Ajay reached them in two strides and sat next to Shyam. He gently laid his arm around him. Shyam wiped his tears, but fresh tears kept rolling along his cheeks.
"What the hell Shyam? You don't lose your courage like this ever. I am telling you. Deepa Aunty will be absolutely fine. They have such highly developed treatments now, and I know many people get cured and have long life. Please don't breakdown like this yaar! I can't bear to see you like this. And imagine what Aunty and Uncle must be going through now. With your brother Vijay away too. You need to be brave for them. I know it is tough, but I and Ammu... we are always there for you." Ajay tried to infuse courage into his best friend.
With deep gulps, Shyam controlled himself after sometime. Amrita brought him a glass of water. Feeling slightly better, Shyam thanked them both and went to meet his parents.
Ajay looked concernedly at Amrita. She still looked quite shaken.
He spread his arms, and she ran to him and buried her head in his chest. He kept kissing her on the forehead and hair till she calmed down. He knew there's nothing he needed to say to her right now, all she needed was to be hugged.
After some time, he gently lifted her head and wiped her tears.
"Feeling better now?" He asked her softly.
She nodded her head, gulping.
"I think I am a bad omen Ajay, first I lose my Maa, then I got close to your mum and she left us too and now this. Whenever I try to see my Maa in anyone, I lose them. I shouldn't get attached to anyone at all. If I do, something will happen to them." She started crying again.
"Shush... what the hell are you talking about Ammu? How can you be so stupid? You are not bad whatever... how do these thoughts even get inside that brilliant brain of yours?? Seriously!!" He pulled her face up with both hands and forced her to look straight into his eyes.
"Don't you dare to put everything on you and feel guilty about this. What kind of unlucky person am I then, who lost both his parents at such young age? According to your logic, then I too must be a bad omen right?"
Amrita put her hand on his mouth urging him to not to say anymore.
"Ammu these things happens. In every family. No matter what happens to anyone, we are there for each other right? So why do you say things like that and hurt me." Ajay's voice choked.
"I am sorry Ajay. I don't know what came over me." She kissed him lightly on his lips.
Ajay kissed her lightly on the forehead again. But Amrita pulled his face down and kissed him again on his lips, hard, her fingers entwined in his soft hair at the back.
Ajay too embraced her in a crushing hug and deepened the kiss further. It was a kiss of belonging, reassurance and so much more.
After sometime, they both slowly made their way down to the living room, where Shyam was sitting with his parents. Amrita immediately moved towards Deepa and sat next to her. Deepa silently gave her a small hug. Ajay sat next to Ganesh Chand who was trying to put on a brave face.
"Aunty please don't lose your courage. You are a fighter; I know that because Shyam is always singing such high praises of you. And you will fight this too." Ajay spoke in a reassuring tone.
Ganesh Chand laid his arm on Ajay's shoulder affectionately.
"You are way more mature than your age, Ajay. Deepa, see how good these kids are... If you don't listen to me, at least listen to them. See how brave they all are and you know why? Because we have full confidence in the treatment. We will just take this as an unwelcome hindrance in our lives, that's all. You will go through your treatment, and be back at our home and then I get to eat all the yummy sweets you make. Look at my tummy! Don't I look like a six month pregnant lady? You need to fulfil all my food cravings." Ganesh Chand chuckled.
Shyam took the cue from his Father. Diversion was the best tactic.
"Hey Ammu belated greetings on your birthday. This Idiot didn't even tell me that it was last week. We could have celebrated it nicely together."
Ganesh and Deepa were equally upset that they were not told about Ammu's birthday.
"That's ok Aunty, all of you were not at home that day, so I just..." Ammu didn't know how to continue. It was the day when the whole family went to the hospital for the final set of tests for Deepa. She didn't want to draw attention to that.
Ajay jumped in.
"Don't worry Aunty, I took her out to her favourite Ice cream Den,ordered half a dozen different chocolate Ice creams, and she finished them all without wasting even a drop." Ajay laughed and ducked immediately, as Ammu threw a cushion at him.
"Aunty, if you ever want to see Ammu silent and detached from the rest of the world, all you need to do is put a chocolate ice cream in front of her. She didn't even look at me all that time while eating." Ajay added, still laughing.
Deepa and the rest joined him.
