Kolkata Police Hospital

The pathology department where we work is located at Q 2 No Beninandan Street. It’s part of the Police Hospital setup here. The building is quite old and has that heavy, institutional feel to it that you find in government places. We spend most of our time in the lab area dealing with samples and paperwork. It’s not the most exciting environment, but it’s where we spend our eight hours a day. The hallways are long and have that specific smell of cleaning fluids. We have a lot of glass slides and microscopes scattered across the benches. The lighting is a bit harsh, those long fluorescent tubes that hum. Since it’s a police hospital, we see a lot of officers and their families coming through. We mostly keep our heads down and get the testing done. There’s a small break room where we keep a kettle and some biscuits for when we get a minute to sit. The records are kept in big metal cabinets that take a bit of muscle to open. Beninandan Street is usually busy, and sometimes the noise from the sirens outside carries right into the lab. We don’t have fancy uniforms, just our lab coats that are starting to fray at the edges. It’s just a steady job in a busy part of the city. We show up, do the tests, and go home like everyone else around here.