After all this time

Back in Mumbai

After the doctor said that Anushka could go into labor any day now, Virat took permanent residence in the hospital, sitting beside his wife all day, though she was sleeping most of the time.

One afternoon, when Virat had nodded off against the wall, he was woken up by Anushka tugging at his arm.

"Oh, you're awake," said Virat.

"Yes," said Anushka, sounding weak. "Listen..."

"What?" and Virat, bending forward.

"If anything happens to me, take care of our child. Don't give up."

"Don't speak nonsense, please," said Virat through gritted teeth.

But Anushka didn't take back her words, and Virat couldn't force her to.

He sat silently clasping her hand till she fell asleep again, and eventually so did he.

Few hours later, he was woken up by Anushka's cry of pain. Her doctor was already running in.

Anushka kept catching his eyes and grinning, and Virat, his heart constricted with fear and suspense tried to grin back and after a good 30 minutes of that something went wrong and Anushka's eyes closed as she fell unconscious.

Later Virat remembered himself screaming himself hoarse at her to open her eyes, but it hadn't worked.

The next thing he remembered was that hours later, he was allowed to hold his daughter, who had come out of it safely.

Anushka was in coma.

______________

Within a week, Virat returned to Mumbai with his wife and daughter, as their doctor advised.

Jinks was present at the airport when Virat and the child alighted from the plane.

"Anushka'll be taken to Medica by the nurses," Virat told Jinks as he drove them back.

"You're not going back to your flat alone, are you?" asked Jinks.

"Vikas has come back to stay here for a few days," said Virat.

"How many days?" asked Jinks anxiously.

"3-4 days. He has his job back in Delhi, you know," said Virat, and then noticed Jinks' expression and added, "Don't you worry, Jinks, I'm not the ill one. And you're here."

"Of course I'm here," said Jinks, relieved to hear Virat acknowledge it and not act like a tragic figure.

"So what's the problem?"

"Nothing," said Jinks.

When they reached Virat's house, Jinks wasted no time in informing all their best friends that Virat was back in Mumbai.

_____________

The ones who had retired were flying to Mumbai the very next day.

Jassi, Kuldeep and Yuzi had been nagging to Mahi bhai continuously to let them go.

"He has brought his daughter too, Mahi bhai, we want to see her," whined Yuzi.

" He'll need our help too," said Kuldeep.

"Don't you want to meet him, Mahi bhai?" asked Jassi cleverly.