CHAPTER 47
Critical
Nisha rushed along the stretcher resting an unconscious Dr.Alok on it. She wept, calling him again and again, “Alok saar!”, as she ran along. The ward boys and nurses on the other side of the stretcher made their way into the ward. Nisha, dressed in the same sari, as in the morning, broke down with her knees on the hospital’s white-tiled floor.
“Ma'am, calm down”, convinced Sarla, kneeling beside her. Nisha pointed at the ward and wept aloud as Ramlal and Sarla aided her to stand up.
“Let me get some water”, informed Ramlal. Sarla nodded at him. She helped Nisha sit on the metallic chairs put in a line behind them.
“Please drink some water, ma’am”, offered Sarla, grabbing the Bisleri bottle from Ramlal who sat on the opposite chair. Nisha showed her palm signaling her refusal.
“I want my Dr.Alok to be fine. Why did he do this? He was completely fine when he dropped me. I advised him a lot yet he didn’t understand. Why did he overdrink?...”
She closed her eyes and continued sobbing.
“Reshma!”, called Usha, knocking hard on the room’s door. A couple of moments later, Anish opened the door.
“Maa, what happened? Did you take your tablets? Why are you still up late in the night? It's not good for your health. Go to bed...”, enquired Reshma, following her husband. They were already in their night dresses.
“Why are you screaming at ten in the night?”, asked Keshav, yawning and walking from the dining table toward Usha.
“Nisha just rang me up. Alok is serious. He is admitted to City hospital”, Usha revealed. She shivered, concluding, “Please take me there, Anish beta.”
“Sad. I was outside when he visited us this morning and look at his condition now. Let's leave at once. Come”, agreed Anish. Usha caught Keshav’s hand and dragged him along.
“Usha, stop. Why should we go? Some random guy is serious. What bothers us? None will go there”, Keshav opposed.
“Oh please! For the sake of the great heavens, keep your rage aside at least now. He is your son. Remember those days when you lifted him up and forced him to sit on your shoulders and played with him? You were transferred to a different branch when Anish was born. You hardly played with him when he was a little boy”, argued Usha, in a tearful voice.
She concluded, raising her voice, “Remember how Alok used to be your pet son and Anish mine? That little son is serious today. How could you say that you won't come?”
“Papa, please come. Don’t be angry with him at least now”, added Anish.
“Whoever is coming or not, let's leave. He is my son and I will go to see him”, confirmed Usha, releasing Keshav’s hand. The three hurried away in their car.
“Who is the patient’s relative here?”, enquired a young female doctor, frowning at Ramlal.
Nisha nodded. She rushed towards her. “Doctor, how is he now?...”, Nisha enquired anxiously.
“Your husband has intaken too much alcohol. For now, I managed with a set of first-aid medications. However, his liver will become critical if he continues this behavior. Stop him from drinking. Don’t let him strain either”, conveyed the doctor.
“Sorry, doctor. Will ensure he doesn’t consume alcohol hereon”, guaranteed Nisha. “Can I see him now?”, she asked, at which the doctor nodded and left at once, calling the nurse along as they headed towards the corner ward.
“Alok saar!”, called Nisha while “Beta!”, called Usha, from the ward’s entrance. They sobbed at each other. They headed together, sobbing at the patient whose meek and hesitant eyes gave alternate glances at them.
Nisha slapped his left cheek.
“Do you think I can spare this behavior of yours? Didn’t you ever guess how much I would miss you if something serious had happened to you? There is a limit to tolerance. Got it, saar?”, scolded Nisha, frowning at Dr.Alok.
“Neither did you remember your beloved nor your mother before your crazy decision to overdrink?”, interrogated Usha, targeting her son.
“Aren’t you educated enough to estimate the consequences of one’s health on the over-intake of alcohol? Were you planning to leave me behind once again?”, shouted Nisha.
“No Nisha medam…I can’t imagine my life without you”, clarified the poor professor. He faced his mother. He shook his head, apologizing, “I am very sorry. I won’t do anything harmful again.”
Nisha informed, “Saar, the doctor has just warned that your liver was closer to hitting the mark for a critical condition.” She shook his hand, asking, “Didn’t I ask you to wait for a while?… Wait until your father gets convinced? Right, so this means that you don’t trust me…”
“Sorry medam…”
“What should I do with your bucket of sorries? Feel sorry for me and keep missing you forever?”
His mother shrugged. She refused, “I won’t trust a drunkard’s words.” She extended her right palm near him.
“Promise me that you won’t drink again”, she demanded, raising her eyebrows at him. Nisha too extended her hand.
“Promise the both of us.”
