A Terrible Encounter at the Hospital

       I rarely read newspapers but my mom reads them with utmost devotion, without missing even a single day. I don't know what it is that interests her, but reading the stories of who beat up whom or which actor hooked up with which actress or rather which actors broke up; these are all stories that I really don't mind skipping altogether. But there is one column that my mom made sure I didn't miss. It is a column in our local news paper about health issues written by a local doctor. My mom, like every other mom, is worried about how I don't pay enough attention towards my health and thus she used to make me read this column and follow the tips sincerely. And I used to, well almost, until the day I met the person.

       A year back, I was sick; I had an allergic condition and it was worsening over time. And no medicine prescribed by any of the doctors seemed to work. So mom decided we would go to 'The' doctor from the news paper. After searching a lot (his place was little difficult to find) we finally found his clinic. It wasn't as ostentatious as I had expected considering how famous he and his articles were. It was a small clinic with the outer room manned by a middle aged woman who was in charge of medicines and the inner room was the consultation room. The doctor hadn't arrived yet; so we sat on a bench in the outer room overlooking the road, waiting for him to arrive.

       I was in a hurry as I had to attend drawing class in an hour and so I kept glancing out every minute, willing for him to come soon. Minutes passed and I was getting impatient. I started thinking of different ways of convincing mom to go back. Maybe she would give in if I was persistent. But I never got to test that as the doctor arrived soon, or at least I thought he was the doctor. A car came stopped in front of the clinic. I was curious to see who the person was, who writes such interesting articles. The door opened and a short man stepped out. His face was only half visible as the other half was dominated by beard. A shudder ran through me as I stared at his face. Well, it was just another patient. We would have to wait more.

      I got a call and I went out for a minute and when I came back, mom was standing, ready to go inside. I exhaled, relieved. I went inside and saw the man whom I had seen minutes ago, searching something in the drawer. I stared at him for a second and shook my head. So he was an assistant here. "At what time the doctor will arrive?" I asked him as I stepped inside. He paused his search for a second and gave me a sidelong glance and went back to whatever he was doing. 'What an attitude he has got' I thought to myself.  Just when I was about to ask him again, he found what he was looking for - a pen. He straightened up and went to sit on the doctor's chair. He gave me a pointed look and said, "I am the doctor here". I almost turned around and left out of embarrassment; almost!

       I don't know what I was expecting but it was definitely not this. The beard stood out on his face,giving an impression that he was probably sick. It didn't look hygienic. I had assumed him as a patient even! What an irony! He definitely was someone who knew a lot but the first impression I got when I saw him, it was no where close to the person I had imagined him to be. I am sure his knowledge is what counts but sometimes, just sometimes, looks do count in creating an impression and the unshaven face is definitely the kind of thing that can ruin this impression.

PS: This post is a part of #WillYouShave activity at BlogAdda in association with Gillette. I was tagged for this activity by Cifar and Soumya. I tag Nabanita and Nibha for the same.

Until the next post,
Keep Smiling :)

Love,
Swathi :)