The donator

(Inspired from a short story in pushto)


It was a prominent private hospital where people from every nook and corner of the country would come to seek cure of their ailments. The news of Mr. Abdullah's kidney transplant surgery spread in the area like a wild fire.
Since morning the hospital was filled to the full by a multitude of people. The hospital's administration almost gave up to keep its descipline under control. A complete disorder prevailed everywhere around. Relatives, immediate friends, acquaintances and business collegues of Mr. Abdullah rushed towards him to embrace, hug and encourage him not to lose heart just when he was heading from ward to the operation theatre. They toled him that it wasn't a serious ailment and that the skillful doctors of the technologically advanced hospital would perform the procedure in no time. The words of encouragement brought a smile of contentment on the otherwise pale cheeks of Mr. Abdullah which was interrupted by the resounding voice of an operation theatre aid, who was calling the patient in to the operation room along with that of the donator; Ghulam Akbar. Hearing his name, Ghulam Akbar, a young man of around 40, bolted in to the operation threatre while Mr. Abdullah was still engaged with a throng of his dear ones. On the insistence of the aide, Mr. abdullah moved to enter into the threatre after casting a last glance of despair on the visitors present.
It was a long operation lasted for hours. Most of the visitors left, some rambled in front of the operation theatre while the others divided into groups and sat outside in the lawn busy in conversations. Most of the groups talked about Mr. Khan. Some would symphtize about his age and his illness. Some showed concerns about him leaving a sizeable business in case he didn't servive. There were some who prayed for the poor not to fell ill as Mr. Abdullah was able enough to afford even costlier remedies. There was an elderly man in a group who sported a beard and was whispering something on the prayer beads hold in his hand. He was giving sort of a sermon to the rest telling them that the world was surviving just because of a handful of people who sacrifice their lives to save those of their fellow beings. He was giving the example of the youngster who was prepared to save the life of Mr. Abdullah by donating him one of his kidneys just for the sake of humanity. Rest of the people present in the group nodded his speech with uniformity. An acitve looking youngster sitting in another group said with a rising voice that strange are the ways of life, where one can witness everything. He furthered his speech to say that one could come across people who lost their kidneys through accessive adulteration while there was no shortage of those who were left with no option but to sell their kidneys due to poverty. Another youngster added with a tame voice that poors over here are given strange names like a miserably poor waiter of a hotel is called by the name of a donator who uptill now was known to everyone as Ghulam Akbar. A person in the group disclosed the secret that Ghulam Akbar would be given an amount of rupees one lak as a reward of his sacrifice but someone else informed the group that the deal had been concluded through a middle man with an amount of one and a half laks in which 50 thousands would be retained by the dealer. A stocky built gentleman confirmed the remarks of the latter to drop silence into the group albeit for a brief moment. Someone asked whether the doctors knew about the deal and that how come they call Ghulam Akbar a donater if they were aware about him selling the kidney out of poverty. One of the persons informed the group that it all actually happened with the help of one of the surgeons who happened to be a close friend of Mr. Abdullah. Hearing this, everyone sighed and murmered prayers for the poor of the land.
In the meanwhile there appeared two stretchers out of the operation room. One was pushed quitely towards the ward by the operation rooms' aid while the other was swarmed by a throng of visitors.