This happens only in India

Yesterday Ranjan and his favourite girls (picture taken BC - before cancer - )went to the super speciality hospital to get the much awaited - by others, not much by me - PET Scan and the needed Lung Test that we call the phou phou test as it involves blowing in a tube. I think it was an all time first for Ranjan as I do not remember him as the kind of dad who blew birthday balloons, that was the minions job, at best he would watch cigar in mouth and give instructions no one wanted, but most of the times he would be on the golf course barely making it in time for the birthday cake. Anyway the tests were done though it took forever and the poor man was not even allowed to read while waiting for the dreaded radioactive substance to be absorbed by his body. For God sake he was not having a brain scan and there I was hoping he would finish his book. Anyway the scans and tests were done and to the question: when do we get the results, the answer was day after tomorrow for the scan and the same evening for the phou phou one! I had scheduled the scan three days before the chemo because I wanted to show the results to people I trust, and there I was told I would get them the evening before chemo 7.

Now for the questions you may all be asking yourselves: why 3 days! Come one darlings this is India and today is a HOLIDAY! Yes one of the umpteen holidays that keep increasing to appease or woo one section of the society or the other. Vote banks you see! When I was a Government Servant, yes I was for less than a year as a Translator Announcer in the French division of All India Radio circa 1971, we never had holidays for Rakhi or Karva Chauth or Chatth Puja. Come to think of it in those days no one knew what Chatth Puja was as it is very specific to eastern UP and Bihar and I had heard of it because my father told me his mom kept it. Today with the exponential increase in migrants from those areas it is a holiday and festivities are attended by top politicos! Woo the vote bank. Anyway apologies for digressing. What I wanted to say that in our office where we needed to broadcast 365 days, we worked on those days and had compensatory offs. Now to me airports, hotels and of course hospitals should also work 365 days and 24 hours so a super speciality hospital that charges a bomb should be a city that never sleeps!

But that is not all. Today morning I set out bright and early to get Ranjan's phou phou report and hoping to try and find out if I could not get the scan report sometimes in the day tomorrow. Would you believe me if I told you that I could not reach the hospital. Wonder Why? Well today being Eid, all roads leading to the hospital were blocked as the hospital is situated next to a mosque and morning prayers were on. I found my was back empty handed of course, but imagine if someone had to reach the hospital for an emergency.

But then this happens only in India!

After I ended this post the driver came back empty headed though he reached the hospital once prayers were over. The reason: counter closed!!!