“Damadji(Son-in-law), how is Nishoo now? How did she suddenly collapse?...”, enquired Sandhya, in a broken voice, as she rushed in her dark green sari. Young Alok accompanied her along the corridor. She had tied her milky white-colored hair behind, with a black centering clip. She shrugged at Dr.Alok. She pointed at the locked ICU door. She began sobbing bitterly at him. He turned away and wiped his tears.
“Sir is mom fine now?...”, enquired Alok beta. The professor nodded. He shared, “The surgery is almost over. I’m sure she will be fine.” Sandhya leaned on her grandson’s shoulder. Her red eyes went over the observation window.
“No, as a retired doctor, I have an idea of the complications post such surgeries”, she highlighted. As the Aloks shook their heads, she sighed. She elaborated, “It may lead to severe arthritis. Sad! It's the first case in our family. Most women of our blood have only experienced natural menopause including me.” She neared Alok saar and shook him.
“Daadi! What are you doing?”, asked Alok beta. He caught her hand. He shrugged while she reasoned, raising her voice, “All because of the tension this Alok Sharma has been offering my daughter. Why the hell did he fall for Payal while love was already blooming between him and Nisha?”
“Aunty, I know I was wrong till recently. I’m so sorry. But, I love Nisha very much. I promise I will no longer hurt her for I’m already shattered like a broken glass within...”, apologized Dr.Alok. Son Alok nodded along.
He cited, “Sir, what are you sorry for? You are talking as if you betrayed my mother. No! It was a case of unrequited love wherein you just couldn’t feel the same way for her until recently…It's totally fine! Some love stories take a lot of time to begin. Yours and Nisha mamma’s is an excellent example of the same. But, please, don’t blame yourself."
"If mamma was stressed, she is the one and only sole cause for the same. She should have forgotten you and moved on after knowing your feelings for someone else. But, hardly can one control love. She loved you very deeply…deeper than the Mariana Trench under the Pacific Ocean. Her unbound emotions for you might have put pressure on her hormones but she is to be blamed…”
He pointed at professor Alok, concluding, “Neither you nor me nor daadi. The only thing we need at the moment is mom’s recovery.” Dr.Alok patted Alok beta’s cheeks. The two Aloks smiled at each other. The elder Alok hugged the younger one. He sobbed secretly in his ears.
“You are very considerate, beta. Keep it up!”, complimented Dr.Alok. He joined his hands at Sandhya. “Aunty, I won’t say Nisha was foolish to have been loving me, missing me all these years, and walking on a road whose endpoint was undefined. In fact, I was foolish to have lost her.” He wiped his tears.
“Good that she didn’t forget me as you said. Nisha and I can live our love story at least the remaining twenty years or so of our lifetime”, said he, correcting Alok beta. He shrank his light brown eyes filled with tears at Sandhya. “Aunty, please don’t be mad at me, Nisha, or our late love. It may be starting late yet love is love…my sweet Nisha medam is the reason why I discovered an interest in my life despite losing my entire family.”
Sandhya nodded. The three grinned at each other. They were interrupted by the ICU door’s buckle getting unlocked. Dr.Alok rushed at the masked doctor in a blue apron.
May it be a second, a minute, an hour, a day, a week, a month, a year, a couple of years, or even throughout one's life, relishing the most beautiful feeling on Earth-the love, it still matters.
While most couples are almost near the silver jubilee of their wedding anniversary, Alok and Nisha are just about to begin their love life!
Love at any age is love. Why not a middle-aged love story?!
Alok beta whispered to his granny, ”See there.” Sandhya raised her eyebrows. “Can’t you see how much Alok saar cares for his Nisha medam? Can’t you feel that he not only loves her more than anything else in the world but also cares for her more than us, her family? Didn’t you see how he rushed to the doctor?”
She smiled and nodded again. Alok beta rested his head on her shoulder. He reassured her, “He is the perfect match for mamma. He won’t cause trouble for your Nishoo. Instead, he will solve her troubles by treating them as if they were his own. For instance, Aashitha’s threat to suicide in the middle of the road or this very surgery.”
She patted her grandson’s cheek. “Alok saar was quite right. You have become a big man, Alok beta.” The two chuckled at each other.
