The Madrasi and her Madman

CHAPTER 1 SHAELAH

TWENTY YEARS AGO

September 22nd 1999, the gates of Gorlsborough hospital, Great Yarmouth, England welcomed a young clinical pediatrician from the other side of the world. Her name was Shaelah and she had just cracked the entrance examination to one of the most reputed health care institutions in the world.

Once the management saw her credentials, she was called almost immediately. More than her grades, it was the tremendous potential she carried with her at the age of twenty five. Afraid the pediatrician would consider her options and select another hospital, the board of Gorlsborough saw to it that her arrival was immediate. Along with the ravishing salary, they provided her with residence quarters only a couple of minutes away.

Shaelah on receiving the news adjusted her entire life around her job, not that there was much to it to begin with. Her family was delighted that she was headed for the United Kingdom. It was their dream ever since she was born to get their youngest daughter into a healthcare facility like Gorlsborough. Besides, she was over the moon herself. All the hardwork she put in to study year after year, the tuition fees and the sleepless nights all paid off. So as she stood outside the entrance to the hospital, more than her family, she knew she had made it.

Holding her scarf even tighter than she anticipated, she rubbed her gloved hands together as her beige skin bit the cold. In just a matter of days, she had to get used to this icy temperature when she had lived her entire life in the tropics of India.

The hospital was a rectacunglar structure from the outside but the interior was more of a spherical design with the ceiling extending beyond 20ft. It appeared as if the entire hospital color coordinated together, the nurses wearing a light blue colored scrub that complimented the skyblue paint of the walls that appeared to sink in to the latte of the wooden floors. What blended everything together was the desirable warmth that radiated from the heaters that encircled the corridors.

Making her way down the wide entrance pathway that was filled with cafeterias on either side, dozens of people who she had never met before greeted her. That was something about this country, she thought. They may see a person only once in their life or just catch a glimpse of their face as they walk past, yet they greet each other. The corridor terminated into a large spherical hall that possessed two large reception desks in the center. The sphere had divisions that branched right out of it in four directions which lay opposite to each other. The ceiling there was even higher as a magnificent chandelier was suspended. Dazed at the size of the hospital, she began to panic before she saw a picture of the inside of the hospital drawn on one of the skyblue walls. The building was more like a sphere enclosing an over sized X with it's arms alone extending outward.

It seemed simpler now, her anxiety slowly lowered as she traced the sign that said 'Department of Pediatrics' at the first floor of the East Wing.

It took her a while to get there as she tried to unnotice the noticable heads she was turning along the way.

Her clinic was the farthest room in the department. Though the walk there was tiresome, the room was much bigger than she had expected; a couple of paintings on the wall, a patient bed and a semicircular desk at the center. The aroma was similar to the beach, probably due to the fountain situated outside her window in a small yet beautiful open garden, the fountain was that of a Saint Michael statue with water shooting out from beneath it's wings. Years down the lane, that statue of Saint Michael bore witness to her tears and her broken vows.

She got accustomed with the proceedings pretty quick and was introduced to three of her interns. Each, looking more stoned than the other.

The head of the Pediatric department was a 68 year old man who invited her into his office moments after she had arrived. She was quick to remove her scarf, gloves and cap that revealed her long brown hair that gracefully fell ending just above her back. She checked herself out infront of the mirror, her mascara, tiny traces of lipstick before turning to the sides to ensure her red shirt was properly tucked inside her blue jeans. She freaked out just a little bit before reassuring herself and made her way to meet with the head of the department.