Oneshots on AsfiYa

Baarish Vaali Raat - Part 1

Note - This One-Shot is a continuation of the 21st episode of Yakeen ka safar, when a medical camp is organised.

P.S - This One-Shot is pretty long, so It is going to be split into parts.

ASFANDYAR'S POV

Today was an important day. It was the day of the medical camp that my team at the hospital and I had been planning for, since the start of the last month. I spent the first half of the day seeing patients in the OPD. After a quick lunch at the hospital cafeteria, Tariq saab, who is the admin head at the hospital accompanied me in my jeep, to the location of the medical camp, to supervise the arrangements that were being made. Almost an hour later. Rustom arrived in the ambulance with Dr. Haroon, Dr. Shahaab and Dr. Zubia. Another ambulance arrived right after, with a few nurses and ward boys. When they saw me standing and supervising the arrangements, They instantly started to unload the equipment and set it up without wasting any time. Dr. Haroon and Dr. Shahaab got busy in talking to Tariq saab about something that had happened at the hospital post our departure from there. Just as I was listening in to their conversation from a distance, I caught a glimpse of Dr. Zubia who was struggling to carry and huge pile of pamphlets from the ambulance to the table, that was set up a few meters away. She was carrying the huge pile in her slender hands and it was so tall, that it completely blocked her face. I could see that she was struggling to balance herself and prevent the pile from toppling over. Before I knew it, I was standing right in front of her and almost instinctively my hands went under her hands, that were holding the pile, In an attempt to offer support.

"Dr. Zubia, Kya yeh saare pamphlets ek hee baar mein le jaana zuroori hai?", I blurted in my usual derogatory tone.

I instantly regretted how that sounded and mentally whacked myself after I remembered what Dr. Shehroze had told me the other day about controlling my arrogance and being kind and appreciative to my team members. Before saying anything more, I removed my hands from underneath hers and took a good number of pamphlets from the top of the pile and walked towards the table, she followed. While placing the piles on the table, I spoke again.

"Mera matlab yeh tha, ki voh pile kaafi heavy tha, agar aap le jaate waqt gir jaati, aur aapko chot lag jaati toh? Apna dhyaan rakha karein, Dr. Zubia. Kaam zuroori hai, par apna aur apni health ka dhyaan rakhna jyaada zuroori hai." This time I was gentler when I spoke.

By the time I had finished my sentence, she had turned to look at me and I was looking at her.

"Sorry, sir. Aage se dhyaan rukhungi", she said softly and went to join the other doctors who were a little away from where we were standing.

Very weirdly, I still remember how soft her hands felt. I had touched her hand briefly last week, to make note of her body temperature, but today, since I held them with more grip and for longer, I could actually pay attention. It felt like I was touching a little baby's hands!

Anyway, Afterwards, the villagers started to arrive in large numbers and all of us got busy with our work. Dr. Shaahab and Dr. Haroon were handling the counter for the males and Dr. Zubia and I were handling the other counter for the Women and children, since Dr. Asifa was going to come later with Dr. Shehroze and Dr. Zeba was on duty at the hospital.I mostly handled the kids, because naturally the women were way more comfortable with a female doctor.

In the middle of seeing my patients, I couldn't help but take note of the fact that Dr. Zubia was doing her job really well. She had really learnt how to simplify things and explain them to patients in a way that they would understand. Another that I had noticed was that, she had become a lot more confident and spoke to the women in a reassuring tone, with a smile. I remembered the times when I had lectured her about learning to gain a grip over herself and speaking to patients in a language that they could understand. "She's working hard and is a quick learner", I thought to myself.