"

Another officer who is standing beside him asks Ishwor, "And what is your name, sir?"

Irritated, suddenly Ishwor yells at the second officer, “I am not in the mood to talk at the moment. Please don't add stress." At this, another officer takes his colleague a little further away and they talk for a while.

Nurses in coral green outfit with ID cards stuck on their breast pockets are seated on the chairs at the entrance. They ask me, "Where has the ambulance reached?"

"I don’t know," I reply.

"Who are they to you?" One of them asks.

"My younger brother," I say.

I see Ishwor pacing back and forth. He looks at the hospital entrance gate; he tries to reach a number; he puts his hand behind his back. His phone rings again.

A yellow van speedily passes by, I see a guy peeking through the small glass window from the door. I run near the ambulance van, when the door is opened, I see the soles of a pair of feet covered with dust and dirt.

Ishwor says, "It’s ours."

They take out the body. The nurses get busy and command to keep the oxygen on. When the body is slowly taken out, there are cut marks on the thighs, the pants are torn and the hand and right leg is bandaged.

The people near the van say, "Slowly. Lift up. Now, down," as they lower the stretcher. They take him inside and the doctor says to Ishwor, "He is conscious. Don’t worry."

Ishwor is expressionless. He does not say anything, he sighs deeply, and sits on the chair outside the emergency entrance, putting his head down.