Shaheen

Episode 8

Shaheen went to the college to meet Malini ma’am. She waited for college to get over. Malini ma’am waited for her in the staff room. Every teacher had left. They were all alone. Shaheen sat in front of Malini ma’am. She couldn’t make an eye contact with her, she was gazing down at the table top. 

“what you did was not right. This is not how you sort things out”, said Malini ma’am. 

“I did what I could think of then”, Shaheen replied. 

“You almost killed him”, said Malini ma’am. 

“What am I supposed to do with guys like him? His dad said he deserved it”

“You deal with bad people without being bad for your own self”

“What do I do now? “

“You are expelled, anyway. That’s what protocol says. But knowledge isn’t restricted to the four walls” 

“What do you mean?” 

“I’ll  help you with your education. You’ll be a doctor but without a degree “

Malini ma’am helped Shaheen learn things through video calls during her lectures. She would teach her using all the digital media. Shaheen used to practice dissections with vegetables and fruits. She learned not all but a lot. But like all other students she needed some real life exposure and practice. So, Malini ma’am went out of the way and decided to make Shaheen her unpaid assistant. She requested the Dean of the institution and he agreed just because Malini ma’am was taking her responsibility. She would call her to assist her in the operation theatre whenever she had to operate. Shaheen got  a good hand on cutting and stitching. During operations she would observe Malini ma’am’s actions carefully. Shaheen was a quick learner. Malini ma’am was happy with her performance and sincerity. Soon they began to spend time together a lot. And it only drew them closer, so close that Shaheen  and Malini ma’am ended up telling each other the tiniest detail of their lives. Shaheen was a very talented girl and Malini ma’am didn’t let a degree certificate mess with her talent. When Shaheen completed five years of being an unpaid assistant( which would have been her 5 years of MBBS) , Malini ma’am decided to make her a paid assistant so that her step mother won’t stop her from coming to the hospital. Shaheen used to do half of Malini ma’am’s work for two reasons, first her love for ma’am and second  her curiosity to learn more and salary was just a bonus for her. 

Because of that lock down her step mother won’t allow her to go out. She told her to leave the job. Now, Shaheen was jobless. She would spend her time doing home chores and switching social media apps. Now, she had became an unpaid maid. 

Shaheen  was sitting in her bed and thinking when will this end? When she will get to go to work again?. She scrolled for Malini ma’am’s number, she tapped on the number.

Malini ma’am’s phone rang. 

“Hello “,  Malini ma’am received the call. 

“Hi, what happened to your voice? “, Shaheen asked. 

“Sore throat, I think I caught cold”, said Malini ma’am. 

“Cold or corona?”, Shaheen laughed. 

“Ha-Ha-Ha. Very funny”, said Malini ma’am. 

“Oh, sorry. Why did you pick the call? aren’t you busy? “. 

“It’s a break”. 

“Why this change in timings? It’s 4:30 pm” 

“Now, there are two timings because everyone can’t go on a break at the same time. The number of patients have increased so much that we are running out of hospital staff. It’s been  a week of lock down but the number of patients is constantly increasing”. 

“That’s bad. You take care of yourself, please. Don’t take duties with COVID19 patients”.

“Would you do that Shaheen if you were in my place? “. 

“No”.

“I know you won’t because doctors don’t do that. After all we have pledged to save lives”

“Anyway, you take care of yourself”

“yeah”

“When do you think this will get over? I don’t want to sit at home, it’s suffocating”

“I won’t say I am clueless. This is something huge. This is not gonna end sooner. It’s just the beginning. “