Jamshedpur City
Ghosh Pharmacy, at the entrance of a colony, Morning
Hemant pulled up the shutter of the medical shop with a heave. The shutter slid with a screech and banged at the upper end. The sound produced by the shutter reflected Hemant’s irritation. He muttered in his mouth, “Shokaal shokaal Badol da’r mukh ta dekhe niye chhi. Aajke bohni-batta-o hobe naa (I have seen Badol da’s face in this morning hour. There won’t be any opening sale from the first customer today.”
Badal da was standing on the other side of the street, waiting impatiently for the medical shop to open. He was picking his nose. His left index finger was inside his left nostril, trying frantically to scratch the bit of tiny slimy material stuck inside. Finally, he pulled out his finger and carefully watched the dirty, sticky substance stuck on the tip and started rolling it between his thumb and index finger.
Hemant looked at him from the angle of his eyes and gave a weird look. He quickly cleaned the floor with a soft broom. Then he mopped the floor. He removed dust from the counter after spraying some liquid material and started cleaning the glass panes of the medicine rack.
Badal da waited till the floor dried up, and then he walked to the counter. Hemant avoided him completely.
“Arre, sheyee din tumi je ektaa guli diye chhile, mone achhe? (Hey, you gave me a pill that day, do you remember?” Badal da asked Hemant.
Hemant did not turn around and continued his cleaning work, “Na, mone neyee. (Nope, don’t remember.)”
Badal da was still rolling the soft material between his thumb and index finger. He tried to make Hemant remember what he gave that day, “Sheyee ektaa holdaa ronge lambaa moton pill chhilo (that was a yellow-colored elongated tablet)," Badal da continued in his mother tongue, “Last Sunday you gave me for my stomach problem.”
Hemant replied, “Dada (elder brother), there are so many tablets. How can I remember what exactly I gave you?”
"Na-na, you will be able to remember. Let me explain once more. That was a light yellow-colored elongated tablet of see, this much size."
He showed the size of the tablet with his left-hand index finger and thumb. The blackish ball of the nasal dirt was still sticking on the tip of his index finger. When he saw, he tried to get rid of it by twitching his thumb and index finger several times.
Hemant reluctantly said, "Tell me, for what problem of yours, I gave you the tablet?"
“My belly had some ‘Gondogol’ (trouble). That medicine gave me some relief,” Badal da explained.
“Did I give you this pill?” Hemant took out a strip of medicine and showed it to him.
“Naa-re baba, it was some other medicine.”
Hemant showed him another strip, which was again rejected by Badal da, "You must find that medicine for me. I have so far tried so many medicines, saw many doctors, but no one could give me the kind of relief that your pill gave me."
Hemant felt little elated with the praise. He started searching for the medicine he had given that day without much thought, and now it bewildered him not to find that one again. While looking at the medicine rack with searching eyes, he casually asked, “Dada, you are a Company’s employee. You get all medicines free of cost from the Company Dispensary. Why don’t you ask your doctor for some permanent relief?”
“Sheyee to,” Badal da chuckled, "I want the name of the medicine. I will ask my doctor today to give me the same medicine. I will tell him that for the last two years, he could not diagnose my case, but my Hemant has done it. For the first time, I found the right medicine for my ailment.”
Hemant looked at him with complaining eyes. All the words of praise for him could not elevate his mood, “Dada, you want me to tell you only the name of the medicine? No purchase? … Dada, I have yet to make the Bohni (The Opening Sale of the day).”
"Oh, come on. Are you bothered about ‘Bohni'? Don’t you realize what great achievement it is for you? Imagine how the doctor of my dispensary will become upset when he comes to know that ‘Hemant’ has more clinical sense than a qualified MBBS doctor.”
Hemant looked blankly at him for some while. Then he pretended to remember everything. He said, "Hain-Hain (Yes-yes), just now I remembered. The medicine was kept in this section of the rack. But the stock has exhausted. The moment the supply comes, I will personally inform you."
Badal da could not realize that Hemant was trying to shrug him off. He made another attempt to persuade him to find the name of the medicine, “Please find it out for me. You must have kept it somewhere else. It is still half an hour from now for the dispensary to open. Let us find out the medicine. ……I will also help you in the search.”
