An hour is a collection of 3600 seconds but what if in this hour you
are counting your last breath? What if you realize that you have so
much left to do and then time is running out for you, family is our
support, but they cannot be around you? Who brought this disaster
upon our mankind that wants to destroy this human race? What
can be done in this situation that I am in? Why am I locked up in
this room with these perilous micro-creatures instead of my loved
ones, she was fetching echoes of her past lying on her sickbed with
dyspnea. "Oxygen cylinder will last for one hour more" she
whispers in her mind and closed her swelled eyelids to cease tears
and catches the glimpse of the vivid future she has always dreamt
about, "I don't want to miss my baby's first smile, the moment
when she utters Mumma with her small lips" she begs god whom
she believes is everywhere, who listens to her every wish and will
eventually, resolve all her worries. "Are you listening? This is so
unfair! Why is this happening to my family?!" 'She puts a question
with soft mind-voice to that power with her wept eyes looking at
the ceiling and pleads by saying "please give me a few more days,
what will happen to my daughter after me?" as she started
questioning the existence of the superpower.
"Mrs. Ridhima are you okay?" a familiar woman wearing a PPE kit
enters the room. Ridhima turns her eyeballs toward Dr. Reema
Das, "Hey! Do u know I just read your chest radiograph and you
have improved!" she tried comforting her but Ridhima knew about
the situation that the hospital doesn't have any more oxygen
cylinders as a shiny drop of water fell out of her eye, Dr. Reema
noticed her patient's tear and said "I told this to Abhinav also, he is
arranging an oxygen cylinder for you and soon this cylinder will be
replaced by a filled one" the doctor pointed toward the 20% filled
cylinder. But Ridhima was already exasperated watching that
cylindrical metal body and turned her sight toward the birds
singing outside the window on the Neem tree as to calm herself.
Ridhima herself being a science teacher realized that worry will
only increase her heartbeats causing the heart to beat faster which
will further lower oxygen. Dr. Reema has no more words to succor
and left the room to ring Abhinav, but Abhinav didn't respond as
he was searching for oxygen for his wife whom he knows needs
action rather than comforting talks.
Abhinav has checked more than 23 hospitals in the city but he
didn't find any extra oxygen cylinders, withholding tears in his
eyes he was driving his car with the medical documents of his wife on
the empty roads of the city. "We just got married" as he recalled his
marriage in his tired and sweaty clothes, with hopelessness seen
evidently on his face. He knew he was witnessing a very tragic end
to the day with no help from anywhere. Then he saw a board
outside a local shiv temple. 'We are here to help: you are not alone
was written on that board and a contact number was mentioned
below it. "I have searched for oxygen everywhere at every hospital
of the city, will this number help?" Abhinav asks himself as he dials
the phone number starting with eight five three.
"Hello!" a person accepts the call;
"Hello sir, I am outside the Shiva temple standing in front of your
signboard" Abhinav replied and further said, "I need urgent
oxygen".
"What's your name?" The person asks;
"My name is Abhinav Mishra, sir" he replied "my wife doesn't have
more time sir, please tell me fast if you can help?" and he started
crying on call.
"Just Whatsapp your wife's details, medical documents, and hospital
address," the stranger person said and Abhinav immediately sent
him all documents which were already saved in his phone.
"Thank you, Abhinav, do pray in the Shiva temple for others also"
and the stranger person hangs up the call.
The stranger person left Abhinav in confusion with many
questions "who was the person I was talking to? How will he
arrange oxygen when I didn't find any? Why does he ask me to
pray when I don't have time to do so?" Abhinav was in such a
deserted situation where he had no water in his surroundings and
he finally went inside the temple to ask Lord Shiva to save the
breath of his wife and the mother of the child whose eyes were as
shiny as of Ridhima. "Lord Shiva, you have given me such a sweet
wife, a beloved daughter and now you want to take it back?"
Abhinav was angry and he asked Shiva further holding tears in his
eyes "what will I do without them? I know the mistake is all mine
I should have not brought my friend home for the party, don't
punish my innocent daughter and wife for my sins" Abhinav said.