Meanwhile, inside the ICU, Nisha, in a dark pink patient gown and lying on the bed, opened her eyes to spot a nurse cleaning the tray. She looked around to find none else around her.
“Excuse me, what happened? Why am I here?”, she investigated. The nurse took off her gloves, replying, “Ma’am, you underwent a uterus removal surgery. You were brought with critically heavy bleeding. We had no other choice but to save your life…”
Nisha nodded. “Yes, I remember…But, in that case, who signed my consent form?”, she asked. She raised her eyebrows, enquiring with a higher degree of curiosity, in her weak voice, “In the first place, who admitted me here to the hospital?”
“What a question!”, exclaimed the nurse, chuckling and shrugging at her. ”Who else? Of course, your husband admitted you here!”
“What! Husband?”, enquired Nisha.
“Come on, ma’am. Don’t be silly. You are acting as if you don’t know your husband”, teased the nurse who then neared her to pull her cheeks, emphasizing, “Aww! Do you even know how much he loves you? He waged the Battle Of Plassey again in the 21st century with one of our doctors just for you, his beloved. Ma’am, you are blessed to have such a sweet gentleman…and look at you?”
While Nisha rolled her eyeballs hither and thither, the nurse laughed, advising, “No matter how much you might have a fight, it always ends in love. What a beautiful bonding you two share! Please don’t be angry with him any further. Forget the bitter bites after learning about his immense love and care for you, his woman…Now, stop acting as if you don’t know your husband at all. Enough of anger. Only love from now!...”
“Wait! What are you talking about?...”, Nisha interrupted her. She insisted to get the consent form. “I want to see…” The nurse shrugged again. No sooner she offered the paper than Nisha snatched it away from her. “What’s wrong with my patient? Anyways, a big fight between the couple will resolve now after his infinite affection for her!”, thought the nurse, blushing to herself.
“Dr.Alok Sharma”, read the name in the form. Nisha chuckled with a wide grin on her face. She blushed. She hugged the form and closed her eyes. “Aww! My Alok saar signed for me. My love signed as my husband. I know that he means it too and just didn't sign out for the sake of humanity!” She kissed the cardboard.
“What are you doing?”, asked the nurse. Nisha shook her head. She returned the form, requesting, “Can I get a color xerox copy of the consent form?”
“But, why?...”, asked the nurse, smiling a bit. Nisha shrank her eyes, pleading, “Please, please, I beg you. The surgery is the best memory of my entire life only due to the consent form…Please!...” The nurse nodded, rolling her eyeballs and rubbing her feet against each other.
“Saar!”, exclaimed Nisha, at Dr.Alok at the entrance. The nurse chuckled at them as she stepped out. Nisha got up from the bed and ran towards Alok.
“Ouch!”, ailed she, catching hold of her tummy. She sat back on the bed. “Aye!”, shouted Alok, rushing at her. He made her lay back on the bed.
“Don’t you know that you must rest? Why did you just strain yourself? You have undergone surgery, for your kind information. Aren’t you educated? Don’t you know how one should behave oneself after a surgery?...”
She sneezed.
“By the way, why did you stand all the while drenching yourself in the rain? Why are you so careless, medam?...”, he went on and on, screwing her, raising his soft, meek and hesitant voice. Tears accumulated in her eyes. She stared at his lips rather than paying attention to his advice!
“Long long ago, I wished you looked after me by showering all the love of the universe. I can’t believe my eyes today for you have finally let me dive into your superior vena cava ”, she wondered, blushing at him.
He leaned forward and caught her cheeks. He neared her eyes, asking, “Do you even know how much I love you? Can you imagine what will happen to me if I had lost you? I love you more than how much you love me, medam…” She pulled him closer.
“I’m content that you care loads for me. I never knew…”, said she. He placed his finger on her lips. As she immersed him into her eyes, he slowly sat beside her on the bed. “I am sorry, medam. I understood your reason behind confirming my statements about Payal…It just took some time…”
“It's completely fine, saar. You can take all the time in the world. You always take some more time to realize things yet you become mine at the end of the day. That's all I need! I’m sorry too”, she apologized. “I shouldn’t have suspected you…”
He leaned closer and kissed her forehead. She lifted her head up a bit to hug him. They soaked each others’ attire with tears, tears, and tears.
