I was having a balmy time in the idyllic
setting of my mother’s warm, snug and fluidic compartment ; when suddenly I was
jolted by a sudden turbulence. Small and then big waves started hitting me from
everywhere. Concurrently I faintly heard my mother cry with pain and understood
that the time for my arrival has almost come. I was anxious and eager at the
same time to leave my cozy little chamber and enter the brand new world.
My
mother, a lady who always radiated optimism and practiced gratitude; was unable
to comprehend as what was happening to her body and myself; and so got admitted
to the hospital at the first sign of my arrival. At the instance of the doctor
my dear mother started the effort to push me down. Every push for her required
renewed energy, strong fortitude and breathing deeply a balloon of fresh air.
The pain was excruciating but her strong will power and anxiousness to hear my
first cry, I guess made her job relatively easy.
It was stressful for me too. With every contraction
I was squeezed tightly; my head and sometimes my legs banged with the walls of
the abdomen. To add to all this my heart was beating like a galloping race
horse. The task of moving down the
abdomen was like moving out from a bottle having a narrow and long neck. My
mother had well prepared herself and me for all this turbulence; she recited
motivational hymes to me, did brisk walking, practiced Yoga, `religiously
chanted Om every single morning and ate healthy and high nutritional food. My mother’s efforts started yielding and
slowly and gradually I was treading lower. We both were coping quite well. The
struggle for the new life went on for nearly eight hours and by now we both
were fully exhausted. Yet she gave her last and fully concentrated push; and it
finally propelled me out of her body.
At last I was out of my cocoon and was in
the hands of the not so good looking nurse.
Big metamorphosis was taking place within me. My whole body was covered with mucus and I
was crying with pain and hunger. I guess this is the only time when a child
cries and everyone else takes great pleasure in it. I could hear the nurse congratulating my
mother saying “It’s a baby boy”. Raw and naked I was taken to my mother. While
I was trying to catch a glimpse of my mother through my half shut eyes; the
hitler nurse took me away to wash my body. She hurriedly cleaned my body with
her rough hands and tied me in an old and worn out dupatta; as if I was just a
task. I was longing to meet my mother;
cling to her tightly and find solace in this alien world. Pretentious as she
was; the nurse started singing a lullaby just before we were to enter my
mother’s room and with a big broad smile handed the bundle (me) to my mother.
She stood there with expectation of bakshish.
A tall dark man with somewhat curly hair and rough beard wearing rugged
jeans and a casual T-shirt ; whom I later discovered to be my Dad, handed a 500
Rs note to the greedy and lazy nurse; much to my anguish. Desperately grabbing me, my mother kissed me all
over and soon attached me to her chest to give me my nutritional boost- milk. I
instantly felt energetic and peaceful and in no time went into a slumber. When
I opened my eyes, I saw numerous faces overhead, gazing curiously at me;
waiting impatiently for me to wake up. “ Bhabhi, he is so cute, “His legs are
so tiny”, “Sisi, he is just your carbon
copy”, “No No, he looks like my son”; there was an unending clatter, chaos; I
felt very uncomfortable and I began to cry again. My mother reached out to me immediately and
gently stroked my back and head. I felt good. The first few days went in
getting accustomed to so much of light, space, noise and parade of guests. I used to have long hours of sleep and used
to wake up only to have milk.
