Sisterly fun!

I am feeling nostalgic today. I am wearing a set of glass bangles which remind me of a story. It is the story about how three girls on their own got things done one fine day. When my sister completed her MBBS, she decided that she would like to complete her internship from Gurgaon. I went ahead and checked with the concerned hospital whether it is possible and they said that it is possible and you just need to get a signed letter from the authorities. So far it seemed very simple, but when she actually landed in Gurgaon about three days before she was scheduled to start her internship, we realized that the concerned authorities who were supposed to issue the letter were actually based out of Panchkula and not Gurgaon. Not only that, the hospital would not accept her without the letter presented on the first day itself and even a single day’s delay in starting the internship would mean she would not be eligible to get her degree in the current year and would effectively end up wasting 1 full year. With no time to waste, I put a leave request on mail in the evening and got on a night bus to Chandigarh along with my two sisters. We were at the entrance of the office at 6:30 a.m. and reading the business hours mentioned at the gate which started at 9:30 a.m. My sister was so tensed that she outrightly refused to have any breakfast and so the three of us sat there on the pavement hungry and just sharing silly jokes to keep our spirit alive. By 9:00 a.m. there were 2-3 more people waiting outside the gate who had come for the same reasons.

When we got talking to a man who was our father’s age, he told us that he was a doctor from Ambala and was there to get the same letter for his son. He also smirked when we told him we were there for the same reason and when asked why he said that they do not issue the letter easily and that it was his fourth trip to Panchkula to get that letter. My sister was on the verge of tears after hearing that when the two of us consoled her that we will not leave without the letter. We did not expect then that it would practically come down to exactly that scenario but it did.

We went from one desk to another, one door to another and even one floor to another. We skipped lunch as well and tricked the not-in-office big boss’ PA to pass on his number. We called him and pleaded him to come to office and sign the form (which I must appreciate that he did) and then split with each other to get the other work done. Eventually when just the stamping of the letter was pending, the person concerned simply vanished from his seat. It was already 4:00 p.m. by then and we had waited for half an hour when that doctor from Ambala came to me and asked whether our task was done. I smiled and said that just the stamp is pending and he laughed and told us that it is the stamp only for which he is coming since his last three trips. We had a train back at 6:30 p.m. and my sister was as anxious as she could be. Me and my other sister looked at her and then to her shocking glares, we simply raised hell. We went to his boss’ office and told him that his subordinate is missing from his seat since half an hour and that we need the stamp on the letter. We outrightly told him that we have a train in an hour’s time but we are not leaving without the stamped letter. We said that we have not booked into a hotel and are prepared to sit outside the office and let everyone know what happened if our sister’s whole year is wasted due to a stupid stamp. By now, we had attracted enough attention that his boss almost panicked and sent someone to look for the concerned person. Turned out that he was hiding in the men’s wash-room simply because he did not want us to get the letter in the first attempt. He was called to his seat by his boss and we just banged our file and letter in front of him. He stamped it. Then we took the file from the doctor uncle’s hand and we put it down in front of him and we asked him to stamp that as well, which he did. As we walked out of the office with my sister smiling ear to ear and the letter in her hand, the doctor uncle thanked us.

Half an hour later we were in the Sector 17 Chandigarh market where we filled up our starving bowels and also shopped for a few nitty-gritties including these set of bangles. Oh! What a day it was. And whenever me and my sisters sit down to gossip we remember it for all the fun, bonding and teamwork.