The best day !

This post is a part of Write Over the Weekend, an initiative for Indian Bloggers by 
BlogAdda.


When I think about the day, which has etched itself in my heart,it is the day my daughter was born ! Wow what a day, that was.And so eventful !

I had got admitted to the hospital the day before as slight bleeding had started.The gynecologist got me admitted.Though nothing happened after that ,she said that I should stay in hospital as my delivery could happen any time.I lay in bed just looking around.There were many ladies who were there.Some who had delivered & some just like me, waiting for their tiny bundles of joy !

It was soon night time.I went off to sleep after a delicious dinner ,my mom had prepared & got for me. I got up the next morning.I was fine.I was not having any labour pains.The bleeding had stopped much before.The doctor decided to administer medicines to induce labour pain.I started wailing as soon as the medicine was administered.I twisted & turned & it would not go away.I refused the nurse or the doctor to examine me.The doctor was furious .With the nurse.She chided her, for not able to control me as the gynecologist needed to examine me to see if the baby was ready to come out.The doctor managed to examine me & went away.I continued twisting & turning .My  waist was paining like hell.It wold be in waves.The pain would go up & come down.I would feel better & then it would start all over again.

In the afternoon,I was informed that I must get ready for delivery.I braced my self up.My gynecologist had assured me that even if the baby was upside down ,she would do a normal delivery.I was wheeled on the    stretcher into the labour room.It was so bright & clean.I felt calm.I was surrounded by the lady gynecologist ,one of her male student ,two & three nurses.

Then it started ...the delivery process.I was told to keep breathing & try to push as hard as I could.I was panting & heaving .I tried hard & yet the baby refused to move out.I was getting tired.I felt I could not go on.And yet all ....the nurses,the doctor & the male student egged me on .My gynecologist said "Look,we are halfway through.Now,I cannot do a C section.So you have no option but to PUSH "...I felt that I am collapsing .I pushed again & again & again.Finally ,the baby was out - sorry the parts of the baby were out ! The gynecologist pulled the baby with  a pair of forceps & whew,it was over !

I was shown the baby...just a glance & it was taken away by a nurse.The gynecologist put some stiches & it did hurt.Then ,I was wheeled out.The baby was brought to me & I breast fed it...means I tried breast feeding it.This was a first for me & my daughter ! Yes, it was a girl ! I kept looking at her as she tried to feed herself. Within minutes, a nurse came & took her & put her to sleep in the small swing  kept next to my bed.She was tightly wrapped in a soft cotton bedsheet. Only her face was visible.She had thin brown hair.She was fair & so innocent.This ,I did not realise was a mirage.When I see her now,she is everything but innocent ! And a teenager  !


I slept away tired with all the push ups, I had done in the labour room.I got up after a blissful sleep & again breastfed my daughter.My husband  came with my dinner.I asked him if he had informed all our relatives that I & he had become parents to a lovely girl.He nodded.He kept looking at her.He was happy .And yet he felt afraid to pick her up.He felt he will not be able to handle her & she might get hurt.He refused to pick her up.He looked longingly at his kid.He kept staring at her,  for a long time.I had finished my dinner.He bade me good bye as he had office the next day.

My baby had woken up again.The nurse came & picked her up.She handed her to me.I breastfed her again.By the end of her feed ,she had slept away.I looked at her.She seemed to be a mixture of both of us.I hoped that she would get the best from us.And it has turned out that she has inherited all bad habits from her dad & good ones from me !  Thank God for small mercies !

I slept away again dreaming about my baby & the about her future ! It had been wonderful & was going to be so in the coming months .....& years.....

The lady at the bus stop

This post is a part of Write Over the Weekend, an initiative for Indian Bloggers by BlogAdda.



It was hot & getting hotter.It was sultry .Though I was standing under the shade of a tree,sweat was trickling from my forehead.I was getting irritated.It was a Saturday afternoon.In the middle of April.I saw a woman standing nearby.She was an unknown person to me -one of the many, who stay in metros just like me who is unknown to her. She was carrying a baby in her arms.The baby was asleep.I looked at her.She smiled.She was there before me.I was waiting for the bus to go home.I had just arrived at the stop.I asked the lady,"How long have you been waiting ? " She replied ," Twenty minutes ." She was not wearing any wrist watch.By her looks,she couldn't afford one.

She was dressed in a polyester saree &  a blouse which matched the flowers in hers saree. She was wearing a mangalsutra & some glass bangles.She carried a rexin bag which hung from her right shoulder.I was wondering how could the baby sleep in such sultry weather & that too clinging to the mother's polyester saree ? But then ,maybe, it was used to all this heat, day in & day out.I started talking to the woman more casually.I asked her if the baby was her first child.She said that the baby was the second child.She had an elder son.I asked her why she was out in this heat, with her baby.She said ,"My elders son's name is wrongly recorded in Muncipal records.I had come to apply for correction."I asked her, if her work got over with her visit.She said, that this was her sixth visit & she guessed she may have to come again & again.In short ,she was unsure of the number of visits she may have to pay  to get the name corrected.I felt an empathy with her.I know how difficult, it is to get work done in any government office.We all feel harassed for no fault of ours.It is like, we have committed heinous crimes.I could easily afford to pay bribes to get my work speeded up  though it is  a crime to do so..She came from a strata of society where daily existence is a struggle.Hence ,it was all the more tedious  for  her .

I looked at my watch.Fifteen minutes had passed, since I had arrived at the bus stop.I needed to go home.My daughter was to arrive in the next fifteen minutes from school.There was no one at home to receive her.I decided to hail an auto rickshaw.I called ,the driver of an  auto rickshaw which was parked nearby.The auto rickshaw came & I stated my destination.I stated to the woman that I am going by the station road & can drop her on the way, if she needed.She nodded.I got into the auto rickshaw.She followed & sat next to me, with her baby.I told the auto wallah to stop on the way, so that the woman could get down.He nodded.

En route,she stopped the auto & got down with her baby in her arms.She had removed a tenner from her bag & was offering to me for the fare.I refused.She was insisting.I told the auto wallah to rush. I saw the woman smiling as she waved me off.I had taken her in, as she was having a baby & this was a green idea.Taking private transport is a bad choice.I was just converting that bad idea by taking another person along as there was space in the vehicle.Of course,I felt better offering a ride to some one who needed it more than me.Helping any  stranger makes us feel nice as we are yet, to have any expectations from them .I feel someone unknown will help me when I need it &  overwhelm me by kindness more than, I deserve !