By The People, For The People...

क़ौल

Himani was cleaning blood which was vomited by a wounded man. It was now everyday thing for her. For first few days she couldn't eat and always felt nauseous because all she could see was blood and deadly wounds.

First thing that the head nurse told them was that they shouldn't feel disgusted about anything. Be it wounds oozing puss, vomits, bedpans or blood. It was almost a month now and Himani's training was over. Head nurse was very happy with her because she followed everything that was told to her and she devotedly looked after wounded people.

Himani's compassion and hardwork had earned her the title of best trainee of her batch and instead of going to the real war base she was gonna stay at the hospital to be there to train the upcoming batch.

"If I am the best trainee I should be there with soldiers, don't you think?" Himani asked.

"You are needed here. People who are in serious need of medical attention are brought here. On the base it's more about first aid. So you are staying here for bigger purpose" Head nurse told.

Himani agreed. Hospital also wasn't far away from bases. It was accessible to both civilians and soldiers. Himani could always hear firing. Everytime she heard a blast she would feel fear running down her spine. Fear of watching people die in front of her.

It had been a month. She hadn't met Sumedh or her family members. She only talked to them over phone. Sumedh had told her that he met Rashi and that made Himani relaxed. She was relived to know that Vihaan didn't kill anybody. He actually helped them to escape and live a better life and that made her respect her brother more.

Himani decided to call Sumedh. She wasn't getting reception at her mobile phone so she had to use landline.

"Koi bhi landline number dikhta hai phone pe toh mujhe lagta hai tumhara hi phone hoga" Sumedh said as he picked up.

"Hi hello toh bol lo" Himani said.

"Kya jaroorat hai?" Sumedh asked

"Agar koi aur hua phone pe toh? Acchi aadat nahi hai" Himani said.

"Okayy. Hello. Who's this?" Sumedh asked.

Himani chuckled "Your girlfriend"

"Oh. Which one?" Sumedh asked.

Himani made a face "Ek hai wo bhi bahot badi baat hai. Warna tumhare sath kaun rahe. I seriously doubt mere alawa kisine tumhe pasand kiya hota.. Aur kiya bhi hota toh kitne din rehti tumhare sath"

"Jyada smart mat bano tum" Sumedh warned "Koi dumb ladki leke aaunga jo sawal nahi pucchegi"

"Tumhare liye wahi accha hai" Himani retorted.

"Fine. Main jitne wala toh hoo nahi. Tum sahi ho" Sumedh said.

Himani laughed "Mujhse uljha mat karo tum" She said.

"Fine"Sumedh sighed" Kaisi ho? "

" Thik hoo. Best trainee nurse of my batch. I am gonna help train the next batch" Himani told

"Woahh. Congratulations" Sumedh said "But wait. There's gonna be another batch? How many people does army need?"

"I don't know. I don't actually think we need more people but.." Himani stopped "More the merrier" She changed her tone so that it doesn't sound like she's complaining or criticising.

"Yes" Sumedh said as he understood that they shouldn't discuss this over phone. Nothing could've been trusted.

There was a silence for a minute.

"Did you.." Sumedh cleared his throat "Did you see my father? Or brother?"

"No" Himani answered "I know all the patients here. Your brother or father is not here"