Part 197
Riddhima drove home very happy with herself but she couldn't
reveal her happy news to anyone. When Kaka opened the door he noticed her joy
and asked "Kya baat hai bahu? Aaj bahut khush lag rahi ho." "Haan kaka aaj main
bahut khush hoon, lekin sorry filhal main uski wajah nahi bata sakti. Maine aaj
bhagwan se ek mannat maangi hai. Aap please mujhe ashirwad dijiye ke meri
mannat poori ho." She said touching his feet.
K: Bhagwan tumhari har mannat poori karey, bahu.
Riddhima took akka's blessings too. Akka smiled and touched
her head muttering in Tamil. Then running her palms on either side of
Riddhima's forehead, bent her fingers and cracked the knuckles against her own
temples. (A way of removing nazar). Riddhima offered them the pastry and then went
looking for her sons who were busy playing Mario. Akshat was playing and the
little one was enjoying clapping his hands. He had tried playing but was not
quick enough so lost the game soon. So her preferred to watch his anna play.
Seeing their mama both of them ran towards her and were
thrilled to see that she had brought pastries for them. She also joined them in
eating, by then akka got her the hot chocolate she had asked for. The kids had
already had their milk.
That evening Armaan came on the chat line. He had taken a
break and was sitting in the hospital cafeteria. She was dying to tell him the
news but she knew if she did, he would catch the next flight out of Boston and
land here. But her excitement didn't go unnoticed by him. But talking to Armaan
had to be in ascending order. Ani had to talk first or else he wouldn't let
anyone speak. Then Akshat and last Riddhima.
That morning akka had taken Ani to the play group school to
watch his interaction there. Akka was very much against sending him there as
she felt he was too small to go to school. Riddhima had tried to convince her
that it wasn't a school but just a place to make friends and get into the habit
of being away from home. In the end she said she would take Ani there and see
if he would be happy in that place.
"Dad, Ani ghoda ghoda khela. Baut saade khilone hain. Aunty
boli sab khelo. Ani cake khaya." He said it all in one go. When Armaan seemed
to be clueless about what he was talking Akshat yelled from behind that he had gone
with athai to the playgroup that morning to have a look. But Ani didn't want
him to talk in between so he kept pushing him away saying "Ani dad baat
kalega." Then Armaan asked the little master "kaisa laga wahan? Tum jaoge unke
saath khelne?" Nodding his head he replied "Ani jaayega. Fast fast ghoda." He
started rocking forward and backward on the bed to show how he'd ride fast on
the horse.
A: Good boy lekin ghode par sambhal kar baithna aur aunty ki
har baat manna. Ok?
Ani: ok, ok.
Then Riddhima said his turn was over and now it was anna's
turn so he should say bye bye to dad and move from there. She had made them
understand that each one would talk in turns to dad, no fighting. Since she always
gave him the chance to talk first, Ani moved out when she asked him to. His
turn over Riddhima sent him packing to the hall to watch TV. Akshat didn't mind
taking second turn if he could talk without his bro's interruption. He spoke
about his school, football friends, so on and so forth. Then he also bid his
dad bye and followed his bro. Now she
could talk in peace with her sweetheart.
"Kya baat hai aaj bahut excited dikh rahi ho?" was Armaan's
first question. How she wished she could tell him the real reason. Instead she
told him it was because Dr. Mohan was very impressed with the way she was
handling her ward, which was of course true only. She told about the important
progress of a few of her cases. Then went on to enquire about his day. He
seemed to be quite happy with what he was doing, only thing he was missing
them. Especially during the weekends he felt lonely.
On Sunday evening after walking along Charles river, he had
gone to the Prudential Mall. He hadn't really shopped only walked around it and
was planning to go one of these days to the observatory on top of it. He had
been informed by some friends, that Indian bread was available at Trader Joe
right opposite it. So he had bought some readymade frozen parathas which he had
to just heat and eat.
A couple of other doctors had also come from Delhi, and one
from Nepal too. The following weekend they were all planning to go together on
a duck tour i.e. part tour by bus around Boston and for the remaining part of
the tour the bus changed into a steamer and took them sailing down the Charles
river. The weekend after that was a long one. So they were planning to go to
New York or the Niagra falls. Riddhima was happy that he had some friends who
were also away from their families and so were sticking together.
Days flew by in the same way. Ani started attending the
playgroup but wouldn't let athai move from there. So on the first two days they
stayed there for about an hour. Since he was new, the other children let him
take the toys he wanted. After two days the teacher told Muniamma that she would
have to slip away when he's not seeing. But akka's heart wouldn't let her do
that. So she went out of the classroom but remained near the school gate, lest
he should cry.