“Nishoo! How are you now? Is it paining?”, enquired her mother, barging in, followed by Alok beta. Nisha nodded as she released Dr.Alok.
As Alok saar stood up beside young Alok, the latter whispered, teasing, “Romance, sir?” He lifted his eyebrows up and down, at which Dr.Alok and Nisha blushed at each other. Nisha shook her head at Sandhya.
“Mom, no pain while my sweet Alok saar is here with me. He will drive all my worries away”, declared Nisha, blushing at him. “Yes yes, I will look after her”, assured Dr.Alok.
“Ever since you attained your age of puberty, whenever I visited the local markets and my eyes went over glass bangles, I had always pictured your baby shower ceremony. But, my daughter never bore her own child…”, uttered Sandhya, in a broken voice. She hugged Nisha and sobbed bitterly. Son Alok too rested his face on his left palm and began weeping. Dr.Alok patted him after which the Aloks hugged. Dr.Alok smiled, patting the young Alok’s head and nodding at him.
“My baby isn’t just mine. It would have been our baby, Alok saar”, narrated Nisha, turning at Dr.Alok. “But, I never won my man’s love…”
“No, you are wrong”, refused Dr.Alok, releasing young Alok. He confessed, “I love you, Nisha medam. You are the only woman I love in the world…You are my only lady, the purpose of my life filled with regrets…”
“Wait!”, intervened Nisha, pointing her left hand and gesturing for him to stop. She clarified, “I was talking about back then. Our baby would have been the symbol of our love which never existed from your side until recently. Where do you expect the babies to enter our lives then? Hence, what’s the purpose of my womb which is never gonna bear a little one?”
She sighed. “Now that I have turned forty-nine and my love is here, it's time to bid an adieu to my womb…” She turned at Alok saar, with tears. She tilted her head, concluding, “Waiting, waiting, and waiting for your love.”
While Alok looked at her, she caught his hand. “But, it doesn’t matter as you are here with me at the current moment. Your love is the only thing I need in life.”
As Alok wiped a drop of tears, Nisha raised a point, “Anyways, having a child now after our reunion doesn’t make any sense. When it turns twenty, we would have already grown too old to shoulder its responsibilities. Think about it. Isn’t it tough to raise children when we ourselves turn elder?”
The others nodded. Nisha then gestured for her foster son to sit beside her on the bed. She rested her head on his shoulder. She hugged him firmly like an anaconda tightening its victim man along his legs, announcing, “Great heavens gifted my sweet Alok beta. What if he didn’t grow in my womb? He is still my own son.” She kissed him at which Dr.Alok swallowed his tears as the scene of his mother feeding him breakfast back during his college days, flashed in his mind.
Nisha’s eyes went over her Alok saar. “Saar! I have a surprise for you very soon. I know how much you miss Usha aunty. I can hear your heart crying for her even now. She is very close to us. Don’t you worry! She will cook and feed you your favorite food very soon. If Payal can break things and mess your lives, Nisha can put them all together and fix our lives. I always loved jigsaw puzzles, completing incomplete tasks…”, Nisha promised, within her.
“Saar!”, she called him. They blushed as she pulled him too to sit beside. The three hugged. Sandhya nodded at Nisha.
“Mom, do you need an invitation?”, asked Nisha, with tears in her eyes. “Won’t you enroll yourself to celebrate your daughter’s happiness? I got my love, my son and you have always been with me, my sweet mom. Love you!”
“Arey Nishoo! What do you mean?”, chuckled Sandhya, with tears. She hurried to sit beside Alok beta on the bed. The four hugged and wept out their tears of happiness. “My blood pressure will rise if you raise my emotions. I am old”, cried the elderly mother. They opened their eyes and laughed in the dim circle of hugs.
How will Nisha medam reunite Alok saar with his parents?
Dear readers,
Thank you for following my series and reading the episode. Rate it and write your review, give it a heart and share it in your circle whenever you are free. Your voice matters a lot to me.
