Mom got it right - what was I doing with blood donation!! You know, I am one of those who has had luckily few interactions with the needle and certainly doesn’t look forward to it. But, this Tuesday, when I suddenly heard that a senior is in need, I clinched a victory over my fear. The fact that five of us were going was relieving.

We had to wait for a long time to get our blood tested. The questioning first by nurse and then by the doctor was incredibly funny. Questions about medical history were okay, but ones like “paraya aurat ke paas gaya” (have you gone to an unknown woman?) – add to it the accent of South-Indian Hindi! We wondered the irony - let us get one first, then the question arises of another, right?

But, hospitals are not a place of fun - the myriad hospital romances not withstanding. Teh next morning, I and Abhishek witnessed an unconsolable women who most probably lost her spouse. It was not a scene which you want to see - anytime, anywhere. I also met the patient - not our senior as we had guessed earlier, but an Air Force man. I thought that its the least we can do for the Forces. We returned in afternoon – 4 of us this time. The process was not very painful, just very boring. Warned by Anuradha Ma’am - our caring Physics teacher, we were cautious. At the end of it, I was proud to have done it. Hopefully, the receiver will recover soon.