"Living Life .... Practically"

"Living Life .... Practically"

there is unwritten rule in europe ... you should not fall sick on weekends or die on weekend ...everything here needs planning and even falling sick or to die ... nobody has time to care for you or offer condolence in the weekends ...
the entertainment begins with the start of the weekend but everything else ends here ...
so if you tell somebody that you are sick and want to see a doc on weekend ... you get a prompt reply
" are you sick? this is a weekend .... Man go to disc ...have a glass of beer dance whole night and you will be alright or else wait until Monday and if you are alive then go and see a doc on Monday"
Believe me this is the only diagnosis or condolence anybody could offer you ... i tend to be cautious and make sure always that i'm fit or also people around me are also fit for the weekend.
We experienced this not a long ago when one of my colleagues travelled from Chennai to Nuremberg for the first time. I don't know how many of you know him but it's Karthik (Anyways it is not a real name). He was not well and on one Friday morning he came to me saying he is not well and he needs a pain killer.
I have explained him how difficult it is to find a doc on weekend and it would be great if we could go and see a doc right away so that we don't land up in trouble over the weekend if the situation really worsens. For some reason he was reserved and he said he can manage with one pain killer. I could arrange one pain killer for him but throughout the day I kept enquiring about his health and he always said it's ok and it would be alright. This is typical indian mentality of not seeing a doc unless things go to worse. He did exactly that and waited patiently. Finally he came to me in the evening around 17:00 and said "Sachin, I can not tolerate the pain I have boils all over on my thighs. I feel we should go and see a doc?"
I could not offer him a weekend remedy as he was first time traveller and would have really felt bad. Our journey began to find a doc. Believe me India is such a wonderful country where service is readily available round the clock. Sometimes it does not matter how good is the service but the fact that it is available. We searched on the net and could find one place for emergency. The emergency here does not necessarily mean the urgency but also availability. We were relieved to find one hospital close to our office and we went there. The lady doctor had a look at the problem and advised to see a specialist. Here doctors are very reserved in diagnosing and they do not diagnose anything which does not fall in their area of specialisation as they fear the wrong diagnosis would cost them their job or hell lot of money if the other party sues them. She advised to see a specialist and gave one address which was too far. All of a sudden Karthik started feeling that he is very sick as he needs to see a specialist. I advised him this is how everything works here if you are not lucky even for this small issue they would ask you to go through HIV test, blood test et al and does not mean you have AIDS or cancer. So don't worry we have to go through all this as streamlined process. I don't think anybody in that state would be relieved unless seeing a doc. We decided to continue our search for a doc.. oh! I mean the right specialist...I hate medicine profession ... if you look at an engineer, he has solutions for your problems but a doc never has ... you don't realise but actually it's always the patient which gives the solution to a doc ... a good doctor is more talkative and in one of your answers he finds a solution ... and you think he is a good doctor ...

After travelling for an hour we came to the biggest hospital in europe and i could see Karthik was getting mentally sick. He was feeling as if he is suffering with big disease.
You need a passport for registration at the hospital and we finished the registration and we were waiting for a call. Our turn came and we went inside there was one gentleman and I just felt like asking him
"Doc!, it's a weekend ... what are you doing here din you go to a disc or a pub "...
Looking at Karthik I kept quite and was watching. I was standing there as a mental support to him helping them to communicate with each other. This is any Indian would do. Less I knew that it was seen differently here...
Karthik explained him the problem. I also tried to explain in German English which he could understand than plain english. He had a careful look and giving me strange look for a while he asked Karthik
" Did you guys have sex last night"
I was serious as such things are normal here ... i mean such questions are normal here. But unfortunately Karthik was blushing and the way he was blushing i thought we really did ... For a moment I was silent and I realised I have a task to make doctor believe we did not ... Karthik obviously did not expect that question and he was Oh My God just blushing ... If i had asked Karthik to say no then the doc would have definitely doubted me ... that i'm forcing him and if I had said no then he would not have believed me looking at the way Karthik was blushing ... i was silent for a while and i had to break the silence ... i realised that to prove your innocence sometimes you have to accept the blames so that other person speaks the truth ...I broke the silence ...
"Yes Doc! but not yesterday, a day before yesterday"
Now Karthik realised what's going on and he immediately responded,
"No No Doctor, he is just kidding ... it's not like that ...i don't him at all ...we never talked before I came to Germany ... he just came with me"
I was smiling but this is what exactly I wanted him to say before and I interrupted him
"Yes doctor I'm kidding ... this is not common in India and we are indians living in Germany as indians"
We convinced him and he had simple treatment ... doctor wrote one medicine and handed over the prescription ...
When karthik had a look at the medicine he was totally frustrated ...
"Oh man we took so much of trouble to find a right doc who prescribed me a medicine for which I have paid Euro 25 which is available in India for Rs 25 ... even without prescription ... that means it was just a minor infection .... oh no! "
I could give him only advise
"Karthik, please keep in mind that when you travel on short duration, it is good to carry all medicines you may need which you can use in case of emergency as it is difficult to find a doc and here no medical shop would sell medicines without prescription from a local doc...and pls don't blush like that and we have no girl with us and we have no option but to go around together for next few days till you are here and pls keep distance while walking ..."
I was wondering what people around think of me ... "hey! this guy is always going around with guy and keeps changing his boy friends" ...you see I have no option as most of them who visit are boys ....i could only wish for good things ...