Acute AfflictionIt should be said that the new interns spent as much time in the canteen as they did in the wards. And when the canteen was full, they needed some other place to hang out, so like water finding its own level, they gravitated to the cafés outside the hospital gate. In fact these cafés did brisk business from the spillover, and they welcomed it. They had learned that it was to their advantage not to place any restrictions on the amount of time spent at their tables by the young doctors-to-be, as a full café, even if its patrons were perpetually broke, was always better than an empty one. Even if they merely sat there sipping coffee or lassi, they were bound to get hungry sometime or the other. And then they were likely to decide that they might as well eat there. The café man