Hemant did not make a move. He instead said wryly, "I told you dada that the medicine is sold out. I will inform you when the new stock arrives.”
“When did I say that I need the medicine? I only want to know the name. Tell me the name.”
“I do not remember.”
“But then how will you order the medicine when you do not know the name?”
“I do not remember the name. But the moment the agent of the stockiest asks me if I have such and such medicine in the stock, I will immediately remember and place order for it,” explained Hemant.
After all, he was in this trade for the last seven years and knew how to handle customers.
Badal da did not question anymore. He stood silently. His eyes started scanning the racks of medicine with the hope of spotting the drug on some shelf.
Not before long, Mr. Ghosh, the owner of the shop, arrived. He greeted Badal da ‘shubh-prabhat’ and asked Hemant to bring two glasses of tea from the nearby tea stall. Badal da refused time and again, but the hot glass of tea was forcibly handed over to him by Mr. Ghosh with a warm request.
While sipping hot tea, Badal da explained to Mr. Ghosh why he came in the morning and how desperate he was to find the name of the medicine.
“Kee-re, what medicine did you give Badol da last time?” he asked Hemant with authority.
“It was kept here…. Now sold out…. don’t exactly remember the name at the moment,” Hemant mumbled timidly.
“Pajee chhele (Idiot), don’t you try to fool me,” Mr. Ghosh retorted, “Show him all the medicines that we have for stomach ailment.”
“We have not yet made the opening sale of the day,” murmured Hemant, which Mr. Ghosh did not seem to have heard.
Mr. Ghosh and Badal da got busy examining the strips of medicines. Lastly, Badal da selected two strips, "Looks like one of these two. Can I tear the foil and see the tablet inside?" asked Badal da.
Mr. Ghosh looked at the MRP written on the strip and said, “Sorry, this one you will have to buy full strip. But the other one you can buy as many tablets as you like,”
"Na-na, I will not buy it. I only want to see the pill. If it is the same one, then I will note down the name and ask my doctor of the dispensary to prescribe me the same medicine.”
It was Mr. Ghosh's turn to become upset. But he quickly regained his calm and found out an easy solution, "See, you can buy one piece from this strip and tear the foil to have a look at the tablet. If it is the same one, then your problem is solved. You will know the name of the medicine. But if it is not the same one, then you take the other strip to the doctor. Ask him to prescribe it, and when the medicine is issued to you, you can easily come to know if it was the same medicine."
“Yes, you are right. I will note down the names of both the medicines and ask the doctor to prescribe both. I need not to buy even a single tablet."
Badal da happily took out his mobile phone, and before Mr. Ghosh could realize, he took a photograph of both the strips and vanished.
Mr. Ghosh shouted at Hemant, "I have told you time and again, not to prescribe medicines. But you don’t pay any heed to me. Now, take away all the medicines from here and put them back in their proper places.”
Starting the day without ‘The Opening Sale’ from the first customer is not a good omen. But Mr. Ghosh did not want to show his irritation for Badal da in front of Hemant. He took out his spectacles and ran his eyes through the headlines of the News Paper that he had brought with him.
Hemant became angry. He showed his bitterness by speaking out his mind, "Whenever I see Badol da first in the morning, I get much scolding from you for no reason."
Mr. Ghosh took his eyes away from the News Paper and barked at poor Hemant, “Will you keep your mouth shut? I am already irritated because there is no ‘Bohni-batta' as yet, and you are irritating me even more.
Dr. Samanta was examining a patient when he saw Mr. Badal standing at the door of his chamber, waiting rather impatiently for his turn. He told him in a soft complaining voice, “Sir, let me complete examining this patient first. You, please sit down on the chair outside. I will call you when I am free.”
“No-no, I am not disturbing you. I am next in the turn. Please go ahead. I will wait,” Badal da explained.
Dr. Samanta rang the bell. When the Nurse entered the chamber, he motioned her to pull the curtain. The Nurse did the same. She then came out of the room and requested Mr. Badal to be seated. Badal da said he was quite comfortable, and he was next to go inside. He remained standing at the door peeping inside through the gap in the curtain, quite oblivious of doctor's irritation.
It took longer than Badal da expected. At last, the patient came out, and behind him, Dr. Samanta also emerged. Badal da saw him walking to the ‘Staff Toilet’. He waited for him to come back.
