Bakhat Bahadur Thapa
“Go to Kathmandu and seek treatment from your own government there,” the villagers said to the injured Maoist soldier Chandan. Listening to that of the neighbors, Rara brought her husband to Kathmandu.
There is a hospital in Kathmandu that provides special privileges in the treatment of war victims. Asking and searching for the same, Rara took her husband there.
On Sunday, at one o’clock, in the afternoon, Chandan’s name was registered in the hospital. Since the patient was brought from a remote area, the authorized employees started working on their own.
“Status and photos of the martyrs should have big eyes and should be kept on the hills, in the squares, offices, on the walls of the houses, and the calendars with proper decorations. Those big eyes will see the prosperity of the country and will continue to warn those who go astray. Chandan, who was injured in the people’s war is the son of our motherland, Nepal. To his treatment, priority will be given and no shortages will be allowed. We desire to see him deserve the prosperity of our country with his own eyes. Hail brave Chandan!” they shouted and took him to the operation theatre operating room.
“Ah, what a respectful place we have reached !” Rara was overjoyed.
After ten minutes, a doctor came out and ignored that Rs. three lakhs should be managed for the operation.
Rara was bewildered.
“Arrange it quick !” the voice startled her.
Hustling, she gave Rs. One lakh which she had for the remaining amount, she contacted her father-in-law, Parbat Pahadi, and asked him for immediate help.
Monday, exactly at 11 o’clock, two lakh rupees were transferred to the hospital’s bank account. Then, the preparation for the operation was made. Hurrying, a nurse came out and handed over a doctor’s prescription to Rara.
“What do I do of this ?” Rara asked.
“Go bring the prescribed medicines from the pharmacy downstairs. Just start walking.” The nurse seemed to be trained more for speaking rather than working. Along with the words that came out of her mouth, her lips, eyes, hands, and her body as well were moving playfully.
Rara ran towards the direction as pointed by the nurse holding the prescription in her hand.
As soon as she reached the ground floor, she saw a line of drug stores, there- she went to the third store showing the prescription, the pharmacist grabbed the paper. A plastic bag was kept ready and quickly the pharmacist started filling it with medicine bottles, injections, cotton bundles, and packets of tablets. The other one had a bill of Rs. fifty thousand ready. He handed over the bill to Rara.
“I have already given the money to the doctor.” Rara reached for the medicine bag.
“The money you gave to the doctor is for surgery. You have to pay us for the medicine.” Putting the bag towards him, the pharmacist said, “Didn’t they ask you to hurry up and bring the medicines? The operation must have been started by raw.”
Rara called her father-in-law from the same store and asked for money. Then she took off her pieces of jewelry from her rose, ears, and neck and kept it as a surety. She took the bag of medicines and left.
The nurse was standing at the door. She took the hold of the bag and entered the operation theatre and said, “Stay here, alright! if we need anything else, you will have to run/get it.”
Rara’s hands and feet were shaking with nervousness, wondering what/how would the doctors respond after the operation. There was a stool next to her but nobody asked her to sit. Rara couldn’t dare to sit on her own. When she got tired of standing, she fell to the ground and fell asleep. The nurse knocked her by the knee and asked, “Have you come here to sleep? OK, just run to the pharmacy with this prescription, there is a lot of bleeding.”
Rara reached the same store with the prescription. The pharmacist had the bag ready, similar to that he had given a while ago. He handed it to Rara. It took a while to make the bill. Rara held the bag and ran towards the operation theatre.
The nurse was standing at the door and was quickly tapping on her mobile phone.
“Good, you should be this fast.” The nurse grabbed the bag and entered the room.
The nurse returned a few moments later and said, “Ma’am, please come here.” Taking Rara to a large waiting room, she said, “Poor you! You have come along with the patient from so far, you must not have been able to sleep. Now, you may sleep peacefully.”
“How is my husband ?”Rara asked quickly as the nurse was in a hurry.
“Ma’am, leave that to us.” Nurse’s voice was getting smaller. She went out in a hurry answering, We will let you know if he regains his consciousness.”
***
The dream wakes up Rara in shock. She was sweating profusely. She looked around. There were three-four people more sleeping in the waiting room. It was dark outside. She took out her phone and stared at it she couldn’t understand. She put her finger on her tongue and then wiped her mobile screen. She, then again rubbed the screen on her sleeves and stared at it, leaning towards the light. It was already 12 a.m. She came out wiping her sweat, using one end of her wrapper/shawl. She saw two nurses going somewhere. She asked, “Sister, my husband was undergoing an operation, what happened ?”
“Ma’am ! The operation theatre is closed now. We will know about it tomorrow.” The nurses rushed in their direction.
