At around three in the morning, Deepu’s cousin brother reached the hospital. It was his turn to stay back and we all left for home to take some rest.
But the fear that something worse would come up again still persisted deep inside me.
Her condition showed a little improvement in the next ten hours. The plasma count in her blood was better than before. But she was not in a stage where the doctors could say that she was out of danger. They could not be sure of a positive development, but they gave us hope.
Back in my hometown, my family was worried about me. It was a week since I had left them. First, my Mumma was concerned about Khushi, and then for me. She was worried about all that must be going on in my mind amid all this. She knew I was not doing well. Mumma wanted to be with me at this time. She could make out that I needed her. She too wanted to be with me. My father said she had not been feeling well for the last two days. She wanted to see Khushi, the girl she had been talking to for months.
When I called her up, she asked me if I could come back to her and then, both of us could return to Faridabad. I had no idea what I should do, though I wanted her to be with me.
Then, something else came to my attention, as I was living with her family. The people visiting her home were making me self-conscious. When her family was questioned about my identity. When they were asked, ‘So he is staying with you? Since a week?’ Such questions made me apprehensive. Was I making their life uncomfortable? People at times talk shit, I knew that. I was not bothered about myself, but I didn’t want to be the source of trouble and gossip about their family.
In next twenty-four hours, a few more units of blood platelets were given to her. We managed to get the support of everyone in her office. Their HR asked for donations through mails from the employees.
Soon things seemed to be getting better. Our endless efforts were showing results. Her blood platelet count was returning to normal.
Later that evening, Khushi’s dad told me that my mom had called him up. He said that my family needed me.
‘Your mom was so worried. She wants to see you and she wishes to be here. If you wish, you can go back and bring her with you.’
‘I understand her situation. But I don’t want to leave Khushi in this condition.’
‘We all are here to take care of her. Let’s think wisely and handle things well. I will leave the decision to you.’
‘I will talk to the doctors and then make my decision.’
I went to the doctor’s chamber. There was a lady doctor whom I had sometimes seen diagnosing Khushi. She was part of the team handling her case.
‘Ma’am, can I talk to you for a while?’
‘Yes.’ And before I could walk up to her desk, she asked, ‘You are from the family of the patient on bed number 305, right?’
‘Uh … Yes, Ma’am.’
‘Tell me.’
‘Ma’am, due to certain reasons my family wants me back for a short time. My mom needs me and I have to bring her here along with me. As I’m not mentally prepared to do this, I want your suggestion.’ I was silent for a moment, then added, ‘You understand what I mean?’
‘I do,’ she said and asked me, ‘May I know your relation to the patient?’
‘She is my fiancée.’
‘Oh, I thought you were family.’
‘By now, I am a member of her family,’ I said very clearly.
She looked at me for a while and then looked at my hands.
‘Just two days before our engagement, she met with this accident.
It’s just the ring that’s left, otherwise she is my fiancée,’ I clarified for her as she looked for the ring on my finger.
She looked aside and thought for a while, then turned back to me, smiling with affection, and said, ‘Thank you.’
‘Sorry?’ I wondered what she meant.
‘You know, her face, her brain and her entire body have suffered so much damage …’
‘Yes, I know.’
‘We are trying our best, but there is no guarantee that, for the rest of her life, she will be as beautiful as she was before. You know that too?’
‘Yes, I know.’
‘That you are standing by her, knowing all this, is what made me thank you … In my profession, I have seen several instances where the girls’ in-laws tend to break things up with them at the earliest. Being a woman, I understand how much that girl and her family need your support. And more than that I understand how much you love her.’
I was silent for a while. Then, in a shaking voice, I asked her, ‘Can you save my love?’
‘God will help us all to save your love.’ She put her hand on my shoulder, trying to comfort me and raise my hopes.
Then I asked her what I had come to ask her. I explained the condition back home and asked if I should go back to get my mom. ‘I am not sure what I should do. I don’t want to leave Khushi here in this condition to get my mom.’
