This morning's newspaper brought a very sad and untimely news of demise of Mr. Kondujkar, a person; who has done yeoman service for last so many years for patients admitted to Pune Hospitals; which he has been doing since 1998. He was only 66 years old. Like soldier giving up his life in a battlefield, Mr. Kondujkar collapsed with a massive heart attack, when he was in a hospital; doing what he liked best; to help patients. I thought that it would be the most appropriate homage to him to reprint an article that I wrote about him several years ago.
A True Angel
Few
days back, I went to attend one meeting in an evening. I never
really expected it to be anything but a drab and routine affair. As I
was exchanging pleasantries with few people around, I was introduced
to the guest speaker of the evening. My first impressions of the man
were not very favourable. He was small and very thinly built and had
a kind of coarse voice. I said ‘Hello’ to him as curtsey and
protocol demanded. However, I was pretty sure, that an hour of
boredom certainly awaited me next.
After
initial formalities, the microphone was handed over to the speaker,
one Mr. Kondujkar. Just after a few words told by him, everyone in
the audience, including me, suddenly realized that we were not
listening to some humdrum character but to a person, who after
braving and overcoming a terrible personal tragedy, was doing
something that our society needs so badly. All of us have experienced
the trauma and the frustration faced, when one of our close dear ones
has to be admitted to a hospital. Anyone under such conditions is
under tremendous stress and is scared. We normally feel that the
hospital staff does not show adequate empathy and compassion towards
the patient and we feel annoyed. Mr. Kondujkar, during his daily
rounds of many hospitals in Pune, just helps such patients and their
relatives to make their stay in the nursing home, comfortable and
smooth. I am sure that for many of the patients, he must be a true
angel, helping them during despair, misery and desolation. During his
speech, he narrated few cases to us, which were so tragic that I
almost felt like crying.
A
twelve-year-old girl from nearby ‘Zopadpatti’( slum colony), who was admitted
to the hospital for leukemia, was very lonely. Mr. Kondujkar found
out while talking to her that she could draw really beautiful
sketches. He encouraged her to draw and she made some fifty or sixty
beautiful sketches. These were shown to a magazine editor, who gladly
printed those on the front cover. Unfortunately, before this girl
could see her art being published, she left this world. For Mr.
Kondujkar, the realization that he was instrumental in making last
few days very happy for this unfortunate girl was the greatest award.
In another case, an old man of eighty-six was admitted to the hospital for hipbone fracture. While admitting, his son made a payment of a large sum of money to take care of the expenses. The patient was operated and was taken care off. Mr. Kondujkar met him daily and spent some time with him to make him feel better and less lonely. After two weeks, this old man requested Mr. Kondujkar to call his son and ask him to visit the hospital. Surprisingly, this old man’s son, was very much irritated by this call, but agreed to visit the hospital in the evening. When he met Mr. kondujkar in the evening he was peeved and annoyed and was in a bad mood. When Mr. kondujkar tried to counsel him he remarked that why should he and his family waste their time for this old man.(his father). He left the hospital after giving piece of his mind to the old man. Mr. Kondujkar was aghast at the apathy shown by this man towards his own father and had to make extra efforts to calm down the old man.
Yet in
another case of an old man, who had telephoned Mr. Kondujkar to visit
him in his house and help him. This man was living in a big family
but was alone and lonely. The family had earlier fixed up a nurse for
him. This particular nurse had found a better job and the old man;
thinking that why should he come in the way of this nurse if she was
advancing her career, had let her go. His family as well as the
agency, through which this girl was sent to this old man, became very
angry with this old man and refused to give him a replacement. Old
man was now in a desperate situation. Mr. Kodujkar had to make lot of
efforts to get him another nurse.
Senior
citizens, in particular, face too many difficulties and obstacles
during their hospital stay. Similar is the case of small children
who’s both parents work.
May
be, they are slightly less miserable, at least in Pune, because of
this great man.
3rd November 2015
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