“I will never drink alcohol or do any such foolish acts again after learning that there are the two of you showering immense care for me, a sinner”, agreed Dr.Alok. He gave his right palm to his mom and his left palm to his lover.
“Sorry again”, he apologized. Usha and Nisha nodded and smiled at each other.
The clock at the hospital’s reception struck around one-thirty that night. The corridors were illuminated throughout with a combination of yellow and white lights. Nisha kept turning left and right as she slept on the long couch inside the ward. Dr.Alok was fast asleep on his patient's bed. Their ward was pitch dark except for a handful of traces from the corridor’s lights making their way in. The small maroon curtains were tall and wide enough to cover the windows on either side of the bed at the center.
An aged man, in a white hoodie with its cap concealing his face till the nose, opened the ward’s door. Its slight creak opened Nisha’s eyes. He took baby steps to walk inside.
“Who is here at this hour?”, wondered she. Her eyes happened to spot the portion of golden-colored Kurti. She recollected Keshav in a golden Kurti on white pants shutting the door in Alok’s face.
“Uncle?”, thought she, as her eyeballs rolled hither and thither. As she had already turned to face the soft backrest of the sofa, she closed her eyes and pretended to sleep. However, she kept her ears sharper than ever before.
She heard Keshav sobbing. She secretly turned a bit to witness the distressed father massaging his son’s head.
“Beta, aren’t you a grown-up? Why are you troubling me? If you drink and fall like this, how can this old man digest such shocks?” He took a seat on the stool by the bed. He rested his head on his son’s chest. He closed his eyes and wept without a break.
“I met you after around fifteen years just to see you suffering? Take care. Don’t put my son’s liver in trouble. I won’t spare you then.”
He sat erect. He wiped his tears and got up from his seat. He was about to leave when he spotted Nisha standing and crying at the door. He faked a frown. He headed towards her.
“Give me the way. I must go…”, whispered he, in his strict commanding voice.
“Uncle, why did you come here in the first place?”, asked Nisha.
“Why must I answer you?”, argued Keshav.
He swallowed his tears as drops of tears rolled down Nisha’s cheeks.
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?!
“Don’t try to hide anymore. I’m sorry but you are bad at it, uncle. If you loved your son so much, why don’t you let your affection out? What’s stopping you from pouring your emotions out to him right on his face?”, Nisha questioned.
She stopped him when he was about to respond, interrupting, “Uncle, please keep your ego aside and look at your lonely son. Do you think he deserves this punishment?” She sighed.
“You must forgive Dr.Alok. I mean he hasn’t done anything wrong. In that case, why should you break ties with him anymore? Almost every young man ever has always been behind a graceful lady. Unfortunately, Payal’s beauty deceived Alok from discovering her sadistic nature hidden behind her seemingly-innocent face. Everyone makes wrong decisions. Why do you expect Dr.Alok to be an exception?"
"Forgive me if I spoke too much but I wanted to tell everything that was running through my mind. I don’t want to repeat my mistake of concealing my emotions like how I overthought and procrastinated to propose Alok in the past.”
Nisha opened the door to let him out. No sooner did he step out than she added an ending note, “And most importantly, forgive Dr.Alok.”
Keshav looked back to frown at her. He walked away.
Nisha closed the door behind. She walked inside the ward. She released her left fist. She breathed hard to witness four deep marks of her long nails, as clear as the crystal, in the darkness around her.
A drop or two of fresh blood too showed up near the lifeline of her left palm. She swallowed her tears. Her eyes reddened as Payal’s chubby laughing face flashed in her mind. She shut her eyes recollecting her recent words where she had to involve Payal to defend Dr.Alok.
“It's ok. Whom did I do it for? Just for my beloved Dr.Alok, right? My hatred and wrath for Payal shouldn’t be a hindrance to loving Alok saar.”
The next morning, as Nisha fed pieces of apples to Dr.Alok, she informed, “Saar, I will stay in your house for a few days and look after you. I will then leave for my apartment. I can’t leave you alone…”
“Medam!”, he exclaimed, pulling her cheeks. He chuckled as she blushed. “It's not required. I am not so sick either. I can manage. Why are you taking leave?”
“Saar, are you crazy?”, she raised her voice. She washed the tiffin box. Her long Kurti danced to the rhythm of the morning breeze. She put on her pink hoodie.
“Didn’t you stay with me for almost a month after my operation? Now, it's my turn…” She clung to sit beside him on the bed. She smiled, resting her head on his chest. She completed, “To show how much I love my dear saar.”
“Sexy!”, he commented. He kissed her forehead.
Son Alok threw the door open. Dr.Alok and Nisha released each other. While they chuckled, Alok beta looked away and smiled. “Sorry, I didn’t see anything”, said he, closing his eyes.