‘Listen. She is going to need you the most when she opens her eyes. And, with God’s grace, if everything goes fine, it will still take four or five days.’
‘Four or five days?’
‘Yes. Till then, she will be on sedatives. So it’s better that you go back and do whatever needs to be done, so that you can come back at the right time. I can understand your mom’s state too and I would advice you to go back home, meet your mother and then bring her here.’
Hearing her answer, I made up my mind to go back to my parents and then return to Faridabad by the next week.
The next morning, I saw Khushi for the last time before boarding my plane back to Bhubaneswar. She was calm and unconscious. I kept staring at her face for a while. In my heart, I talked to her. ‘I will come back and you will see me when you open your eyes. See you soon, my dear!’
I kissed her hand and I left that place.
Back in my hometown, my presence helped mom get better. Dad too kept encouraging me. We all were going through the worst phase of our lives. Yet, our being together allowed us to stay positive. I saw them praying, every hour of their life, pleading to God to save Khushi’s life for me, and for them.
Every few hours I would phone Faridabad. Every time I called up, I was desperate to hear something positive. And three days later, we finally did hear something positive. The doctors revealed that she has shown a considerable amount of improvement. Her blood pressure had stabilized, the platelet count was normal and she was better than she had ever been in the past two weeks, though she still had not regained consciousness.
It was Friday night, I remember.
I thanked God like anything. We all thanked Him. That news brought some happiness to sorrowful faces. After their ambiguous statements, the doctors had started making better remarks now. Even though they still used to end with, ‘We
believe she is doing good. But to be sure we have to wait till she regains consciousness.’
Therefore, each one of us was waiting for her to open her eyes.
As soon as I got the good news, I boarded the bus to Bhubaneswar. I wanted to book air tickets to Faridabad for my entire family. In haste, I skipped my dinner too. Moments later, I was in the third row, occupying the extreme right seat in the bus. Inside, the lights were turned off. The window pane on my right was open and I could see the moon and the stars shining in the sky. I was happy. I kept staring at the sky for hours before I felt tired enough to sleep. I could feel my eyes getting heavier. I leaned my head against the window and rested for a while.
And then, after several minutes, something strange happened. Something which I could not believe. Shuffling in my sleep, I turned to my left. And I was speechless the next second.
She was sitting right beside me.
Khushi
was sitting right beside me.
My shocked eyes kept staring at her. I tried to speak but could not. Hundreds of questions ran through my mind in that one instant and I could not decide which one I should ask first. I looked here and there. In the darkness, every other passenger was sleeping.
She smiled. The accident had left no marks on her face or her body. She appeared so beautiful. Just like she had always been. She was wearing her engagement
sari
.
I was still struggling to understand how this could be.
Very innocently, she put her hand to my forehead, sliding it down to my cheek and resting it there. Then she asked me, ‘How are you dear?’
I tried to speak, but my mouth was dry. I swallowed. ‘I don’t believe this. You were … How …?’ Those questions remained incomplete.
‘I know what you are wondering. But I am here for you. Only for you.’
‘But you were far away from me, in Apollo … unconscious …’ I was trying to accept whatever I was seeing.
Gently, she kept answering my queries, ‘Shona! I can never be away from you. I was always here, and will always be here. Right beside you, forever.’
I could see her love for me in those eyes. Something in me started believing that whatever was happening was true. I was feeling comfortable and delighted.
After a few moments of silence I spoke, ‘I missed you so much, Khushi. For two weeks I couldn’t talk to you and you were …’
‘Shhhhh!’ She held her finger to my lips, not allowing me to speak further. ‘I know how you’ve been missing me. I am sorry, dear. That’s why, despite all obstacles, I have come to you—the one I love.’
She kissed me.
And then, she had a small box in her hands. I watched her opening it in front of me. It was the engagement ring that she got for me. With her beautiful smile, she brought the ring out and looking up, she took my hand.
‘But we will be doing this in front of everyone
na
?’ I asked her.
‘Nah. I can’t wait that long.’
