Some people speak well, some don’t. Some pause when they don’t know what to say. Some use filler words to fill the gaps. Some use ‘um…’ or ‘ah…’ or ‘ar…’ when they are thinking of what to say next. All this is not very impressive. But if you have no option, you have to live with it.
We were taking a round of all our wards. We were in the antenatal ward.
“Sir, this is 27 year old um… third gravida um… second um… para um… who presented with um… high blood pressure um…” my Registrar was presenting a case. Saying ‘um… was an old habit of his. But he seemed to be overdoing it today.
“It is three days since the new year started. Still, can you make a new year resolution not to say um… while you speak?” I asked him. He seemed unwilling to male a resolution that late, or unwilling to give up such a comfortable habit. Or perhaps he did not want to commit for a period as long as one year.
“Perhaps you can do it one day at a time. So it for one day. If it works, do it for another day. Finally you will manage it for one year” I encouraged. He did not seem to like that idea too. Then I suddenly had an idea. Perhaps he did not want to give it up because that was his style of speech. I had heard such a thing before, to which there had been millions of hits on You Tube.
“Is it like that Dhanush fellow in the Kolaveri Di song?” I asked. “Sir um…, this patient um… has come um… with high um… blood pressure um…” I think I managed to say like Dhanush did in his song, without that exotic music of course. Not only all of the doctors laughed spontaneously, but the patient also turned her face away from us and laughed. I think that was it.
“Dhanush is from Tamilnadu, while you are from Karnataka” I said. But they are reasonably close that your accent can be explained on the basis of geography.” I must have been right. He continued to um… us during the remaining round.
