CastAway - The Loner

Bonding

Note: I have got a backup device so managed to put this chapter together. Thanks to all you Readers for staying by me. Hope you are all healthy and safe. 

Kavitha Malhotra might be very protective about her son but she knew Prof. Bakshi loved Shravan like his son. The thought of Shravan craving for a father's love always seemed to twist a knife in the core of her heart and opened a fresh wound every time. Devraj Malhotra , Shravan's father never was a father who understood Shravan. It was not like he did not love his son but he never understood Shravan's desires or his wants. He took him to the best doctors, best schools, best teachers and got whatever money could get and he could afford to leave one thing and that was his time and patience. Kavitha had heard how Devraj had built his business bit by bit with a lot of patience but she would probably never understand why this patience and focus did not work when it came to Shravan. The two most important men in her life were caught in a conundrum that Kavitha could not resolve in their journey and she would keep repenting and feeling guilty for it. When she was pregnant after quite a few years of being married, Devraj had been over the moon. This was the time when his business had peaked, and he had assumed that the child was the harbinger of his good fortune. He had built a picture in his mind about Shravan.

Shravan was born and everything had looked great till Shravan was around 5yrs old. His milestones were getting delayed, but everything still looked normal to all and sundry apart from Kavitha. She had started noticing small signs where Shravan would not make eye contact. He rarely made any sounds or effort to communicate. He would finger point or would squat to whatever he needed. He did not have friends. By the age of five, it was quite evident that Shravan needed intervention. Kavitha had taken the first initiative although her husband and in-laws still believed time will fix everything. She had started visiting specialists and child psychiatrists to figure what needed to be done. Her husband and in-laws were wary about people coming to know about Shravan and his visit to "these doctors" and people would call him mental. Kavitha had tried her best to hide these visits from the public eye but eventually, people tried noticing and asking questions. Devraj and Kavitha had acted differently to the circumstances. Devraj would not take Shravan along with him to public gatherings while Kavitha decided to come put in the open. She was in crosshairs with her husband and in-laws. One day her in-laws had taken Shravan to a baba who had beaten him black and blue to drive out some ghosts that were causing the disease. Kavitha had lost her cool with her in-laws and had asked them to leave their house in Pune and go back to their native or wherever they wanted. Devraj also had a showdown with Kavitha because he felt that their intent was not to harm Shravan but Kavitha held her stance that the first step is understanding it's not a disease, it's a condition that can be corrected to a great extent. She explained that it was important to acknowledge that every child was different and their child was also different, he was not like the others in the crowd, he was special. Her in-laws felt insulted and had left in few days. Devraj and Kavitha had grown apart after the incident but their love for Shravan had bonded them. Kavitha understood that with Shravan's condition the only thing that would work is patience and love while Devraj continued his quest for doctors and medicines as a cure. Some doctors suggested the way that Kavitha was following with therapy but Devraj wanted a quick fix so he was sometimes drawn to doctors who would suggest some drugs for such condition.

Every other day they would have some or the other differences about the approach towards Shravan. Devraj would get agitated when he would attend any functions of the family and every other child would mumble like a robot a poem, a story, or something else that the parents would boast about but Shravan would hide behind his mother refusing to leave her. Devraj's anger would turn blind often and one day he raised his hand on Kavitha accusing her of spoiling Shravan by being overprotective. The next day Devraj had forcibly taken Shravan to a nearby tennis academy and forced him to play. Shravan had been petrified of his father's anger and just tried to follow his dictate. Every time he dropped a shot Devraj would make him play 30mins more as a punishment. Shravan would drop often as his foot and hand movement had coordination issues and after a couple of hours, he had fainted. Devraj had then got scared while Kavitha was livid for bringing Shravan to such a state. Kavitha took a stand that day and asked Devraj to permanently shift to Noida to his parents' place. She was sure that if Devraj doesn't understand their son, its better he be away from him. Devraj also somewhere understood that he was not carved up for handling such complications and agreed. That night Kavitha saw a broken Devraj next to his sleeping son crying like a child asking his forgiveness as Shravan's light snores filled the room. Kavitha's heart had melted seeing him like this but she knew he will never be able to accept the fact that Shravan was different and it was for the greater good that he stays away and visits Shravan occasionally.

Kavitha did not want to be dependent on Devraj although he kept them visiting occasionally and provided for them. She reopened her handloom store which her father used to run before he passed away and slowly started working on setting it up as she turned a father and mother for Shravan. Slowly their life had fallen into a comfortable pace where Shravan had slowly shown resilience and was growing independent although Kavitha knew that Shravan was learning to hide his weakness from all and it was a good sign. Shravan never had a very special relationship with his father so he never missed him much but he definitely missed a father figure despite Kavitha's best attempts. He was probably in 8th or 9th standard when Prof. Bakshi had noticed him in his school lab when he was there on a visit to his friend who was the chemistry teacher in the school. He had noticed his extraordinary skills and taken him under his wings. It was the beginning of a bond that Kavitha loved to hate as it had taken Shravan away from her, made him independent, made him see his worth which is so many years Kavitha had failed to do. She will always be indebted to the old man for being the father figure to Shravan.

As Prof. Bakshi started teaching Shravan he gradually started growing fond of him and their relationship started growing beyond a teacher and student. Kavitha knew the news of Bakshi's attack must have broken him but she still did not want Shravan to be near the Bakshi family alone. She knew Mrs. Bakshi was not very fond of Shravan because she felt Shravan's presence took away the attention Devika should have got but she did not despise him but his daughter Devika was pure evil. Shravan might have somewhat learned the art of hiding things from Kavitha but news somehow reached her ears that how Devika bullied Shravan wherever she got her hands on her innocent son. She had advised Prof. Bakshi on keeping his distance from Shravan but neither the old man nor Shravan managed to do it. Kavitha did not know how to explain to the mother-daughter duo that loving and caring for Shravan did not tantamount to less love for Devika for Mr. Bakshi. It's just that he sees his dreams through Shravan and Devika is not the one who could give him that so that weak spot for Shravan will always remain for Shravan through all odds.

Kavitha did not realize when she had reached the entrance of the hospital. She noticed some students loitering around. She knew Prof. Bakshi in his own odd way was both revered and feared by students. Kavitha found her hands clammy when she noticed Shravan was no there in the crowd. Thousands of questions floated in her mind as she quickly tip-toed to the elevators after checking with the hospital reception on Prof.Bakshi's status. When she reached the floor the first thing, she looked for was Shravan. She was pleasantly surprised to notice Shravan seated in one far corner with Bunty and a familiar-looking face. She quickly recognized the face to be of the girl in the park she had met, what was her name...yes Suman. She smiled as she looked at her son who was calm although his eyes gave away the turbulence he was going through as he kept looking at the doors of the ICCU for the doctors to come and brief them. Kavitha walked up to Mrs. Bakshi as the lady wrapped her arms around Kavitha and wept.