Vaidya Prdhumn Kumar Sharma (Guddu)

Out on Kaptan Ganj Road in Ramkola, you’ll find our spot. Most people around here just call the owner Guddu. We are easy to spot because we are right opposite Kushawaha Hospital. It is a busy stretch of road in this part of Gorakhpur, with lots of trucks and buses heading toward the sugar mills or further out into the district. The clinic itself is a traditional setup. We deal with people who have been coming to see a Vaidya for a long time. There is a specific smell of herbs and old paper inside that you don't get in the big city hospitals. The chairs in the waiting area are a bit worn down, but they are comfortable enough for a short wait. We spend a lot of our morning sorting through things and talking to the people who stop by just to say hello. Being across from a big hospital means people sometimes get confused, but they usually find their way to our door eventually. The sun hits the front of the building quite hard in the afternoon, so we keep the shutters halfway down to stay cool. It is a small operation, just a few of us making sure everything runs okay. We don't have any fancy computers, just the old way of doing things that seems to work for the local folks.