Amazing Grace
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To The Nursing Staff of A1 Ward and to the Parsi General Hospital, Mumbai:
Every time a hospital stay draws to an end, I am struck anew with the grace under pressure of our nursing staff. The nurses. The smiles, the loving care, never a harsh or thoughtless word. Their reassuring accents (for a Southern girl, memories of home), the chirping sound of their cheerful voices (Good morning, Pappa, they greet my dad) . You can tell these are gently brought up girls, innocent almost. But there is such a backbone of steel running through them. A determination to make good their life. Even when hurting, careless patients and families often and unfairly reprimand, blame or admonish, those sweet smiles, the cheerful greetings to us hardly ever waver. Even when God like doctors frown and growl, they quake and look downcast for a brief moment. Then they shake it off with a shrug and a discreet roll of the eyes. Young girls living in the most horrendous conditions in big cities, very far from home. Travelling long distances, working longer hours. Who knows what tears and troubles they hide behind their smiles? Amazing grace.
The Sisters in charge of the wards are a whole different ball game. Steely eyed, stern, hard working ladies who look like they have long forgotten what it meant to be young and giggly nurses. And then, when you least expect it, standing nervously in front of them as they lambast you and their young nurses in equal measure for some mistake or error….a twinkle in those eyes, a wry smile or a smothered chuckle. Doctors could learn a thing or two from their bedside manner. Unflappable, they exude a feeling of the utmost calm. A shelter in the storm, the anchor holding us all together.
Amazing grace.
And the non nursing staff. Cheerful gents in gandhi caps and matronly ladies in starched white sarees, who announce their frequent visits to the room with clinks and clanks as they clean and tidy and reassure….they crack a joke to elicit watery smiles or look discreetly away, as the occasion demands.
Amazing grace.
The corridors of this beautiful hospital. Mostly empty and silent, allowing moments of quiet solitude and drowsy reflection. Old, carved wooden furniture lies scattered at intervals, providing repose from the urgency within the hospital rooms. Checkered floors of black and white and pale cream walls. Very monochrome and elegant. The reflections of sunshine and moonlight in these long passages – did the architect visualise these stretches of a photographer’s dream when he designed this building? The view from up there is a glorious, life affirming green. The beautiful old trees, the gardens laid out below often heal the hidden hurts better than anything a doctor prescribes. Older and long term patients, especially, spend long hours gazing out at the gardens. The birds visit them and keep them company. Sometimes their human families visit too.
Amazing Grace.