The Pregnancy Test
It’s quite early in the morning. The sun is barely up. The streets are empty. The only movement on the streets is newspaper boys arranging newspapers, an occasional person jogging and a vehicle that speeds through the empty road like a rocket. While the city sleeps, Prestige Medical Shop stays open 24/7. They do not have a lot of customers this early in the morning yet Mr. Praveen, the owner of the shop, ensures that they’re open to their customers at ‘any ungodly hour.’ That’s their slogan but it never really caught on with the people. The neighborhood only went there because it was the only medical shop in the area. But I like to go there often because I like Mr. Praveen. He’s a 70-year-old man who used to work in the bank. His children are abroad. He has spent his entire life’s savings on this shop, so it is all he has. Interacting with all those customers is what keeps him going. I like to talk to him sometimes. He tells me about his grandchildren who have recently learnt to say