The patient behind him pleaded, "Sir, can you allow me to go and see the doctor first? I just got to get my medicines repeated for the month. It will hardly take a minute...I am on duty and took permission to come out of the ‘Works' with my Gate Pass for 2 hours only. I have to return in time."
“What are you saying? I also took permission to come out with my Gate Pass for this purpose. I, too, have to go back on time," answered Badal da with a hint of irritation in his voice, "Why don't you tell the doctor to see patients little faster? From my side, I will take only a couple of minutes."
Badal da entered the doctor's chamber just behind the doctor, and before the doctor sat in his chair, he showed him the photograph on his mobile phone screen, which he had taken this morning at the Medical Store. The doctor annoyingly asked, "What is this?"
"Doctor babu, this is the medicine I want. Look at my Medical Book. You have been treating me for many months without giving me any amount of relief. But this pill did wonders for me. Please prescribe these medicines.”
“How much of alcohol do you take every day?” asked the doctor.
“What do you mean? Why should I take alcohol? I have never touched a single drop of alcohol in my whole life ....... so far,” Badal da got bewildered.
"But then why are you asking for a medicine which is for chronic alcoholics with liver damage?"
Badal da looked at the photograph himself with confused eyes. He mumbled, "If it is so, then I also wonder how this medicine cured my disease. I swear I do not take alcohol."
Dr. Samanta was turning the pages of his Medical Book. He said, “Mr. Badal, please believe me, you do not need this medicine. You have some minor stomach ailment for which we are already giving you medicines. Have faith in us. You will get well soon…. I am repeating the medicines. ………OK?"
"No, But……. how can you say that I have a minor ailment? I am suffering so badly for the last two years or so."
“If you do not want the medicines to be repeated then excuse me, I have to see other patients also.”
Badal da argued, "If I do not get relief, then you must treat me with appropriate medicines……Now let me explain…. on one Sunday, when the dispensary was closed, I was too much in agony. So I had to buy some medicines from a Medical Shop. The boy in the shop gave me a pill. I took it and got immediate relief. Today when I asked him, he said he doesn't remember the name. So I took a photograph of the medicine which looked like the one he gave me that day……It was a light yellow elongated pill……"
The doctor was listening to him with boredom. The next patient peeped in and asked, “Sir, I only want to get my medicines repeated for the month. Can I come in?”
Dr. Samanta nodded. When he came in, he started writing the medicine slip for him. Badal da realized that the doctor was not listening to him.
“Doctor babu, are you listening?”
“Yah-yah, carry on. I am listening,” Dr. Samanta continued writing.
"Can you do me a favor? Can you prescribe these medicines?...... at least one or two pills?”
Dr. Samanta raised his head and smiled at him, "For that, Mr. Badal, you must have a damaged liver."
Badal da asked, “If someone takes this medicine not having a damaged liver, will it harm him?”
“See Mr. Badal, as a Company policy and ethically also, I cannot prescribe these medicines to you.”
"OK, can you tell me if one of these pills is light yellow-colored and elongated in shape?"
"How can you expect me to remember the color and shape of all the medicines in the world?" Dr. Samanta could not hold himself back.
“Doctor babu, please don’t get angry with me. Try to understand. If you think this was not the medicine that I took yesterday, then give me some medicine other than what you are already giving me. I want relief, and that's all," Badal da was not the kind of a person, who could easily be disposed of.
The other patient collected his medicine slips and medical book and went away. One more patient walked in and produced his medical book. Dr. Samanta again engaged himself in inscribing. Badal da felt neglected.
“Are you doing something for me?” he demanded.
Dr. Samanta stopped writing. Picked up Badal da’s medical book, wrote some medicines. Made medicine slip and handed it over to him, “You take this medicine three times a day for five days and see me after that.”
Badal da went to the medicine dispensing counter and collected the medication. But to his disappointment, they were white round tablets.
He showed the photograph of the medicine in his mobile phone to the dispenser and asked if there were yellow elongated pills in the stock. The dispenser answered calmly that the doctor had not prescribed those medicines for him. Badal da again pleaded, “Can you tear the strip and show me the pill?”
His request was turned down. Grossly disappointed by today's events, he rode back on his bike to his office. He decided to buy the ‘Magic Pills’ from Ghosh Pharmacy in the evening.
