Previously known as 'THERE FOR EACH OTHER'
"And when my eyes fell on you,
I realised that all I ever needed in life,
To flourish and to bloom,
Was you".
Nandini Murthy isn't someone too keen about love because well, responsibilities, or maybe she us...
~ the people who think there is a time limit for grief have not lost a piece of their heart. There is this constant ache in your being, even when you have officially stopped mourning~
Standing outside the ICU door, Manik was staring at his amma's face as she laid there amidst needles and machines, sleeping peacefully. His mind was blank entirely watching the sight. Occasionally Navya's cries and Nandini's soothing voice consoling her reached his ears and he closed his eyes at that. Two hours earlier, when he had stammered to tell a shivering Nandini about Navya's call, he had thought it would take a lot to handle Nandini. But what he forgot was Nandini was a pro at surprising him.
She didn't stumble and fall back on the bed at his revelation, instead stood up, all her trembling now gone away.
She didn't flung into his arms crying, instead she wiped even the drops at the back of her eyes from their earlier conversation.
She didn't curse god standing in front of him, instead she asked him to drive to the hospital while she ran to her paternal home to collect the earlier reports of her mother.
That was when Manik realized, it wasn't his wife standing before him, it was that superwomen whom Navya and Rishabh had looked on to, always. And so he was a little less surprised to see Nandini handling with the concerned doctor, all previous reports and other important information regarding her mother's ailment, side by side handling a crying Navya and an extremely worried Rishabh. But yet no matter what, a few streams of tears betrayed her as they kept flowing out of her big brown eyes but she was so preoccupied with Navya and Rishabh that she didn't even bother to wipe them.
Soon Raj-Nyonika and Kabir joined them at the hospital and Nyonika wrapped her arms around her daughter-in-law. Manik thought may be that gesture will lead to her breakdown but Nandini still stood strong passing a small smile to them. When it was too much for him to bear, he dragged Nandini and made her sit on the bench, wiping the drops from her eyes. Her eyes, they had always managed to hypnotise him whenever he locked his gaze with him and today seeing those same pair of orbs, so red and puffy, his heart ached.
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She looked at him, an unknown or rather say, unrecognizable flicker of emotion passed through her eyes as he sat holding her hands. After hours of despair, she felt a little dew drop of peace. She leaned in and rested her head on his heart, the music of his heart beats calmed her. With the back of her hand, she wiped the remaining tears and gathered herself for she knew it was going to be a long night. They sat down like that, both tired and afraid with this sudden catastrophe that had fallen on them. Nandini was struggling to speak something, anything that would keep her mind off the fear that was gripping her heart. But before she could form one coherent sentence, a loud shreik was heard and the entire floor shivered with it. Manik and Nandini ran towards the ICU to find Navya fallen on her knees, crying her heart out while Rishabh stood behind her, frozen at his place. Kabir, Raj and Nyonika were crying too but they were also trying to console them.
Manik was shocked to see them but it twisted his heart more to even think of what Nandini would do. He turned towards her to find streams of tears running down again from her already wet orbs, her entire figure was shaking with the sobs. She was already expecting the worst, he could see that in her hollow eyes, not that he couldn't sense that. With baby steps, she somehow withdraw her hand from his hold and walked those roughly hundred metres in front of her, to the ICU door. With shaking hands, she pushed open the door and entered, her mother's frail body lying in front of her. The machines were beeping loud and she could see her beloved amma hyperventilating to catch breath, even though she was supported by an oxygen mask. In a flash, Padmini's eyes fell on Nandini, and a small but peaceful smile spread on her face. She somehow extended her right arm towards her most lovely daughter. It was true, though mothers are not supposed to differentiate between her children, Padmini had always loved Nandini a little more. Nandini saw her mother calling her and this time she took hurried steps grasping her amma's weak and needle pricked hand in her trembling ones. Padmini again smiled at Nandini but before Nandini could respond the monitor screen beeped loud and showed a flat line. Padmini's eyes shut off in that one second, the grip of her hold on Nandini's hand loosening but the smile on her face intact.
Nandini stumbled behind but before she could fall, she felt someone behind and she didn't even need to turn to know that it was Manik holding her, tears wetting his face too. Nandini turned as she hid her face in his chest, sobbing loudly this time, her wails shaking her entire petite form as she cried and cried. Her amma would no more be with her to guide her through right and wrong. All these felt so wrong to her. Why her? She was now an orphan. Why did she need to face this cruelty? Manik couldn't say anything to console her. Some losses are too big to even cry and mourn. He was terrified even at the thought of his parents separating from each other and here her parents had detached themsleves from the world itself. How could he ask her to hold herself? So he simply held her tight and let her cry as much as she wanted, as much as she could in the moment.
But soon few loud voices broke them apart and they ran out to find Nyonika holding a crying Navya into her chest while Kabir and Raj were trying to handle Rishabh who was withering on the floor, his hands and feets moving involuntarily as he kept repeating that one name, amma! It felt like he was physically in pain, so were the intensity of his heart wrenching cries. Nandini who stood shocked with the incident instantly wiped her tears and ran towards her brother, to pacify him but Rishabh jerked her hand. He kept calling for his mother and finally the ER head had to inject him with a strong dose of a sedative to calm him down, basically to lure him into sleep. He was then shifted to a room and while he slept, Nandini sat with Navya, holding her close to her chest and consoling her. By the time it was morning, the formalities were done and Padmini's body could be taken home. It felt strange to see that the person who was 5 hours before her adorable mother, was now nothing more than a mere body.
A dead body to be precise.
Rishabh was still under observation since the doctor told that he was under severe stress and hence the fits. Navya had by now calmed a little and though tears continued to flow, her wailings had stopped. Raj and Nyonika returned to malhotra mansion to arrange for the funeral ceremony while Manik took Nandini and Navya to her maternal home, the ambulance with Padmini's body following them behind.
A few hours later, Padmini was lying in her own house, in the same room where she had spent her life running behind her three musketeers, but this time for the last time. Her portrait sat a little ahead of her, with a garland beautifying her face. Some of the staff from her school and the principal and some parents of her children, other immediate relatives here and there and a few acquaintance sat beside her body too, silently praying for the peace of her soul. Navya sat beside her mother, looping her finger with her mother's pinky finger, as it was the custom to not leave the dead body alone till it was burnt and a small oil lamp burning by her side. Few minutes later, Nandini entered holding Rishabh who was stable now but his eyes fixed at the white sheet clad body lying in front of him. As the priest finished chanting the mantras and other nesssary prayers, Kabir and Manik along with Rishabh and Raj carried Padmini out of her home for the eternal journey, Nandini following them along with Navya and Nyonika. Reaching the ground, finally Manik held Nandini's trembling hands and lit the pyre, watching their beloved amma turning into ashes in front of their eyes. Navya broke down again, wailing loudly and Rishabh turned around to hide his tears but Nandini stood strong, holding both of them close to her heart. Earlier she just said for the sake of it but now, she was literally their mother, the only support of two young kids in a world that threatened to swallow you alive if you are a little less careful.
