A frenzied crowd had thronged the Medicine Room of the hospital. With a prescription in hand, everybody was eager to get the authorised medicines. But today it seemed quite difficult to reach the window as people had not queued up properly. In a haste, they kept pushing and thrusting each other to reach the counter as early as possible.
The smarts and sturdies were easily making their way through the crowd leaving the weaker ones behind. Thus, not only were they lamenting their weakness but also cursing the smart ones.
“A terrible day! I have been standing since morning but still unable to reach the damn window.”
“Do they deserve to be called human beings? By all means they are worse than animals. Rather, they are like wild beasts.”
“No proper arrangements. No proper procedure.”
“The accursed security guards are nowhere in sight today.”
It was the beginning of April. Usually, Quetta remains in the grip of a slight cold till the end of April. A couple of days back heavy rain hit the city and the earth had not completely dried out yet. That morning, a cold wind blew gently and the weather was a bit colder than usual. But in the crowd everybody was sweating at every pore. Every now and then, they were adjusting their clothes.
I was under the weather and decided to consult a physician. He prescribed me some medicines. When I saw the mammoth crowd around the Medicine Room, I strolled aside to wait for the crowd to thin down.
I had waited for a long time and by then I should have felt worn out and left the scene. Instead, I was fascinated by the disorganized crowd so I decided to stay there till it was all over.
Such disorder is not surprising in our society. In every walk of life we do come across such disorganised masses. But I do not know why the disarray at the Medicine Room had enchained me?
Though everyone in the crowd was a part of that scene, its most interesting character was a fragile and fair-skinned boy. Many a time he reached very close to the window but was pushed behind by the smarter men.
“To hell with the medicines! It is better to go empty handed rather than being trampled and crushed by the crowd.” After having been unsuccessful in his attempts, he seemed to be looking for an exit.
In the meantime a girl with a prescription turned up there. She was wearing a veil but her face was not fully covered. She wasn’t a pretty girl but looked young and mature. She looked around for a moment and then raised her prescription towards the crowd and said:
“Anybody, please help me get these medicines.”
From her gesture it was not obvious who she was asking for. I saw the fed up young boy who had many times been pushed behind from very close to the window, step ahead and receive her prescription. With the prescription in his hand, he looked around as if he had just arrived there. Then he confidently waded through the crowd. The next moment, he was at the window holding the window rods firmly with both of his hands. After a few moments he returned with the same confidant, holding his medicines in one hand and the girl’s in the other.
At this very second, the whole crowd came to a halt. They were looking at the boy in bewilderment.
This is an English version of the Balochi short story written by Ghani Parwaz
Published in Daily Times, December 18th 2017.