“Arey, it's okay. You are our son. You can come”, mocked Nisha. Dr.Alok pinched her at which she screeched like a little girl.
“Shall we leave home? I have arranged the cab…”, informed junior Alok.
“I could have driven myself though”, suggested Nisha, grabbing her handbag. She helped Dr.Alok get up from the bed although he chuckled, denying her help and saying that he was getting treated like a patient after a complicated surgery.
“I didn’t want both of you to strain. That's why”, reasoned young Alok, as Nisha put her lover’s arms around her. Dr.Alok blushed, pulling her closer.
“Saar!”, she exclaimed while he commented, “Sexy! Something is missing. I need to limp now. Your assistance will then be perfect, medam.”
As the two Aloks laughed, Nisha put her finger on her lips.
“Shut up, guys. It's not funny. Dr.Alok’s pain is my pain”, she frowned at them. She caught Dr.Alok’s light brown eyes smiling at her blinking curvy eyelashes.
Junior Alok blushed at them. “Ok, I will be waiting near the cab. See you there!”, he informed them. He left at once.
As Nisha attempted to walk Dr.Alok, the latter was engrossed staring at her making her blush without a break.
“Do you love me so much to share my pain as well?”, he asked. She looked back at him.
“Love is more about sharing the problem rather than joys. You don’t need someone special in your life to share happiness; you can share it with anyone including a layman on the street but your problem is just your problem in others’ eyes.", she highlighted.
He pulled her closer. He pushed his tongue inside her mouth to hug hers. She pressed his shoulders as she felt an electric current passing through her tongue. She closed her eyes.
The scene of herself, back in college, sitting in front of his bench and him patting her shoulder from behind, flashed in her mind. She felt as if he preserved all his muscular strength at the tips of his fingers. She felt a similar current when he gave her a french-kiss, at present.
A few minutes later, the two were about to get inside the taxi when they heard Keshav from behind.
“Where are you going?”, enquired he.
“Dad!”, exclaimed Dr.Alok. He turned back to witness his mother, Anish, Reshma, and Sandhya smiling at Nisha and him. Keshav smiled and patted young Alok. “I’m your professor’s father and your mother’s to-be father-in-law. You can call me grandpa”, he permitted.
“Grandpa!”, called young Alok, hugging him. Nisha’s eyes were filled with tears. She nodded and offered a wide smile filled with hope, at Dr.Alok.
“Where are you planning to rest when you have your father’s house?”, questioned Keshav, turning back at Dr.Alok.
“Dad!”, exclaimed Alok saar. He hugged his father who chuckled, patting his son’s head. “I am sorry…very sorry for everything”, trembled Dr.Alok, sobbing along.
Keshav swallowed his tears.
“Forget everything. You are my son. Let's forget the tough parts and restart as if nothing happened…as if Payal never came into our lives.”
He called Nisha. He made his son stand beside her.
“And as if Nisha had always been the only woman in your life. It's you and Nisha who will get married very soon”, Keshav announced.
Usha and Sandhya nodded with smiling faces at each other. Anish and Reshma too chuckled with happiness. Dr.Alok and Nisha swallowed their tears of happiness at each other. Nisha blushed and looked away as Dr.Alok was reluctant to take his eyes off hers.
“By the way, haven’t you passed on our cultural values to your daughter, Sandhya Ji?”, asked Keshav, breaking the silence.
While Sandhya shrugged, Keshav chuckled. He jumped to the point, “The bride shouldn’t visit her husband or stay in her husband’s house before marriage. Keep her with you for a few more days after which all of us will live together.”
“Mom!”, exclaimed Nisha, at which Usha and Keshav nodded. “Uncle, so sweet of you. I am glad you understood more than just about Dr.Alok’s side of justice”, thanked Nisha, joining her hands together.
“Believe it or not, I have always wanted a daughter. Both of our children were sons”, began Keshav, smiling at Usha. “Luckily, both my daughters-in-law are like my daughters”, he completed, at which Reshma hugged Nisha.
“Sandhya Ji, are you happy with my announcement regarding Alok saar and Nisha medam’s wedding? Do you have anything to add?”, asked the excited father, at which Sandhya nodded readily.
“It looks like a dream to me”, shared Nisha. She hugged Dr.Alok and soaked his black casual shirt.
“No, not all”, consoled Usha. She expressed, “Beti, the life you have always dreamt of is beginning now. You are out of your dreams. You are one in a million who bags the opportunity to actually live their dreams.”
Dr.Alok and Nisha bowed to touch Keshav and Usha’s feet!!!
The globe is vast. There is still something missing from Dr.Alok's life. Where is his son? If at all he was alive, will he ever reunite with his father?
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