Down Town Hospital

Dispur always feels a bit crowded, especially around this part of Guwahati. Down Town Hospital is right there, and you really see how busy it gets every single day. The lobby is usually full of people waiting, some looking tired from long journeys, others just sitting there with their plastic bags and files. We spend a lot of our time just moving from one floor to another, and the hospital is quite big, so it’s easy to get your steps in. The air outside is often thick and humid, and when the monsoon rains hit, the noise on the tin parts of the roof is really something else. Most of us grab a quick snack or a cup of tea from the small shops right outside the gate when we get a tiny break. The hospital itself has been here for a good while now, so some of the wards look a bit older than the others, but everything works. It’s not like those shiny, glass-fronted hospitals you see in magazines; it’s a real working building with plenty of wear and tear. You can hear the constant traffic from the main road all day and night. Sometimes the elevators are a bit slow, so taking the stairs is usually the better option if you're in any kind of a hurry. We’ve got a lot of staff coming in from all different parts of the city, so there’s always a big mix of languages and stories in the hallways. It’s a bit chaotic, but after a while, that just feels like a normal day at work. The tea stalls are where most people go.