‘But why?’
‘I don’t have much time.’
‘What do you mean you don’t have much time?’
‘Shhh … You ask too many questions,’ she said, sweetly tweaking my nose. And then, looking straight into my eyes, she continued, ‘Because I am dying to be yours … Hey, handsome! Will you marry me?’
In that moment of happiness, I could not utter anything. I just nodded.
She slid that beautiful ring onto my third finger and, to my surprise, I noticed the ring I got for her was already on her third finger.
I hugged her and kissed her forehead and lips. We held hands.
After few minutes of romantic silence, she suddenly recalled something. ‘Why did you skip your dinner? You are hungry
na
.’
‘No, I am not,’ I said, but she didn’t believe me and opened her bag to get another box out. It was the tiffin-box she used to take to her office.
‘See what I have made for you.’
‘Hey!
Rajma chawal
!’ I almost shouted, troubling the sleeping passengers.
With her own hands she fed me my favorite dish. We kept talking. She, more than I. We shared the last bite after which she said to me,
‘Don’t skip your meals. You have to take care of yourself.’
I didn’t reply. I was feeling her fingers in my hand.
‘Promise me,’ she said.
‘What?’ I asked, distracted, making irregular figures on her palm with my fingers, playing with her ring.
‘Promise me you will take care of yourself … Always.’
‘Why?’
Mysteriously, she replied, ‘Because I may not be able to bring
rajma chawal
for you all the time.’ And she laughed. She looked cute. She kissed me again on my forehead and looked deep into my eyes. I felt something different in that kiss, in her eyes.
And then, just like a kid, she asked me, ‘Listen, I want to rest my head on your shoulder for a while.’
And so she rested on my left shoulder. We were still holding hands. A few moments of silence passed. I checked to see if she was asleep while trying to release my hand from hers. She wasn’t. She didn’t allow me to take my hand away. She wanted me to hold her tight.
I took her in my arms when she said, ‘Shona! Thank you for giving me the love of my life.’
I didn’t reply, but kissed her hair. We didn’t talk much. I wanted her to rest. After so long, we had these moments together. Some more time passed. I don’t know how much. And then, all of a sudden, I felt something hitting my forehead.
What was that? I could not understand. But I could hear something. Some sound, some kind of vibration, bothering me. For a few seconds I could not figure out what it was. I was struggling to open my eyes.
I found the window pane on my right was still open and my head was resting against the grill. Maybe I hit my head against it in my sleep. I was regaining my senses. In my pocket, my cellphone was ringing.
It was still dark inside the bus. A gust of wind brought me completely out of my sleep. Outside the sky was calm, the moon was losing its sheen, the stars were disappearing. It was early dawn.
And all of a sudden I realized—the ring was missing from my finger. I immediately turned to my left looking for her. But she wasn’t there. I got scared. I stood up and looked here and there in order to find her. But I could not see her. She was gone, I don’t know where.
The phone in my pocket was still ringing and in my confusion I quickly pulled it out.
‘Khushi calling …’it displayed.
I checked my wristwatch. It was 4 a.m. It was an odd time to call.
‘It must be urgent,’ I thought and picked up the phone. ‘Hello?’
But I didn’t get any response from the other side, though I could hear somebody’s breath.
‘Dad?’
‘Beta …’
I was right. It was Khushi’s dad. ‘Yes, Dad?’ I said.
He spoke after a long silence. ‘Beta … it’s a sad news. Our Khushi is no more. She left us a few minutes back …’
‘But she was here with me a few minutes back …’ I heard someone inside me screaming but not a sound came out.
Something heavy stuck my heart, a terrible blow. My eyes widened. I froze. Some kind of coldness crawled within me. My muscles could not move. My heart seemed to alternately stop beating and pump furiously. My brain went numb. I lost control over myself and the echo of that message beat against my eardrums. I don’t remember, I can’t recall anything else.
‘Waheguru … Waheguru … Waheguru …’
was all that came out of me, after which the phone fell out of my hands.