Rara remembered god and returned to the waiting room. There was her bag. She took out her woolen shawl from the bag and sat there wrapping it around her head and shoulder. She began to visualize the dream she had seen a while ago- a crowd of white-clad people surrounded her. Some were blowing trumpets while some were playing flutes. Some were playing a large drum while some were creating a noise out of utensils. Suddenly, Chandan came out of nowhere, shouting, “Run Rara, run! Do not listen to these magicians’ music. Call out father from the village.” The magicians turned towards Chandan. They grabbed him at his legs and hands and took him to a room and locked him in. Rara had goosebumps remembering the dream.
Tuesday,
As soon as it started getting brighter outside, Rara set out in search of an operation theatre. To every man wearing a white apron/coat, having a stethoscope over it, she asked, “How is my husband ?” Some used to tell her that he was okay while some used to shake their heads as if they had no idea about it. She asked every woman wearing the white coat, “Sister, where is the operation room ?” She found the operation room after searching and asking around but she was stopped from entering the room. While she was insisting to enter, a security guard arrived. He took her to the same waiting room.
Again after two hours, Rara went to the operation theatre. There was a nurse at the door. The nurse tried to convince her and said, “Ma’am, you haven’t eaten anything. Aren’t you hungry? go and have something.”
“Where is my husband? I will eat with him.”
“You just go and sit there, I will be back soon.” The nurse returned her to the same waiting room.
After half an hour, the nurse came and said, “Ma’am! The particles of the gun are stuck in the veins. If we take out one, we find another. When we take out another, we find another one. The doctor is also exhausted. Another such particle has been spotted. That shall also be taken out. Please, go and bring these medicines.” She handed over the prescription to Rara.
This time too, the nurse looked in a rush. One of her hands was in her pocket. She took her hand out almost finishing what she had to say. In her hand was a mobile. She united her mobile to her ear and said, “Ok! ok! I am coming.” and walked away.
Rara reached the pharmacy. All of the money she received from the village was just enough to pay her dues. She gave the prescription to the pharmacist. The same bag of medicines and the bill were prepared. She called her father-in-law and requested the money, again. And she also shared what she saw in her dreams last night.
“Daughter were those white-clad people magicians or were they yogis ?”
“They were magicians, father.”
“This is a very bad omen, daughter. If they were yogis, it would have been a good omen. Just be careful, you might fall into the trap of the crooks.” Parbat Pahadi tried to convince but he knew she loved her Chandan more than anything else. He knew she needed nothing but her husband Chandan. When Rara said, “If my husband is no more, I will not live either. I do not have any infatuation and greed on this property. Whatever I have, I will use it on my husband’s treatment,” Parbat Pahadi was quiet. He then decided to pledge his hand and send money to Rara.
Rara took the medicine and gave it to the nurse saying, “I want to see my husband.”
When the nurse told her to be patient, she wanted to see a doctor and sat at the door. In half an hour, the doctor came and said that everything is fine except her patience. “Have faith in God, we are doing our best.”
Now it was the nurse’s turn. She grabbed Rara and left her in the waiting room.
One of the patient’s friends there said, “Ma’am! come here, I will say one thing.” She grabbled Rara and took her to a hotel and said, “If you want to see Chandan’s face, eat something. Chandan will be fine but you may fall sick.”
Rara ate for Chandan’s sake. After eating, she became restless. Then she went to the waiting room and dozed off. The feeling of waking up in the middle of the night was unforgettable. She thought she could not tell that to her father-in-law so she looked for a pen and a paper and wrote it down. And she was walking towards the operation room, the guard returned her.
Wednesday,
After waking up in the morning, she stood up near the operation theatre. Doctors and nurses were busy treating other people. They didn’t give her any attention. She too didn’t ask them about her husband. After some time, a nurse held her hand and took her to the waiting room.
Two-three hours later, Rara again went to the operation theatre.
“Ma’am, have your lunch now. You need to go get some medicines later,” Nurse said.
Rara turned and went to the pharmacy. The pharmacist didn’t ask for any prescription, the bill and the medicines’ bag were ready. The pharmacist handed it over to her. She then went to the operation theatre with the bag and the bill.
“Ma’am, you have become so much understanding,” the nurse said her teeth and took the bag with her inside.
“They have already told me understanding, why should I even get asked to wait ?”Rara went to the waiting room and waited for something different. Around five-seven minutes later, a nurse came, watched her, and left. She had fallen asleep while waiting for something. When she woke up, she was soaked with her sweat. She took out her pen and copy and started writing the dream.
