Memory lane...JMI, Ansari Health Centre

The Doctor Who Thought She Was Indira Gandhi Some places you avoid because they are dangerous. Some you avoid because they are unpleasant. And some you avoid because they make you feel small, powerless, invisible. For many of us at Jamia Millia Islamia during the 1980s, that place was the Ansari Health Centre, and the person who made it feel that way was Dr. Asma. Ansari Health Centre is of course very established and advanced nowadays, but it was small with limited people during our days. The main people at the dispensary were Jafar Bhai (late), Sadaqat Bhai, and Dr. Asma. The worse part of the dispensary was Dr. Asma. The best was Jafar Bhai and Sadaqat Bhai. Two men who healed with their hands and their hearts. One woman who wounded with her indifference. Looking at the perspective of just a student with no great reference will put more light to my comment about Dr. Asma. She never considered herself lesser than Indira Gandhi, PM of India. In her mind, she was not a doctor serving a university. She was a queen ruling a kingdom. And we, the students, were merely subjects who had to wait for her grace. Whenever you go to her, for cough, fever, cold, or pain, she always keeps you waiting for a long time. The chairs outside her cabin were not seats of comfort. They were seats of humiliation. She gives preference to top grade people of JMI, like professors, readers, and then teachers. No matter how long the queue is, they always get instant entry upon arrival. You could be sitting there for an hour, fever burning your forehead, cough tearing your chest, and then a professor would walk in, and the door would open for him like magic. Sometimes, even other employees of Jamia get frustrated by this, but what to do? She was the only doctor available. Therefore, live or leave, it is all up to you. During checkup, she seldom put stethoscope and rarely touches you to examine anything. Your checkup is over without even looking at you and your prescription always remains self-explanatory of the discrimination in AHC by Dr. Asma. You always end up with diluted syrup from one gallon bottle with loose tablets of Vitamin C, yellow color B Complex, aspirin or paracetamol, and sometimes phenyl butazone. Those loose tablets in paper folds were not medicine. They were reminders. Reminders that you were not important. In contrary, any professor and top-grade employee or even acquaintance of Dr. Asma goes with fresh packed bottle and strips of tablets. The same dispensary. The same medicines. But two different worlds. Those were the issues, really annoyed many of us during those days. That's how I never got well even a single time by her prescription. Maybe the medicine was fine. Maybe it was the diagnosis that was missing. Or maybe, it was the dignity that was never prescribed. However, if you go to the dressing lab, the whole dispensary looks totally different. It was a different world altogether. A world where Jafar Bhai and Sadaqat Bhai ruled, and where even pain was treated with care. Jafar Bhai. He was an old man with black and white moustaches and an old fashion vision glasses. His smile was very bad and students always afraid to go to him. He always has either red or blue lotion for your injury and belladonna tape for boils. The problem was not with lotion or tape. The actual problem was his talking and handling your injury. The way he talks made you half-finished and balance after you come out of lab. You would walk in with a small cut and walk out feeling like you survived a battle. Despite all, nobody hated him ever. Yet, we don't like him but always respected him because he knows parents of every day scholar and warden of each hosteler. He knew us not as files or numbers, but as sons and daughters of people he knew. He is no more in this world now, but whenever I think of dispensary, I can't forget his eyes and smile. Sadaqat Bhai, an opposite equal of Jafar Bhai. Sadaqat Bhai was hot favorite. He was young compared to Jafar Bhai and was very quiet and calm person. Always listen and try to understand your problem. He also uses the same medicine but with a difference. People get little pain while handled by him rather than Jafar Bhai. His practical jokes of Jamia staff were also liked by many. With Sadaqat Bhai, you felt like a patient. With Jafar Bhai, you felt like a case. But both of them, in their own ways, cared. Once after facing a lot of frustration by Dr. Asma, I have decided to write my own prescription on card. I did it and pharmacist caught me and referred to Dr. Asma. It was the time when another fellow has joined AHC, Dr. Khalid. She summoned me and as usual threatened me of reporting the matter to school principal and consequences of getting expelled from the school. I was little afraid by this because, it was for sure that I did a big mistake and it will be difficult to get rid of this lady. Dr. Khalid asked me why you did this. I told him that, it was a long queue and I was getting late to class. She was attending to those not in line and also, I wanted to avail good medicines as we all are paying equal fee whether student or professor. She became defiant after listening to this and I had remained with no alternate to throw a "SORRY". Dr. Khalid came to my rescue and advised me to leave after saying sorry. I felt relaxed while coming out from dispensary and promised myself to never repeat mistake and never consult Dr. Asma. That was my last encounter with her and I never visited her due to available alternative. Stories keep coming to me during college days that she remained unchanged.