Chapter -9 The Silent Weight of Responsibility

When duty becomes heavier than learning...

After her breakup and months of quiet recovery, Janani believed she had finally found her balance again during her internship in 2024. The hospital corridors felt alive with purpose, and she tried to blend her learning with sincerity.

In the new department, things started normally — teamwork, laughter, shared duties, and the sense of belonging she had missed for so long. She and her co-intern reetha worked together, diligently updating OP cases and IP records. Everything seemed manageable until small shifts began to happen — one intern got transferred, another withdrew slowly, and responsibility started piling on silently.

When Reetha was moved to the IP side, Janani suddenly found herself standing alone on the OP front — juggling registers, patient cards, and updates that used to be shared among five people. She tried to hold it together, fearing judgment and wanting to prove herself capable.

But the imbalance soon took its toll.

Some records went unupdated; exhaustion crept in. When Chandra Ma’am questioned the lapses, everyone was blamed equally — yet Janani silently carried the heaviest guilt. The same walls that once felt nurturing began to echo with anxiety and self-doubt.

From a psychological perspective, Janani’s experience mirrors role overload and learned helplessness — when one feels trapped in responsibility without support or acknowledgment. Her perfectionist tendencies and fear of criticism made her internalize every small mistake as a personal failure.

Still, beneath the stress, she held on to hope — believing that someday, fairness and understanding would find their place even in the busiest hospital corridors.