The vaccination for yellow fever proved to be quite an experience! Uday had professed "Amra ek din hoi hoi kore jabo , injection nite" ! And what a "hoi ! Hoi ! " it was !
At office as soon as we declared that we are going for the YF vaccination..the usual horrified exclamation was " Tomader dujoner i hoyeche ?" :) :)
It was our second visit at the "Marine House"- the first one was futile as Bhaskar's peon had bluffed , and our names were not listed ! The next day saw us sitting on the narrow wooden bench with the sole fan rotating as a consolation prize on a hot , stuffy Kolkata afternoon ! A man limped into the place with a list and called out the names ...to an anxious audience ! None responded, so he gleefully declared " Keu asheni!" to a roomful of vaccination aspirants ! We let out protests of various degrees...to which he looked at the list again and said "Oh bhool hoye geche !" in the style of "mistake ! mistake" aka Sonar Kella :) He was reading from a list that was meant for a date a month back ! He trotted back and got a list ...the photocopy so faint that the names were almost illegible..and unreadable to his slow reading skills. They called out a Amrita Banerjee to which Bhaskar jumped and said "na! na! Amrita Ghosh and Sangita banerjee!" but there was actually an Amrita Banerjee! The doctor decided to intervene and in between scoldings and taking the matter in his hand the process speeded up ! But the man was more jittery and made more errors, dropped more papers and created a minor pandemonium ! Chibu in the meanwhile bore through the ordeal with a sprained foot and a sullen expression - but whoever was on the other end of the sms chain kept him busy - thankfully !Many splutters and stutters later we managed to deposit the form, the fees and queue for the vaccination ...but Chibu's name wasn't called ! Sangeeta discovered that his name was so illegible that it slipped the doctor's attention ! He went into the next lot and anxious wait began if he will be fitted in at all ! After a 3 and a half hours wait and moaning matriarchs and wailing babies later we were inoculated ! And the Doc assured that Chibu will be fitted in !
Meanwhile Bhaskar noticed the bread omlette at the dilapidated canteen and asked me to place an order...The manager said "Ektu deri hobe !" 30 minutes later I was informed .."Cook asheni !" An hour later the cook arrived...a crotchety old man who was really angry that he has to make bread and omlette for us ! I just wanted to leave but Bhaskar insisted, "Shat taka diyechi, kheyei jabo !":( The manager took pity on my predicament and refunded my shaat taka !
Amid all that we received our "International Yellow Fever Certificate " , bonded with half a dozen strangers whom we are never ever going to meet ...learnt of patience and tolerance and of hoping for the best ! And counted our lucky stars , as Mau had warned us that the vaccination was running short in Chennai ! Ah I love my India !
I guess even Chibu sympathised somewhere , cos I did not hear the usual refrain..."Arre zoo e toh Shingho , Haati , Zebra , Chimpanzee shob achche... Why go to Africa? " :)
At office as soon as we declared that we are going for the YF vaccination..the usual horrified exclamation was " Tomader dujoner i hoyeche ?" :) :)
It was our second visit at the "Marine House"- the first one was futile as Bhaskar's peon had bluffed , and our names were not listed ! The next day saw us sitting on the narrow wooden bench with the sole fan rotating as a consolation prize on a hot , stuffy Kolkata afternoon ! A man limped into the place with a list and called out the names ...to an anxious audience ! None responded, so he gleefully declared " Keu asheni!" to a roomful of vaccination aspirants ! We let out protests of various degrees...to which he looked at the list again and said "Oh bhool hoye geche !" in the style of "mistake ! mistake" aka Sonar Kella :) He was reading from a list that was meant for a date a month back ! He trotted back and got a list ...the photocopy so faint that the names were almost illegible..and unreadable to his slow reading skills. They called out a Amrita Banerjee to which Bhaskar jumped and said "na! na! Amrita Ghosh and Sangita banerjee!" but there was actually an Amrita Banerjee! The doctor decided to intervene and in between scoldings and taking the matter in his hand the process speeded up ! But the man was more jittery and made more errors, dropped more papers and created a minor pandemonium ! Chibu in the meanwhile bore through the ordeal with a sprained foot and a sullen expression - but whoever was on the other end of the sms chain kept him busy - thankfully !Many splutters and stutters later we managed to deposit the form, the fees and queue for the vaccination ...but Chibu's name wasn't called ! Sangeeta discovered that his name was so illegible that it slipped the doctor's attention ! He went into the next lot and anxious wait began if he will be fitted in at all ! After a 3 and a half hours wait and moaning matriarchs and wailing babies later we were inoculated ! And the Doc assured that Chibu will be fitted in !
Meanwhile Bhaskar noticed the bread omlette at the dilapidated canteen and asked me to place an order...The manager said "Ektu deri hobe !" 30 minutes later I was informed .."Cook asheni !" An hour later the cook arrived...a crotchety old man who was really angry that he has to make bread and omlette for us ! I just wanted to leave but Bhaskar insisted, "Shat taka diyechi, kheyei jabo !":( The manager took pity on my predicament and refunded my shaat taka !
Amid all that we received our "International Yellow Fever Certificate " , bonded with half a dozen strangers whom we are never ever going to meet ...learnt of patience and tolerance and of hoping for the best ! And counted our lucky stars , as Mau had warned us that the vaccination was running short in Chennai ! Ah I love my India !
I guess even Chibu sympathised somewhere , cos I did not hear the usual refrain..."Arre zoo e toh Shingho , Haati , Zebra , Chimpanzee shob achche... Why go to Africa? " :)
i read along with a constant smile :)
ReplyDeleteafrica would bring greater fun and such wonderful posts i am sure :)
:) :D ! I like this time the best..going on a vacation feeling ! Cos once it starts it gets over ..in a blink !
ReplyDeletechokhe shorshe phool na chokhe ondhokaar dekhi to.. :/
ReplyDeleteA sight for the sore eyes ..:)))
ReplyDelete