Aarzoo...

3.Inaayat

['Inaayat' – Blessing]

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"Munnaaz...munnaaz..." Sweet morning chimes in a baby voice resonated the otherwise silent bedside this early at the dawn. Arth repeated his endearment for his mother coming closer to her sleeping figure. His elbows resting on the side of the mattress, palms at the chin balancing his small soft head, legs crossed at the ankle as he stood on the ground dropping gentle baby kisses on his 'Munnaaz's' hands to try and wake her up the 'baby-way'.

The cot's height was such that it reached his upper chest when standing. It was not often he would do this; normal mornings would mark of him cuddled up to her, under a warm cozy blanket for the blasting AC chills that Shehnaaz had got a habit of sleeping with. For Sidharth would always love to set the cooling to minimum while sleeping and she would be tucked up in a fluffy duvet if it would get beyond bearable. Otherwise, she herself was cryophilic. She was born and brought up in north, did her schooling from Dalhousie in Himachal Pradesh which is rightly considered a hilly state that makes it obvious for its comparatively cold atmosphere to live in.

She had adapted it and hence a thriving for low temperatures. Arth too seemed one of them. During the initial days of him being home, Shehnaaz had started setting it to room temperature out of concern for his health, for he was a small baby then, but by the night he would be drenched in sweat. From there she had observed so many similarities between herself and him. The only difference was his patient attitude at such a small age. Few character resemblances would remind her of Sidharth too, probably because she wanted to see those mannerisms alive through Aksharth.

Shehnaaz opened her eyes catching the cutest glimpse of Arth moving forward to drop another kiss on the back of her forearms placed on her stomach over the duvet. She got up sitting straight, alarmed at the thought of him standing on the ground even after her creating the pillow boundaries around him before dozing off herself.

"Arth...bacha niche kaise aa jata hai tu...Mennu...Munnaaz ko peheley uthana hai na baby?" She caught hold of his body lifting him up from the ground, embracing him in a bear hug being seated on the bed.

Taking care of a child as a mother is tough but with Maa constantly being around, they were handling it quite well. Yet the fear of anything happening to him because of her carelessness was a constant fearsome feeling and hence those pillows around him for obvious safety measures though he was a toddler. In short, she was always extra cautious around him.

Arth himself was frightened looking at his mother's reaction and so dug his head deeper taking in her warmth pushing himself more into her motherly hold seeking some assurance that she was fine, and everything around too was. Shehnaaz realized how her reaction had affected him, but she was indeed petrified anticipating what could have happened, God forbid he had run into something sharp on those bare feet or would have mistakenly come in contact with the recently broken, open electronic socket. She took few deep breathes, dropped gentle kisses on his hair, baby talking to him again to calm him down. He was firmly clung to her.

"Mera nona puttu...Munnaaz ekdum theek hai mera bacha...kuch nahi hua dekho idhar..." She spoke pulling slightly back, shaping his baby chin in her fingers to make him look at her face. Smiling, a lot relaxed to have him pull out of the panic.

"Neeche akele se utar gaya na baby...isliye Munnaaz thoda sa darr gayi thi...abhi sab theek hai...hai na?" She tried to explain in the softest manner that she could. She has been extremely caring and loving towards kids in general and this one was special because she had felt this unusual and exceptional kind of connect with him on their first meet itself.

The decision to adopt him was never in mind for she was still in denial to show the untainted affection towards anyone else other than the people she had already invested her unadulterated and rightful devotion on. She had measured herself extremely low to be able to give this most selfless form of love of a mother to a child, until Maa came to the rescue like all the other times.