Bound by Blood: A Tale of Mafia and Medicine

1.

SOYRA'S POV

"Baba" I called out to my dad rushing down the stairs. I guess he is still sleeping. "Aai?" I glanced over the main hall, there she was sitting on the sofa and watching the news. She kept her focus on the TV ignoring my words. I didn't question her further, I had a habit of ignorance. As I was heading to the mandir, I didn't eat anything and went straight towards the door. 

"I am going to the hospital straight after taking blessings. I won't be taking any lunch today with me, we are going for brunch today. Bye," I said to my mom and looked towards her. She didn't reply as usual. I went forward and saw Patil Kaka, my driver, waiting for me. I gave him a warm smile and sat inside the car. 

Every Tuesday, I used to take blessings from Ganpati Bappa. It was my ritual. The mandir located at the foothill, was my comfort place to go. It was an hour's drive from my house. I seated myself comfortably and my phone rang. I pulled it out from my bag and saw the caller ID. It was Radhika. 

"How come you're not late today? Did you even take a bath? " I spoke quite amused.

"I'm not like you okay" she replied. 

"That's what I'm saying, I do take a bath. EVERYDAY. We do have a difference." I said smiling.  

"Done with your jokes?"

"Yes, and I will be reaching there in 5 mins." 

"Okay, come fast" I chuckled at her response. 

_______________________________________________________________

I was stepping down the cold marble stairs of the temple, beside Radhika. We were discussing the appointments that we had today. I saw a puppy in the middle of the road licking his paws. Awww so cute. Then I realized he was ON THE MIDDLE of the road. I handed the pooja thali to Radhika and went forward. I pulled down the scarf from my head, and removed it completely, further placing it on my left hand. I went towards the puppy and lifted him in my arms. He was shivering due to the cold. I shifted him in my right hand and I tried to pull the scarf from my left until it slipped off due to strong wind.

I bent down to pick up my scarf and a screeching noise entered my ears, my neck snapped in the direction and saw a black car approaching at its peak speed. Before I could move, the puppy started wriggling and tried to jump off my hands. My heartbeats fastened, as the car started honking at me. I grabbed the puppy and before I could turn and run, I felt the front of the car crashing on the side of my knees. For a fraction of a second, I thought I would be dead the very next moment. But, to my surprise, I fell on the ground sideways, and the car stopped instantly with a loud noise. 

I winced in pain, as my elbow crashed on the rough surface of the road. The car was engulfing me above my knees. The driver took a straight reverse. I expected someone to come out and apologize, but the car was just moving backwards and started honking again. I instantly got up and saw Radhika rushing towards me with a scared face. I could feel my blood boiling and my jaw clenching as I saw no response from the other side. How could someone be so rude? 

"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING??" I yelled at the top of my voice. Boy, I was crazy now. I was not able to see anything clearly due to the reflection of the sun on the car's glass. I saw the window moving south. A fair-faced man, with dark brown curly hair and fresh blood flowing from the side of his eyebrows, looked at me worriedly and let out a curse. 

"GET ASIDE- HE IS DYING!" he yelled at me, his bruised face dripping with blood. Instantly, my anger dissipated, and I moved aside quickly. The car sped past me and disappeared around the bend. Radhika turned me towards her and hugged me tightly.

"Are you okay? Son of a-"

"Radha let it be, I'm alive and not wounded much. I might have scratched my elbow a bit. Nothing to worry." Yes, I had to be angry at such a thing, but the situation he was in, was worse than what had to be taken care of for now. After all, I am a doctor.

"but-"

"Radha, Jaude" I reassured her.

(Radha, leave it )

I still had the puppy in my hand. I looked at him, he was shivering. I looked over the area where my scarf fell. It wasn't there. How come? It was just here a moment ago. WAIT. Did it just go stuck to the car or something? Nooooo yaarrrr.

I dusted my clothes and saw the scratch I just got. It wasn't that bad. We decided to take the puppy to the vet, at Dr. Shipra's. She was a good friend of mine when I was at med school. I handled him to Radhika and adjusted my clothes. God knows what emergency it might be for the man. I prayed silently that everything be safe and sound. I sat in the car and Kaka started driving towards the hospital. While Radhika kept blabbering about the incident that just happened. Halfway through the drive, I got a call from Nandini, the receptionist.

"Ma'am it's an emergency, we have a patient with gunshots on the lower left side of the body. He also has lost a good amount of blood. We need you here right now, Dr. Sharma is asking for your help."

"I'm on my way, ask Dr. Sharma to match the blood and check for any organ damage. Ask her to get him on oxygen and blood right now. And get my things ready." I spoke hurriedly.

"Kaka, lavkar chala emergency aahe" I said hurriedly, getting into my doctor zone. 

(Kaka, let's go fast, It's an emergency)

I explained the whole situation to Radhika on the way. As we reached, Radhika rushed to the vet area to drop the puppy. And I ran through the lobby, towards the Operation theatre. I saw someone yelling at the receptionist. 

"Here she is"  "Eve....Everything will be alright sir" I heard Nandini stuttering.  I had no time to look after them, patients' families were always creating havoc in the hallways. I rushed to the OT, after changing and sterilizing myself.

Oh god, this is way too bad. I saw the patient, a boy in his mid 20's lying unconscious on the bed. He had bruises all over his body. Fresh blood was flowing from the cuts on his arms and legs. Also, Dr. Sharma was trying to wipe out the blood flowing from his left abdomen. I saw the heart rate. It was depleting. SHIT.

"Handle me the shocks" I ordered.