Rowdy Doctor (standard:Flash, 1412 words)
Author: Juggernaut	Added: Oct 31 2010	Views/Reads: 3217/2283	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
A sad story of a doctor's wife.

Click here to read the first 75 lines of the story

his real name since everyone called him “Rowdy Doctor.”  And he 
accepted the title. 

People from upper caste to the poor needed the services of Rowdy Doctor.
Some women visited Rowdy Doctor without the knowledge of their families 
while others were brought by their relatives. He never asked how or 
under what circumstances the women got pregnant or why they wanted an 
abortion. His clients visited late at nights in rickshaws. Every 
rickshaw puller in town knew the location of Rowdy Doctor's clinic. He 
rendered his services for a small fee in cash and demanded no prior 
appointment for a visit. 

Juggernaut's family was distantly related to Rowdy Doctor.  Rowdy
Doctor's wife, a diminutive woman visited Juggernaut's home unannounced 
once in a while. Always wearing a white sari, she appeared fragile and 
sickly. Juggernaut first encountered Rowdy Doctor's wife when he was 
young. He was playing with his older sister on a small open trailer 
belong to his neighbor. A woman hurriedly entered the premises as if 
someone was chasing her with incoherent smile on her face.  Her looks 
were distinctly paranoid almost like a mad woman. Juggernaut jumped 
from the trailer screaming for help and ran passed the woman towards 
his house. The woman followed him into his house timidly only to be 
welcomed by Juggernaut's mother. After exchanging social formalities 
and chatting, Juggernaut's mother offered her buttermilk in a glass. 
The woman gulped the contents as if she was really thirsty and placed 
the glass on the ground.  Standing behind their mother, Juggernaut and 
his sister observed all this. After her departure, Juggernaut came to 
know who the woman was and realized that she was neither mad nor crazy 
but a very depressed woman. From that time onwards, any time she 
visited, Juggernaut used to scream that Rowdy Doctor wife was coming. 

On a few occasions, Rowdy Doctor's wife brought along her daughter.  
The girl, the same age as Juggernaut, was thin and unusually very fair 
skinned compared to brown skin south Indians. With high cheekbones, 
sharp nose, brown eyes and hair, she was beautiful and foreign looking. 


Juggernaut was very much wished to play with the girl, but was afraid to
ask her, as she always hides behind her mother. 

On one rare occasion when Rowdy Doctor's wife was chatting with
Juggernaut's mother, he asked her daughter “do you want to play?” 

She was too shy even to answer but her mother said “go and play with
him.” 

The girl's name was Shoba. After playing for some time she left with her
mother without even saying good bye. Shoba was really shy and 
unaccustomed to playing with strangers. 

On subsequent visits, Shoba was more relaxed and playful with
Juggernaut. “Where do you live?' asked Juggernaut. 

“Somewhere out there,” she replied. 

“What does your father do?” 

Shoba thought for a moment and said “Doctor.” 

“What kind?” 

“I don't know,” she replied. 

Juggernaut played hide and seek, then jumped up and down on the
neighbor's trailer with Shoba. Shoba was so delicate she sought help 
and attention all the time. As time passed, Rowdy Doctor's wife visits 
became sparse and eventually she stopped coming altogether much to 
Juggernaut's disappointment. 

Many years went by since Rowdy Doctor's wife stopped coming to
Juggernaut's house. One day, his mother showed a wedding invitation. It 
was the wedding of Shoba; the shy girl who visited years ago with her 
strange mother. 

Apparently, Rowdy Doctor spent too much time with his clientele and also
drinking ‘aruk' a cheap alcoholic drink brewed from toddy palm sap.  
His wife, ignored and neglected by her husband went into depression. 
She found solace in the company of the Muslim tailor who rented their 
veranda, eventually she ran away with him.  Neighbors believed that 
Shoba's real father was the fair skinned Muslim tailor not the Rowdy 
Doctor. Shoba was later given away for adoption to her distant 
relatives. 

Juggernaut attended Shoba's wedding and tried to make an eye contact
with her but she did not appeared to recognize him. She was beautiful 
in her wedding dress but appeared mysterious perhaps it was all 
Juggernauts' imagination knowing her hidden past. 


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