Thursday,
Rara was wondering why she was expecting something different today. When she reached the operation theatre, she started breathing heavily. It was getting dark in front of her eyes, she slowly blanked out and started feeling dizzy. Just as the porter turns the wheel, she was being moved by some sort of energy, that day. While waiting for something new, night fell in front of her eyes but her mind was not ready to accept that. Nothing new was happening except weakness to her. She couldn’t sleep waiting for something new. All of a sudden, there were noises in the building. Staff started running here and there. Rara’s semes became more sensitive. She came out focusing at her ears. “The hospital’s director and main doctor are stuck in the lift,” she heard it but it wasn’t much of a deal to her. She went back again to her previous state.
“That’s a work of a demon! They were in a meeting till now, to get away from its terror. They were coming back from the meeting concluding that a priest will be brought tomorrow to conduct a peace ritual. Surprisingly, while going down, the lift stopped working. It is stuck in the middle. The generator has been started but the lift is still not moving/working.
These voices brought a different stream of energy into Rara’s body.
“Don’t talk about ghosts. I am scared,” someone said.
“As soon as I cheat, I get a slap.” The security guard moved to the front. “I am wondering when will this night duty be over. Yesterday, I made an excuse for my wife’s illness and got my friend on duty on my behalf. He also got two-four slaps. I asked him to help me today but he cussed me instead.”
“Even the elevator mechanic does not see any problem or damage but the elevator does not work.” He was running between floors saying everything looks fine.
Rara was listening to everything. “They deserve it,” she said into her mind.
She then tried to sleep to see her Chandan in her dreams but the happiness she got when she thought about it made her again feel sleepless.
Employees were seen sitting outside the elevator, waiting for their basses/donors to arrive.
Rara reached the operation theatre. It was closed. Returning to the same waiting room, she was already exhausted. The same exhaustion made her fall asleep. This time when she woke up, her face was covered with seriousness other than sweat. Similar to that of yesterday, today also she took out the same paper and pen from her pocket. She kept the paper on the table, started writing, and broke the nib of the pen. She folded the paper and slipped it into her hair and started laughing hysterically.
The watchman came and said, “Ma’am! Have you gone mad? Get up, let’s go down.”
Rara rolled her eyes and asked, “What time is it ?”
“Why ?” The watchman looked at his mobile,” It’s 12 o’clock at night.”
Rara tried to get up with the support of her hand but could not. The guard grabbed her and lifted her. He walked her slowly to the waiting room. Rara looked at the watchman when they entered the gate of the operation theatre. “We are allowed to go. I have come to pick you up to here today,” The watchman took her inside.
There, on a stretcher was a body covered with a white cloth. Nearby were the doctors and the nurses standing.
The doctor said, “Ma’am! Chandan needed treatment now and then. Unfortunately, today the doctor has been stuck in an elevator for four-five hours. Here, we couldn’t save your husband.” The doctor lifted the cloth and showed his face to Rara.
“Chandan !”Rara sighed and screamed and fell on Chandan’s body.
The doctor checked her pulse and said, “She is gone too.”
There, the elevator started working/running. Other people also came. They took the dead bodies of Rara and Chandan and placed them in the mortuary.
Friday,
Early morning, Parbat Pahadi’s phone rang. Wondering if there was Rara on the other side, he picked up the phone but could not recognize the number. He then received the call and said, “Hello………”
“Is there Parbat Pahadispeaking ?” someone asked.
“Yes, who is this ?” the old man listened carefully.
“Chandan died during the operation. Seeing him dead, his wife also died of heart failure. Treatment expense of Rs. four lakhs are due. Pay the amount as soon as possible and take the dead bodies of Chandan and Rara from here. The bill will keep on increasing as long as you don’t take the body away. Did you hear ?” The old man was shocked, surprised, and moved. He didn’t speak anything.
After a while, the old man muttered, “Chandan! My son, why did you leave me? I thought you would be fine and then ask you but now whom do I ask about those problems of our countrymen? For whose, rights and comforts have we fought? The ones who played the act of the dead and sat on the chair, are they the common people? Or are they the common people who carry guns and enter into the villages and do whatever they like? Or are they the doctors? They have asked me to bring four lakh rupees and take the dead bodies immediately. The poor daughter-in-law spent the rest of her life in Kathmandu in problems and breathed her last in her husband’s grief. Is she the common people? Or am I the common public? I could not go on my own and sent my daughter-in-law along with my son for treatment. Now, can I go bring those dead bodies? They should have died here if they had to die. I would have burned you there where I had burned my wife’s dead body. How can I go to Kathmandu to receive the dead bodies ?” The poor old man sat there in grief, in utmost pain.
The neighbor’s attention was drawn by the hoarse voice of Parbat Pahadi picking up the phone. The neighbors arrived there seeing him gazed into deep thoughts.
“Uncle, what happened ?” someone tried to bring him back to reality.