Meanwhile, Ridhima has left with only 15% oxygen, and doctor
Reema was concerned about 4 more patients also who were on a
ventilator. Dr. Reema doesn't want her patients to die, it has been
10 years that she had been practicing and she had never remarked
on such an incident in her entire life. The white coat that she wears
every day standing in front of the mirror is not for the sense of
pride but a symbol of responsibility that she exhibits towards every
patient which enters the reception and asks for the care of Dr.
Reema. Dr. Reema was restless and she was calling the oxygen
supply company again and again, "please receive, my call! Don't
cut it please" she said in a very low voice. "Dr. Reema patient
number 12 has 6% oxygen, what should we do as he is restless and
requesting to see his grandson," the nurse told Dr. Reema which
made her more anxious and her hands started shivering. She felt
like a warrior who knows that she will be defeated as her
maximum soldiers are already killed by the enemy and had limited
time to bring more soldiers to save her kingdom. Dr. Reema's
soldiers are the oxygen cylinders that were falling short and the
next lot of cylinders were not being made available. "Okay I am
coming," she said in low voice and went to see her patient. She
enters the room of her patient who was restless on the bed and
staring at her with hope. "Call my grandson" he presented his last
wish to the doctor as he knows he will die soon and tears started
flowing from his eyes. "Relax Mr. Sharma, don't lose hope over life.
I will save you and you still have time" Dr. Reema relaxed him and
asked the nurse to dial a video call at his home and the nurse did the
same. Dr. Reema looked forward to a ray of hope and went to the
hospital temple. Looking into the god's eyes she asked him in her
mind "why you made me a doctor if today I can't save the innocent
lives of my patients, I completed my M.B.B.S and my M.D. with so
much dedication, I was the topper because of the capabilities I have
and I never failed my exams, but why are you failing me this time".
"Please give me some hope at least" she begs god by kneeling in
front of him. Suddenly her phone rings and she quickly receives
her phone call by saying "hello".
"Hello, Dr. Reema come to room number 112 urgently," a heavy
voice who was in a panic said "Okay I am coming," she said
and rush towards room number 112 where patient number 12 had
only 2% oxygen and was breathing heavily because of panic. His
eyes were losing their color, he was fighting the last minutes of life
and death situation, his hands were shivering and his face was full
of fear. "You said you will save me!" he remarked in a shaky voice
and turned his face to the other side. Then there was just silence.
Meanwhile, Abhinav was in the temple and waiting for the call of
the Stanger person. "Did he arrange oxygen? why that person is
not calling me back? It has been 10 minutes since I am waiting"
Abhinav was scared and impatient to take instant action and he
dialed that number again and wondered which husband in the
world would want to pray when he knows that sitting over one
place will not help, only his active work will determine the
consequences. "Hello Abhinav, do not worry I have arranged the
oxygen cylinder and will reach the hospital in 15 minutes" the
stranger picks up the call and assures Abhinav.
"How did you arrange it, wait, are you lying?" Abhinav asked but
the unknown stranger person hangs up the phone. "I should not
have believed anyone" Abhinav regrets and rushes toward the
'Melive' oxygen-producing company which was 3 minutes away
from the hospital. Abhinav started crying and when he stepped
outside the temple he heard someone else crying, first, he tried to
ignore the crying but then he remembers the saying for the stranger
"do help others" and he got inquisitive by the voice and went to see
what the outcry was about. The voice was coming from the slum
in front of the temple where an old lady was crying because her
son was SARS-CoV-2 positive and she didn't have enough money
to purchase Remdesivir and Hydroxychloroquine medicines. Dr.
Abhinav, being sympathetic, was hearing her pain from a distance
and he gave his all money in his wallet to that old lady and said
"ye lo amma" and left in hurry.
