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SOILED HANDS.
CHAPTER ONE: DOCTOR SAHIB.
The severely malnourished child was on the verge of death. I quickly set up an IV to give him much needed nutrition and other supplements.
Hours later when he was stable I turned in anger upon the illiterate parents. " Why are you starving this child? He needs proper food! "
Tears dropped down the broken, skeletal man who stood before me with folded hands. "Look around you, Doctor Sahib, the land is dead. We have no food."I let my saucer-like eyes to roam the whole area and what met them left me mouth-agape.'How can this be?Oh! Goodness!'
"Eeeenh.....""Mr.Anderia please doctor""Thanks.Mr.Anderia,how did all this happen?I can't believe this was the situation all along.I recall that when I came here last year,the same month I guess, all was well and what was there was nothing less than merry.You have to make me believe that this is the great land,ABUNDANCE."
The man, noticing that his visitor had been standing all along offered me a sit.I thankfully accepted the three-legged stool and planted myself on it.Both parents were seated on the floor,just as I had found them when I first entered.
"Doctor Sahib,I am thankful in the first place for saving my child,who is the only one left for us.We lost another two weeks ago and couldn't accept to lose him this time.Actually her death was a big blow to us and that traumatized my wife a lot.Do you think I could bear seeing her going insane this time?"
Saying this,he took a glance at his beloved whose face was imprinted with sadness,hunger and sickness.
"That is why I had to have you here with us all so that you could aid in our problems.How all this came about is just out of question because it has never been this way with us.As you can see,all our crops are gone,so have our livestock famished.What is left for us is our lives which we are fighting for,as it is worth keeping if we have to pull through this disaster."
I nodded to his statement and understood then that I had judged them wrongly.'Ooh poor them!'
"Doctor Sahib,it all began with the cropping of this new factory located not more than three miles from where we are now.Its rising was illegal in the first place as they grabbed a land belonging to one of us.They then set up that monster which has of now brought this disaster upon us."
"Do you mean to say that this factory you are talking about is not recognized by the government as of now?"
"Actually I can't tell because we have reported to our area adminstrative officer but he has taken no action.As I see it,he is just one of them,all birds of the same feather flocking together to destroy the once beautiful environment of ours."
© Grassland
The severely malnourished child was on the verge of death. I quickly set up an IV to give him much needed nutrition and other supplements.
Hours later when he was stable I turned in anger upon the illiterate parents. " Why are you starving this child? He needs proper food! "
Tears dropped down the broken, skeletal man who stood before me with folded hands. "Look around you, Doctor Sahib, the land is dead. We have no food."I let my saucer-like eyes to roam the whole area and what met them left me mouth-agape.'How can this be?Oh! Goodness!'
"Eeeenh.....""Mr.Anderia please doctor""Thanks.Mr.Anderia,how did all this happen?I can't believe this was the situation all along.I recall that when I came here last year,the same month I guess, all was well and what was there was nothing less than merry.You have to make me believe that this is the great land,ABUNDANCE."
The man, noticing that his visitor had been standing all along offered me a sit.I thankfully accepted the three-legged stool and planted myself on it.Both parents were seated on the floor,just as I had found them when I first entered.
"Doctor Sahib,I am thankful in the first place for saving my child,who is the only one left for us.We lost another two weeks ago and couldn't accept to lose him this time.Actually her death was a big blow to us and that traumatized my wife a lot.Do you think I could bear seeing her going insane this time?"
Saying this,he took a glance at his beloved whose face was imprinted with sadness,hunger and sickness.
"That is why I had to have you here with us all so that you could aid in our problems.How all this came about is just out of question because it has never been this way with us.As you can see,all our crops are gone,so have our livestock famished.What is left for us is our lives which we are fighting for,as it is worth keeping if we have to pull through this disaster."
I nodded to his statement and understood then that I had judged them wrongly.'Ooh poor them!'
"Doctor Sahib,it all began with the cropping of this new factory located not more than three miles from where we are now.Its rising was illegal in the first place as they grabbed a land belonging to one of us.They then set up that monster which has of now brought this disaster upon us."
"Do you mean to say that this factory you are talking about is not recognized by the government as of now?"
"Actually I can't tell because we have reported to our area adminstrative officer but he has taken no action.As I see it,he is just one of them,all birds of the same feather flocking together to destroy the once beautiful environment of ours."
© Grassland