Ammu was glad to see Deepa smiling finally.
"Ganesh Uncle, I just got to know about this. Vidya's results have just been announced and she passed with top grades."
"That's absolutely wonderful news. I am so glad. I will call Vidya and Brijesh right away. Brijesh is so lucky, two wonderful girls who are both brilliant in studies." Ganesh replied happily.
"Ammu, Can you call Brijesh Sir too. He wanted to speak to you." Ajay looked at Ammu and signalled subtly.
"Yes of course. I promised I will call him and forgot all about it. Oh God! My phone needs charging." She strode towards her room, taking Ajay's hint.
She shut the door gently once she was inside her bedroom and called her sister.
She congratulated Vidya first, and apologised for not calling earlier. She listened patiently and smilingly as Vidya chirped away happily, talking about her results and her friends results as well. Finally, she asked her to hand over the phone to their father.
Before Brijesh could say anything, Amrita explained why she couldn't call earlier. Brijesh listened with shock and sadness, as Amrita explained about the Deepa's diagnosis of cancer.
She also informed him that the Deepa would be operated in a fortnight, and then post operation treatment will start afterwards. He promised Amrita that he will inform Dr Sharma immediately, and they will both visit Ganesh and Deepa as soon as they can.
"Beta how are you feeling? Are you ok?" Brijesh's voice was full of concern. He very well knew how vulnerable and sad Amrita must be feeling right now.
Amrita choked back her tears and assured her father saying she was ok, mainly thanks to Ajay.
Brijesh understood.
"You know he is the reason I sleep peacefully at night, even though I have my grown up daughter studying in a different town. I know that he will look after you. And of course Ganesh and his family are there for you as well. We will check with Ganesh if they require any help from us, and we will do all that we can. But Beta, listen. Your holidays have started now; why don't you make preparations to come back home for a short time? As I said we will come and visit Ganesh today or tomorrow and you can come back with us."
Amrita agreed and when she ended the call, she was feeling slightly better.
What Baba said was so true, she reflected. She may look like a strong person to everyone, but Ajay is her strength, her rock.
Brijesh and Dr Sharma families visited them very next day, and expressed their shock and sorrow at the latest developments. Vidya was quite tearful too, and hugged Deepa Aunty lovingly.
"Deepaji, I know the specialist you are consulting at the hospital. I will have a word with her today before we leave. And Anjali and me, we will stay here when your operation will be done, and help you all in any way we can. Ammu will be here too. So please don't worry at all. You will overcome this illness for sure." Dr Sharma assured Deepa.
Ganesh and Deepa were thankful for all the support they were getting.
It was decided that Amrita will spend a fortnight at home and be back when Deepa has her operation scheduled. In the evening Amrita and Ajay left for their home town along with the elders and Vidya.
Ajay and Amrita kept in touch with Shyam and enquired after Deepa's health.
Deepa's date of operation was coming close, when suddenly Shyam showed up at Dr Sharma's house. Ajay was surprised and happy to see him, but Shyam looked quite disturbed.
Amrita Ajay and Shyam strolled to their favourite tree grove.
"My brother Vijay came home just after you guys left. Of course we all understood how anxious he would be, after hearing about my mother, so were all very happy to see him. But my father wasn't keen on him coming home right now. There's some issue with his Visa at the moment, and those flight tickets weren't cheap either. And then he was refusing to go back to Australia, saying that he would rather be here with us looking after mother and the garage. I have tried to explain to my father so many times, he is happy to be here in India, but father wants him to study in a foreign university. Every day they were fighting with each other. As if we don't have enough things to stress about already." Shyam said in frustration.
"It's a bad idea to force someone to pursue a career they are not interested in. I want to become an IPS officer, because I think I would be good at it. But if someone forced an alternate career on me, I would feel rebellious." Ajay said earnestly.
"You never told me you want to join IPS" Amrita reacted sharply.
"Hell yeah, you never told me either." Shyam joined angrily.
"Hmm Sorry, I thought I will be upsetting Brijesh Sir and Dr Sharma... that's why I never revealed my plans. But yes, I will be attempting the Civil services exam but I will choose to join IPS. That's my childhood dream. Probably inspired by Inder Uncle... I am not sure." Ajay tried to explain.
Ajay approached a still grumpy looking Amrita and laid his arm on her shoulder.