Parbat Pahadi becomes conscious and while explaining everything that happened on the phone. All the villagers gathered. Everybody helped raise money together. Ten people were sorted out and the old man was kept in the front. They went and got on the bus to Kathmandu.
Seeing the old man coming to the hospital, the staff happily started looking for the bill. Before paying the money, Parbat Pahadi expressed his desire to see the mortuary, and the body of Chandan was shown. Opening the other box, Rara’s body was also shown. As soon as he saw his daughter-in-law’s body, his eyes fell on her hair. The last time he had talked to his daughter-in-law, she had said, “Father, now you may have to come to Kathmandu. Even if we are not found, you will find a letter in my hair. I would like you to take appropriate steps only after reading it.”
The old man took out a paper from the hair of Rara’s dead body.
Everyone was surprised to see that.
The old man handed the paper to the educated boy who he had brought along with him and said, “Dear, please read out loud, so that everyone can hear what my daughter-in-law had written.”
The boy opened the letter and started reading out loud, “Father! You analyzed my first day’s dream very well but I was helpless. From the second day, I had no guts to share with you the dreams I saw so I started writing them. Here is the dream-
On the second day, I was not able to sleep and all of a sudden my shawl was pulled. I got up. I looked around. The light was on. Three-four people were sleeping in the room but I had no idea who pulled my shawl. I fell asleep thinking about the same. In the dream, I saw the same white-clad magicians playing their instruments. I was stunned to hear that. “Run! Rara, run !” screaming, my husband came out of nowhere. The magicians ran after him. He joined his hands and started begging, “Please spare us !” but the ruthless magicians took him away.
On the third day, a woman fed me for the sake of my husband. I had had something after so long, maybe because of this, I started falling asleep. Similar to that of last night, my shawl was pulled again. I woke up scared. The light was on. Three-four people were asleep. I was in my deep sleep too. I pulled my shawl back, wrapped it, and slept again. Again my shawl was pulled. I got up. I felt the black shadow hovering around me. “My Chandan !” I captured the shadows within my eyes and slept. As soon as I fell asleep, I saw those magicians again in my dream. They started playing instruments like the day before. I was falling unconscious and I was following/obeying what they said.
“No! Rara, no! Don’t give them anything. You better run. These butchers will reap you off and again cure you for no reason.” My husband came running, waving his hands. Those magicians took him under their custody. How could I run leaving him behind?
On the fourth day, I was expecting some more today. I wanted to. I wanted this drama to end but days passed so fast and there came another night. I was waiting for someone new. I didn’t want to sleep. I wondered if anything would happen in the dream. Maybe I was sleeping for these nights just to see the dream. I was worried. All of a sudden, there was chaos. Staff started running here and there. People started gossiping, “Someone is stuck in the elevator. Someone got haunted, some got beaten up by ghosts” Hearing all that, I got energy in my body. I got up and went to the operation theatre. It was closed. I came back to the waiting room tired and I fell asleep. Nobody came into my dream, neither those magicians nor my husband begging me to run. Was it a coincidence? I set out to find them in my dream. Magicians and sorceresses were hovering around the cage. Their teachers/leaders were locked in the cage. The cage was being heavily lung by my husband and he was saying, “Are you still going to look for a priest? Now it is your turn to suffer.”
The rope of the cage had cuts and the next was falling from my husband’s hand. My heart was pounding because of that painful scene. The behavior of those so-called magicians made me feel like I should help my husband immediately.
“Father ! The butchers of this hospital killed my husband and then ask me for medicines. A bag of medicines was made ready. I would take the package from the pharmacy to the gate of the operating room, and then they used to take the package back to the pharmacy. They would ask me to bring the medicine again. The pharmacist would give me the same package and made the bill of Rs. fifty thousand. Every day, I kept accumulating one-two bills in my pocket. My husband also knows. Please don’t pay the arrear amount and burn our bodies. We will not leave this hospital now.” -Rara.
Those who we’re listening to the writing had goosebumps all over their body. However, the hospital administration insisted on removing the bodies of Chandan and Rara after paying Rs. four lakhs.
Finally, Parbat Pahadi said, “Filing a complaint based on a dream and providing this letter as a piece of evidence shall not be considered. Paying the dues, where do I take these corpses? Money is needed even to burn the dead bodies. The desire of the deceased is also to stay in the same hospital. Do whatever you like to do.” With fears in his eyes, he returned to his village with the villagers.
The holy spirits of Chandan and Rara ruled over the hospital. Some of the employees of the hospital ran away while some became the prey. Eventually, the hospital was reduced to rubble. Now, every night the thrilling noise of the spirits is heard all night long.
Search…search…where are the doctors hiding? Search…search
Translated by Sindhiya Shrestha
Good story..