Mending Broken Hearts

15. Months Gone By

October 2019

Madiha

The crisp cool Fall air blew wisps of curled hair into my eyes as I stood at the train station waiting for the East bound train to Chicago. It was past 8 in the morning, much later than when I had left for work almost all of my residency. That's because being a senior resident had its perks. One being a research elective that came with flexible hours, and a workload that was just about manageable.

I often ended up working late at night. Research papers do not write themselves, after all. But it was always from home, in my pajamas, under my comfortable duvet.

In summary, life was good.

Well, for the most part.

Every now and then ugliness would rear its head. Like this morning when Ami suggested that we talk to a woman in our community who was the self-proclaimed queen of all rishta aunties.

***Flashback***

Abu laughed, "Isn't Moin too young to get married?"

My college going brother jumped off his seat with indignation which matched my mother's when she glared at her husband.

"Aye hai, Moin ki tou poori zindagi pari hai abhi. Mein Madi ke liye baat karna chahti houn. Maybe Shagufta can find a rishta for her before Maliha's wedding"

(Moin has all his life ahead of him. I want to talk to her about Madi)

"Absolutely not. We are not talking to Shagufta. Apni beti ko humiliation se phir nahi guzarne doun ga mein," Abu had retorted immediately.

(I will not let my daughter go through humiliation again)

"She has to get married one day, Ahmed. Why not see if we can find someone before February. Do you know the kind of things people will say when they find out that Maliha is getting married before her elder sister?"

I am not even sure where I got the courage from, maybe it was the chocolate croissant I was happily eating before the bickering between my parents. Whatever it was, I opened my mouth and regurgitated the words that came to mind.

"Why blame other people, when you say exactly what you are afraid they would?"

I picked up the chocolate croissant, and walked out of there with my head held high. Abu applauded, Ami fumed.

I didn't care.

***End***

I swallowed the last morsel of the chocolate croissant, and smiled. For once, I had refused to look at myself through the eyes of others, when all they wanted to do was bring me down. Sadly, the 'others' included my mother.

Omar

I was rotating on General Medicine this month. If I thought the ICU was grueling, this was a whole other level of torture. The patients were less sick, so they moved in and out of the hospital much more frequently. And smack in the middle of flu season, that meant being buried in paperwork up to my elbow every day on top of taking care of 25-30 patients on our service.

"When do you get time to study?" Elijah asked. He was my co-intern this month. Basically, my partner in misery.

"Who said I have any time to study?" I replied, stifling a yawn as we walked towards the resident's noon conference.