Tears of remorse

Arti Rai

It was one of those rainy days of the monsoon season when one cannot differentiate between day and night only by looking at the clock. At 4 pm it seemed as if it was already midnight. Mr. Sharma was moving slowly in his car with his wife when he saw an injured young man lying by the roadside. Mr. Sharma took him to the hospital. The young man was fighting between death and life. Dr. Dinesh wanted the police to come and take the young man’s statement before the operation. He called the police. Inspector Mathur was heavily drunk when he picked up the phone. “Hello sir, this is Dr. Dinesh calling from the civil hospital.” In a confused voice inspector Mathur replied “Yes doctor sahib, who is going to die in your hospital now?” He slammed down the phone on his table and took a nap. He woke up after one hour and went to the hospital to record the statement of the patient. A moment later, he saw his own son on the stretcher being carried by two health workers towards the morgue. A tear of remorse fell from his eye.