RECAP

After the accident, Kunal undergoes emergency brain surgery which Zunaid can only supervise. He could not do the operation himself because of his broken arm. He calls up Anushka’s parents to inform them about their accident but gets no response from her grandpa. Tina, Zunaid’s fiancée visits him and Anushka in the hospital. Kunal remains unconscious after the operation. Next day in the morning Zunaid sits by Anushka’s bed when she wakes up. They talk about Kunal and Zunaid tries to boost her confidence. He is holding her hands, trying to cheer her up, when they hear a woman calling her name.

CHAPTER 10

Anushka  winced.

It was the voice that she had longed to hear for the last five years. Five years full of pain. The pain of rejection, of being orphaned.

“Maa”

That was all she could say. Her voice was devoid of any feeling, any emotion. She did not even sit up in the bed, didn’t even try. Her eyes just moved from her mother’s face to the old man standing behind her. It was her grand father. They looked old, frail and broken. Time had frozen with an eerie silence. Only thing that felt alive was the faint sound of people talking, coming from outside the room.

The disappointment passed like a shadow on her mother’s face. She had spent the previous day expecting that her only daughter will run into her arm, despite her injuries.

There was perhaps only one person in that room who understood the reason why Anushka was totally emotionless at that moment.  It was Zunaid who knew the fact that she was actually too overwhelmed with emotions to show any.  He could feel her trauma passing on to him.

And it was Zunaid who noticed her grand father’s eyes glued to his hands, holding on to Anushka’s and then darting towards Kunal, on the other bed, few feet away.

Gently, respectfully, he let her fingers slide out from his and stood up. With a slight nod, he started walking towards the door.

“Who is he?”

He heard the old man asking Anushka.

‘Is this what he has to say to her after five years?’

Zunaid shook his head in disgust and walked on. Somehow, he felt the onset of a rough time. He already hated him.

“Is this what you have to say? Is this what you have to ask me after five year? Eh grandpa?”

Zunaid caught Anushka’s voice echoing his own thoughts. He smiled, remembering how they often ended up saying the same thing at the same time. Oh yes, even the old man was going to hate him. He knew.

Inside the room, she was now over the initial shock of seeing them. The reality was sinking in.

“He is Zunaid. He is a part of our small family” she added with emphasis on the word ‘our’. Her eyes shifted to Kunal who was still unconscious on the bed near her. It was as if she was drawing strength from the only man she had ever loved.

“Oh! That was Zunaid? He is the one who called and told us about this.” Anushka’s mother kissed her hands.

“We must thank him. If I had seen the news on TV before his call, I would have died of worrying”

Sumitra Parashar was simply overwhelmed. She was seeing her only daughter after five years. And it was the first time that she saw her son – in – law in person. Kunal was often in the business news, but it was very emotional for her to see him now, especially in that condition.

She walked up to his bed. His head was shaved because of the brain surgery and was almost totally covered in bandages. His body was also covered with casts. She could see various tubes poked into him. His boyish face was now looking even more vulnerable.

Sumitra bent down and kissed him softly on his forehead. She was sobbing.  Every time she had seen Kunal in the news, she had felt a sense of pride. She loved to see him the way he was - confident, suave and handsome. He was like a son she always wanted to have.

After few minutes, she gathered herself and went back to Anushka. The old man was sitting on a chair near the window, looking out. Anushka didn’t know what she felt for him that moment. She was almost sure it was the feeling of pity.

“Where is Shivani? Can we meet her?” she asked about her grand-daughter in a voice that sounded almost like a whisper.

“Why not Ma? She must have gone to school now. I will ask Tina to bring her here in the evening.” She caressed her mother’s weathered face with her bruised fingers. “Tina is Zunaid’s fiancée” she added.
At that moment, the boundary between generations was wiped out. The daughter had become the mother. She was the one who was lying there with a broken body, still it was her only who gave strength to her Ma.
 
It was pure bliss.

After the initial awkwardness was gone, they talked and talked for hours. It was almost 5 in the evening when there was a knock on the already open door.

It was Zunaid once again.

“Do you want me to bring Shivani here?” he asked in a voice which was more formal than she had ever heard. She knew how insulted he had felt after hearing the tone of her grandpa’s query about him. It was his sense of responsibility for Anushka that had made him come back yet again.

“Come inside Zunaid. You went so suddenly. Meet my mother and my grand father.” Anushka smiled.

Zunaid walked in with a face that refused to give away anything. All Anushka could see and notice was the unusual taunt skin on his temple. Yes, he was ready to get some jabs from her grand father.

He made a slight bowing gesture in front of her mother and then looked towards the old man. He was still looking out of the window, refusing to even acknowledge his presence.

“I am discharging myself. I don’t need to occupy the bed anymore, my vitals are stable and I can walk.”

Anushka opened her mouth to protest. Zunaid raised his palm towards her. The gesture had an authority that she couldn’t overrule.

She didn’t say anything.

                                  To be continued......