"Oh! God save me, please, if I know that my carelessness will make
I lie on the bed then I would have been alert, but only 10% breath
is remaining and I have so much to say to my daughter" as Ridhima
wonders laying on the bed, she further ponders "my beautiful
the flower must be crying to see me, as my baby knows my touch but
I pray she stops crying and stops missing me because Mumma will
never able to kiss you again, a mother is a symbol of care but I am
going far away from you, forgive me my darling" While thinking
all of this her eyes were red and she suddenly remembered the old
man who was lying on her side bed when she was bought up in
the hospital who has a small grandson "wait, what's the situation
of Mr. Sharma? Is he alive?" and she relaxes by thinking that
everyone has to die someday and maybe this is the end of her
destiny. Dr. Reema Das was sitting in her room with no rays of
hope and she was crying, this silence in the hospital and in the
heart of Dr. Reema was the symbol of her failure " now I have only
four people to save" she said this to herself and steps up to ask for
the help of the government. She dials the number of the chief minister
office, and the health minister's office but no one receives her calls. "Maybe
the government is also helpless, there are so many patients in the
city who might be in the same position, as the virus spreads
the more sadness it spreads along with it" Reema was analyzing
the situation of hospitals, administration, and government & then
out of nowhere, she notices that her phone is ringing, Abhinav
called Dr. Reema after reaching the 'melive' company to confirm
her wife's situation. Reema das tells Abhinav that his wife has only
10% oxygen. "Did you find any oxygen cylinders" Dr. Reema ask.
"Yes they are saying that after one hour they will talk" and he
started crying on the phone "please keep her alive for one hour"
and he again started crying but Reema das remained silent. After
a few minutes of silence, she said "Dr. Abhinav it's time to see your
wife for the last time, come fast" and she cuts the call in utter
disappointment. Abhinav is himself a doctor and but it was for the
first time in his life when his degree was of no use and as a perfect
husband he searched for oxygen at every possible place. "I
remember she was wearing a purple jacket when I saw her in OPD,
her left leg was injured. Ridhima's eyes were as shiny as
moonshine and her hair were openly flowing with the air" Dr.
Abhinav recalls his first meeting "how careless and clumsy she
always been, I still remember she broke her left leg when she was
walking on stairs but she always makes me happy, how can I say
goodbye to the piece of my soul? How will I face her with this face
of disappointment?" and a large drop of water rushed down from
his eyes. Dr. Abhinav does want to see her for the last time, so he
started his car with a heavy heart and tears in his eyes. He again
recollects his promise while driving on the empty road to the
hospital and think "I told her that I will always take care of her each
time, what will I tell to my daughter?". While Dr. Reema was in her
office with flailing hope of positivity, suddenly her phone rings
again…
"Hello!" the person on the other side said
"Hello, who is it?" Dr. Reema asked him
"My man is standing with 15 oxygen cylinders on your hospital
door," the person told doctor Reema which was a piece of miracle
news that she wasn't expecting and then he cuts the call. Dr. Reema
wanted to thank him and she instantly asked the security to enter
that truck with a lifeline. She tried calling back that number, but it
was unavailable. Meanwhile, Dr. Abhinav also reached the
hospital with grief in his eyes but on the entrance, he saw a truck
on which "angles of Shiva" was written. "Is this truck is of that
stranger person?" Abhinav thinks and runs immediately to meet
doctor Reema das. "How is everything," Abhinav asked doctor
Reema with the slightest of hopes in his eyes.
"We have 15 oxygen cylinders," she said with a smile and hugged
him with tears of happiness in her eyes. And Abhinav kneels on
the ground, sighs a breath of relief, and thanks lord Shiva in a
weeping voice. It was the happiest moment of his life. "Dr.
Abhinav, how did you arrange this? Do you know who the person
who sent all these cylinders is" Dr. Reema asked. Do you know,
you have just managed to save the life of your dear one!!!?"
"Yes I do, it was lord Shiva who taught me "BENEVOLENCE IS
AFFLUENCE" Dr. Abhinav replied with a happy smile.
"Ha-ha! Absolutely Doctor, do you want to see your wife now" Dr.
Reema asked.
Nodding his head and a smile on his face Abhinav enters the room
Ridhima was looking into the eyes of the men wearing PPE kit and
asked "how much time will I live?!"
"You will live till the time our daughter will have our
grandchildren" Abhinav replied and laughed with tears of
happiness in his eyes.
