"Another one?" said the surgeon to the nervy junior doctor, who was holding the door open for him. "Yes, sir. She arrived several hours ago, very badly off," the junior doctor said as the surgeon took off his silk herringbone jacket that was as worn-out as it was snug. "She didn't look it, so there was some delay, but the concussion is bad. Lots of internal bleeding in the brain, intestines and vagina. The police said they rushed her here immediately, but according to some students who found her body, the police took an hour to get her here. She's in a very bad way."
"They're the ones outside?" the surgeon said, nodding his head in the direction of the window while readjusting the twirl of his indigo black moustache that matched his indigo black hair, which was a shade of particular pride to his outmoded Ashoka Hotel barber.
"Yes, sir. They're fuming," he said as both doctors began to scrub their hands. "They're accusing the police of negligence. They've posted a video of the police asking her all sorts of irrelevant questions about being in a brothel and how much she was paid." He made a tsking noise with his tongue and shook his head for several seconds. "I don't know, this country, just when we think we're going places... And they say she could have been taken to several closer hospitals, but because they were trying to lose them, the students, the police were trying to lose the students who were following them, they say, they wasted more time. Here, please come," the junior doctor, pointing with his elbow towards the sterilized tray containing their surgery gowns. "Then again, the students stopped to help her and are now causing a huge fuss to make sure she gets the proper treatment, and that's something. Yes, maybe we are on the right road. Here, nurse, tie us up please," the junior doctor said to the meek, unacknowledged nurse standing on the side of the room.
"If they had a car why didn't they bring her in themselves," the surgeon asked. "Come on, get on with it! Hey, damn! You've touched my hand, you idiot! Now I have to wash again! Do you not know how to tie a gown without making it unsterile?"
"Sorry, sir, sorry, here let me -- " the nurse said.
"Just move away!"
"They didn't have a car," the junior doctor said. "They followed in a rickshaw, but the police sped away from them. They've gone from hospital to hospital all night, posting on Facebook all the while, that's why there's such a buzz out there."
"They know her?"
"No, no. No, sir. They just stumbled upon her. One of them is with some women's group, sir, so is quite active on women's issues, I'm told."
"Boys in a women's group?"
"No, the girl is in the women's group."
"Hold on, the two students you're talking about are a boy and girl?"
"Yes, sir."
"There are boys and girls out at 11 o'clock at night and we wonder why these attacks are happening on our streets? Honestly. Which room?"
"Second surgery, sir. This door, sir."
"Hey Bhagwan! They battered her face up too? I guess they would, wouldn't they. And the pen? They've taken it out now?"
"Yes, sir. But it's caused a lot of damage to her intestines. They're ready for you, sir."
