Its been over  three years since I posted anything on my blog. But this seemed to be a fitting way to return to blogging. Perhaps the bright lights of Diwali had something to do with it.

Last week my mother was admitted in hospital due to low electrolyte levels. Doctors put her in the acute care unit for observation. My father called and asked me to come over to Hyderabad to help him.  He tried to sound calm and collected. But I knew that he was finding it stressful to handle things all by himself in Hyderabad.

I wanted to fly to him immediately. But he asked me to come the next day. I arrived home the next afternoon and by early evening, my father and I went to the hospital. Although visiting hours were from 5pm to 7pm, it was not applicable for the ACU. There visitors were permitted - one at a time - to see their loved ones only for an hour in the morning.

A fierce looking security guard barricaded the entrance to the ACU while anxious family members surrounded her with requests to be permitted to see their loved ones. She sternly refused every single one of them.

With a lot of trepidation I approached her and asked if I could be allowed to see my mother. She gave me a stare then asked my mother's name.

"Wait here. I'll ask if they will let you in" she snapped.

My father and I paced the floor outside the ACU for the next ten minutes while she continued swatting away  relatives much as she would have done flies.

A while later, she beckoned me "Block B, Bed No. 3. You can stay only for five minutes.Since you haven't seen your mother at all, I requested the duty doctor to permit you to meet her" was all she said.

"Thank you!" I said, very moved.

She need not have done that. Her job was only to see that relatives did not heckle the medical staff with their anxiety. And dealing with this, all day, everyday, can make a person snappy and irritable.

Yet, amidst all that, she noted the people who came to the ACU, as people with individual stories. And also had the humanity to see that exceptions could be made once in a while.

May her tribe increase!