"Sorry for not telling you, it wasn't intentional at all. I actually never thought about it recently. As you know, lot of other things were on my mind." He smiled mischievously.
"Shyam you too; Sorry mate, but I always planned to tell you guys first anyway." He added.
"I hate Police officers." Amrita pouted.
"Who likes them? Everybody is either scared of them or don't trust them at all. Are you sure about this Ajay?" Shyam asked anxiously.
"If that is the general perception, isn't it high time we change it? Anyway let's discuss this when I actually do become an IPS officer. Weren't we discussing about Vijay right now?" Ajay tried his best to refocus their attention.
"Well, yesterday Vijay finally relented and had agreed to go back to Australia. He is leaving day after tomorrow so he won't be here when Maa gets operated." Shyam sighed.
"Don't worry; we will be there to help you and Uncle." Amrita and Ajay assured him.
Shyam returned back to town next day, and Ajay and Amrita followed after a few days, but this time they were accompanied by Dr and Mrs Sharma.
Deepa's operation was successful, and Amrita and Mrs Sharma took turns to stay at the hospital, while the men in the family looked after all other arrangements.
Finally after a week at hospital, Deepa returned home. She was advised to go through Chemotherapy every alternate week for 2 months. Ganesh employed additional help at home, and a nurse to visit Deepa regularly.
Finally it was also time for Vidya to join her Junior (intermediate) college in the town. Dr Sharma and Brijesh convinced Ganesh, after a lot of argument, to rent out the top floor rooms for Amrita and Vidya. Ganesh was happy that Vidya also had chosen to stay with them but refused to take any rent. After much argument, he finally agreed to take minimal rent when Brijesh pointed out that he and Dr Sharma will also be visiting quite frequently now, and probably move to the town in future.
Vidya got admitted into the college and Amrita and Vidya moved to the top floor rooms. With the help of permanent caretaker, nurse and between themselves the Chand family and Amrita managed to look after Deepa, and she seemed to be recovering quite well. Ajay started putting more hours and helping Ganesh in running the Garage. Amrita was relieved and happy that Vidya was now staying with her, and she will be able to look after her, and help her in the studies as well.
Ajay and his friends took Vidya on a tour of the college on her first day, and subtly warned the rest of the seniors to stay away from her. Vidya was very excited to be studying in the same college as Ajay. Ajay was in his final year of graduation and he started his preparation for the Civil Services Exam at the end of the year.
There was a coaching institute in the city centre, which provided excellent coaching for all disciplines, and both Ajay and Vidya joined there, for their respective exams coaching classes.
Ajay would pick Vidya every day from home in the evening on his bike, attend the coaching institute and return in the night.
Amrita too got busy with her studies, and being the 2nd year they had project work to be done too. She had to spend long hours in the library after college to prepare for the classes. Whatever free time she had, she would spend with Deepa, who became very attached to her.
All in all Ajay and Amrita were finding less and less time to spend with each other. One evening Ajay's classes got cancelled, and he rushed to meet Amrita at Shyam's place.
As he walked towards Amrita's room, he overheard Amrita and Deepa chatting.
"Ammu, you are under no obligation to answer this question, but Shyam told me that Ajay and you are in love with each other. Is that true? Please understand, I don't want to pry into your love life, it's just that..."
"No Aunty, there is nothing like that. We are just childhood friends that's all." Amrita's denial was quick.
"If that is the case, what do you think of Shyam? I see that you are quite good friends with him, and close to him. If you don't have any objection, I will speak to your father about it. Mind you, none of this will happen till you both are settled in your career. I just want to know... All this illness has made me feel very insecure about my children and their future. Whether I will be there to see them getting married." Deepa choked.
"Aunty, Please don't worry yourself with any of these thoughts right now. You are already getting better and trust me, you will be there to see your grandchildren and great grandchildren." Amrita gently hugged Deepa.
"I will go and check if the Dinner is ready." She excused herself, and walked out of Deepa's room to bump into a furious looking Ajay at the door.
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Every incident that happens in a family has a ripple effect on
everyone around. I tried to describe this in brief in this chapter.
I am also posting the continuation chapter as I cant separate the
incidents happening. Please tell me how you are finding the story
so far. your comments, votes and support mean a lot. Thanks.
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