Given my personality (mostly introvert) and current state (still going single and ready to mingle), I am given the gift (?) of going down the memory lane quite often. It gets better when you visit a place where so much happened, like your earlier work place, that too after 8 years.

I, along with Buva, went to Apollo hospitals to get an appointment for conducting angio for his father. Being such a huge commercial hospital, they should do something about parking space. One gets a parking slot, so far away from the hospital. May be they are spreading the gospel of ‘walking is good for health’!

While at the Cardiology section, this is how my conversation with the secretary went:

Me: Mam, I need to see the doctor.
She: Go sit there and wait
(Wow, what a service! I could’ve come there for consulting him, as like most; or to sell something, like some medical reps; or to seek permission to take his cute daughter out for dinner, which some insane person like me would do – that might answer why I’m still single! Anyway, I thought I’d clarify myself)
Me: I’ve come to get an appointment from Dr to conduct angio.
She: Ya, Go sit down there. We’ll call you.

I didn’t want to aggravate her further. In my experience, one thing I learnt: Don’t piss off the secretary. You may never get to see the doctor. So we went and sat down.

After I bored Buva with all the interesting events (his expressions were, what was so interesting about it anyway) that happened, I went back to her to check.

She looked at me as if she is seeing me for the first time. It somehow went with my expectation. Little bit of explanation and she requested (ordered would be a right word to go with her tone) for medical records. Another boring session for Buva, before we were called in.

I was more than elated when he recognized the ‘computer man’. After checking with the records and few preliminary questions, he gave us an appointment for Monday evening.

One striking factor is the growth of the hospital. Sindoori hotel is annexed to the hospital. The hospital is so crowded and there is no one to guide the otherwise worried and lost patients and relatives. Customer service and empathy are getting lost in the commercialization of the hospital.