BLOSSOMS OF LIFE (Short story)

BLOSSOMS OF LIFE

“Premji, Anita is admitted in PRS hospital,” Sunil, one of my colleagues, informed me through phone.

“Any complications?” I asked him as she was in the advanced stages of pregnancy, that too after ten long years of waiting.

“I think so. It seems, she has excessive bleeding caused by hypertension.”

“O God!”

♠

Almost everyone among our colleagues were standing there in the hospital lobby. Since ours is a small government office with minimum staff, we lived like a family. Rajeev, her beloved husband was my colleague and best pal. He was sitting on a metal chair as if he had lost everything. 

“Rajeev,” I touched his shoulders.

But, unfortunately he couldn’t sense my touch! Poor man was buried in the unfathomable depths of pain. He was a very happy man since the very day he came to know his wife was pregnant. 

“I am sorry Rajeev. We couldn’t…” Dr Sasha, who came out from the operation theater, told.

He cried out like a little boy who had lost his toy for amusement. And since that day, he resembled a corpse picked up from the ice after many centuries.

♠

One week passed after Anita’s discharge from the hospital. Rajeev was on leave. 

“You have a call,” said my wife while handing over the mobile phone in that pale morning. 

Anita was on the line: “Premji… he is acting like a mad man who has lost his senses. Please do something.” She could complete only a sentence in tears. 

Poor woman was in dare-straights!

♠

We were there in his within next twenty minutes. Rajeev was walking here and there like a totally unsettled man. Anita started crying again when she saw us.

“Please do something,” she begged my wife, hugging her tightly.

“Rajeev, calm down man,” I tried to console him.

“I lost my child… I lost my child…” he kept on repeating the same as if he was in an advanced stage of depression.

“I am not worried of losing my child. But, I am most worried about Rajeev. He hasn’t slept even a single second since that day,” Anita said.

♠

“You are alright Rajeev,” said Dr Sudhakaran, a seasoned psychiatrist and my long-time friend. “All you need is some sleep.”

“But?” Rajeev was again getting doubtful.

“Once you get well, she will conceive again. And you will be blessed with a little one,” Dr Sudhakaran tried to build more confidence.

“Are you sure?” Rajeev asked him.

“Yes... I have seen many wonders in my life!” Dr Sudhakaran laughed loudly. “I will prescribe some medicines now, which we can gradually reduce. What do you say?”

“As you like doctor,” Rajeev replied.

♠

One week passed and he was recovering very fast. We visited them again in that weekend. Sunil’s widowed mother also started living with them. She was a very healthy woman, who was staying with her elder daughter.

Their house stood inside a large compound with lot of trees and flowering plants. There was a huge shed, with lot of open windows, which stood amidst the garden like an uninvited guest. It remained closed for many years.

“Why don’t you demolish it? It looks so awkward,” my wife asked Rajeev.

“No... no… it was the same place where my father used to teach many students for free of cost. We just maintain it like a temple,” he replied.

We spent almost an hour with them. My wife was a bit uneasy as our little boys were alone at home.

“Why did you ask Anita to open a day-care there? After all, she is from a rich family?” I asked my wife while returning.

“Many of my friends are in search of a good place to entrust their little ones during day time. Many of the day care owners give milk added with sleeping pills to the little ones. Are you aware of such things?,” she was getting angry. " I know, she will never do that... After all, she is an unemployed woman."

♠

Within a week, twenty little ones started making furor in her day-care. The little ones used to demand in their homes to leave them in the care of their “other mother” during the weekly holidays of their parents too.

Rajeev helped her in every possible way as he could. He reappeared in our office after one month leave as if nothing had happened. He was very happy to speak about the little ones in their daycare. And within two months, he got transformed to one of the finest pediatricians, without any medical degree, in the city. 

“Premji, once the children are around, you never feel the least amount of loneliness,” he said happily.

“Rajeev, do you take medicines now-a-days?”

“Medicines? What medicines? I disposed them on the very first week of opening the daycare center!” he laughed loudly.

♠

Six month passed without much important happenings.

It was a fine weekend. Anita stepped into our home with huge bag full of something. My wife was busy cleaning the house as our little ones are true scoundrels. She followed my wife to the kitchen. 

Anita took my wife’s right hand and pressed against her tummy. 

“Congratulations Anita,” my wife hugged her.

“Thanks Chechee,” she wiped her tears. “I didn’t even tell my husband. You are the one to know it first!”

Anita walked away as children were about to come.

“You do miracles, honey,” I couldn’t stop hugging my wife. “How could you think of such a wonderful idea?”

“Just think… you silly writer… just think like a psychologist!”

“It could bring them a lot of happiness like true parents.”

“And happiness could bring a lot of hormonal changes in their bodies.”

“And the hormonal changes could generate the finest sperms and ovums.”

“And her delicate womb was well prepared to accept them with utmost happiness. This is a special sort of psychological treatment. Can you name it?”

♠

PREMJI