Mahal kita

I brought my grandmother to see Dr Bakar at Rakyat Clinic today, and I got to meet this man for the first time.

He wore a grey shirt, black pants, and black socks in sandals. I estimated that he was in his mid 60s; he spoke quite genially to my grandmother. Before he took her radial pulse, or her BP, or listened to her lung sounds, or palpated her knees, he always recited Bismillah. Cool eh? To my pleasant surprise too, hung on his chair was a blazer, and on it the well-worn Sir Stamford Raffles’s Coat of Arms.

He asked me my name, and asked where I was going after NS, and I replied rather tersely.

“Alhamdulillah,” said he, smiling. “Kalau makcik sakit lagi, boleh suruh Hirman ambilkan ubat, ya?”

He stood to pass to me his prescription for my grandmother, and we shook hands and exchanged thanks.