He was engrossed in playing for some time, but then suddenly
noticed that Athai was missing. He started wailing loudly "Athai, athai" and
his athai came running hearing him. The teacher told her rather strictly, that
from the following day, she should just leave and go. She complained to
Riddhima that evening about the teacher being very "Khadoos" but Riddhima
convinced her that she has to follow her instructions. She went away mumbling
to herself that these days kids were sent to school even before they outgrew
their cradle.
For two weeks things moved smoothly. Then came the first complaint
from the teacher that Ani was very adamant when he wanted something and didn't
hesitate to beat the children if they didn't give him what he wanted. As the
complaint was passed through akka who went to drop him and pick him, she
started grumbling. "After all he is a baby. What can he understand? She's
simply complaining because she doesn't know how to sort out the issue. Why is
she running the school then?"
Riddhima didn't say anything to her, but she took Ani on her
lap and explained to him that the toys were meant for all. He could play with
it for sometime, but when some other child wanted it he should share it. The
next time she spoke to Armaan, she asked him also to advise him because she
knew he had a better knack than her. But it ended father and son making an
agreement that everytime he shared toys with the other children, he would get a
chocolate. "Armaan I told you to correct him and you've made arrangement to rot
his teeth." She reprimanded him.
Thankfully this time Riddhima had very slight morning
sickness. She had hardly thrown up twice or thrice in the past two weeks. June
was over and the following day Armaan was going alongwith some of his colleagues
to watch the fire display on th occasion of American Independence Day, the 4th
of July. Every weekend they visited some new place. Either within Massachusetts
or outside. He had also met a lot of Indians there and was invited to many of
their houses for dinner, as he befriended them very easily.
Riddhima was very regular with her appointments to Dr.
Kalyani in spite of the rain and bad weather. She would usually make an early
appointment and leave hospital early on those days and manage to come home on
time. No one seemed to suspect anything, but only Armaan kept teasing her that
she was very happy to be away from him and was hence putting on weight. She had
to admit that this baby was making her very hungry.
One afternoon after lunch she went to the cafeteria as she
was still feeling hungry. She decided to have some milkshake. She saw a group
of nurses sitting and eating. She noticed that the new nurse who had joined
their hospital that same day, was sitting among them and they were all offering
her food from their tiffin as she hadn't brought anything. As Riddhima sat
sipping her milkshake their talk fell on her ears.
New nurse: Please don't mistake me, but I won't eat any rice
preparations.
Other nurse: Why? You don't like rice?
NN: No I like it very much. But I've taken a vow. My son is
in Std. XII. My husband and me want him to become a doctor, but he's not very
ambitious. So I went to our guruji to ask for his help. He asked me to give up
one of my favourite food item for a year, as penance. Then he said my wish
would come true. So I gave up rice, my most favourite food.
Other N: But that's so difficult.
NN: I'm doing it for my son, so it isn't so difficult. I took
the vow impulsively. But then I couldn't understand what to eat. Initially I used
to get frustrated but now I've learnt so many new receipes thanks to my son.
She laughed and continued to tell about herself. She had
actually worked as a head sister in a hospital in Kochi and her husband in
Kochi harbour. Since both of them had shifts she had left her son and younger
daughter with her parents at Munnar,. Now since her son was in Std. XII she had
moved here to be with him. And had joined MSHC as a staff nurse.
"How much sacrifice and trouble parents take for their kids,
but will the kids realize and appreciate it?" Riddhima wondered to herself. Suddenly
she had an idea, she would also give up something wishing for a daughter this time.
She wouldn't give up anything which was important for her baby's proper growth
though. It should be something she loved, but the baby could do without. She would
think over and decide later.
That evening as they were having dinner, akka served her
some khichdi. How lovely the khichdi tasted with the mango pickle she thought
to herself. After having eaten the raw mango near the temple, she had asked
akka to make some raw mango pickle. She was eating that to her heart's content,
with Armaan also not there to stop her. Suddenly she knew what she'd give up –
mango. So this was the last piece of mango she was eating till her baby was
born.
Whenever she got free time he mind would play the guessing
game. This time the morning sickness is less unlike the two previous times. So maybe
this'll be a girl she'd hope. At other times she'd wonder what if it was
another boy? Even the thought of it sent shivers through her body, imagining another
Ani in the family. She'd go totally berserk for sure, she thought.
comment:
p_commentcount