Coz Life’s Precious

It was a regular Sunday morning in the month of December…  I put on my tracks and shoes to go for a walk in the park near my house. My daughter insisted she’d come along with me to play with Loro, the park keeper’s pet.
Get ready, have milk that I’ve kept on the table and come fast..Amma’s getting late da….  My daughter came down running . Amma….Chalo chalo….gaadi start karo…lets go… I started my 2 wheeler and along with my daughter, I sped to the park.
Maithreyi, why so late yaar, see how many of them are waiting for you! Kya hua aaj?
Sorry yaar, very sorry…. Sita told she’ll come to play with Loro….So I had to wait for her…..
Haha, you mom-daughter bhi naa!
 After a few rounds of jogging in the park, along with my team, I got into the room in the park, for the actual work we come for, there in the park, on Sundays.
It was 9 years ago…. I got married to Ram,  the man whom my parents felt, would be there with me forever. We had a very happy married life.
3 years after marriage, I was pregnant. Ram and I were very excited about our child. Ram , the to- be dad was more careful and never allowed me to work or even move an inch….
It was in the 8th month of my pregnancy, Ram got a new job, with a very good pay. We felt it was our to-be born child who has proven to be very lucky to us… He had to leave to the USA for work.
Maithreyi, I don’t want to go there yaar…Leaving you and our child growing in your womb, I don’t want to go… I want to spend time with you… I want to be with the child…. Shall I continue working here? I’ll get many work opportunities in future yaar….I don’t want to go there!
Ram, why are you behaving like a kid? Its just a matter of 6 months….after the baby is born, within a couple of months I’ll come there anyway… This is a wonderful opportunity for you Ram…Don’t leave it… There is a whole life for us to live together…You will surely be the best daddy in this world and pamper our child…. I think you have to take up this job Ram…
Fine, I’ll do like you said….
Kissing me on my forehead, Ram left to the airport halfheartedly….
He had to change a flight from Mumbai to Dubai and again from Dubai to Newark……

I awaited his call since 3 hours now…. He was supposed to reach Mumbai… I heard that the flight was late…. So I sat down to watch TV. While browsing the channels, to get some gossip about the ongoing Politics, I switched on the news channel. There was this lady in formals, who was talking about some movie actor who passed unwanted comments on a director and the director slapped him…. I smiled and continued to watch . Suddenly, there was this breaking news…  thinking it to be something silly, I ignored and switched to another channel. Breaking news came in this channel also. Ignoring it again, I switched to another channel…. Every channel that I changed showed only this breaking news, where there were many ambulances and people carrying some injured people on stretchers. Curious, I increased the TV’s volume. Adding to my curiosity, there was an Ad. I switched to another channel and to my horror, I found that the aircraft in which Ram traveled had crashed and it was said that there were hardly any survivors. I was in a state of shock. My mind was blank, I did not know what to do! It was a total black out for me. While my mind was blank, my heart prayed that Ram should be one of the survivors…. An hour later, I called up to my Mother-in-law to inform her about the crash. She was a strong woman…Confidently she said that her son is alive. We made many calls to the Mumbai international airport only to get many negative responses….

I received a phone call from a hospital in Mumbai.
It was Ram, who wanted to speak his last words to me.
Maithu, after I die, please take care of our child…. You will be a mother and father to our child… tell our child about me…. Let him/her know that his/her daddy could not keep up the promise of being the world’s best daddy…. also, after I die, if you are lonely, please take up my job and if you find someone who loves you like me, please get married….
Ram, don’t say that, I am yours and only yours, I promise, I’ll take care of our child… You will always be the world’s best daddy…. You will not leave us Ram… Stay strong Ram… I’ll pray for you…
Ram laughed weakly and the phone got disconnected!
I started feeling guilty for sending him… I should have respected his decision to continue working here…. I regretted encouraging Ram to take up this job…..
Tears welled up in my eyes…. I sat still again…Scenes of Ram’s body being taken away from the house flashed in front of my eyes…. The widow making ritual, my bangles being broken and more than anything my unborn child being blamed for  the death of Ram, etc were making rounds in front of my eyes…
Any moment I could get a phone call stating Ram’s death… I did not want to attend it….

I am not living in this world without Ram…. Ram, here I come , to join you….  I took this extreme step and went into the kitchen to drink some water…. I then went into our bedroom, to take one last look at Ram’s pictures…. I wore his favorite light blue t-shirt and took out the photo albums from our cupboard.
I saw pictures of our wedding, where Ram is wearing a traditional Iyer’s outfit and I was decked up in a typical Iyer bride’s Magenta coloured silk Madisar saree, with garlands and lots of jewels….
The pictures of our Switzerland trip 2 years ago were also in the cupboard… Looking at the random stills of mine that Ram clicked, I smiled with tears… Ram, look how happy we are in these pictures, see how you are smiling and look at me, I am so happy….Why did you leave me Ram! I spoke to myself and cried, running my hand through Ram’s picture.  I wanted to re-live all the memories, that I had with Ram…. While seeing the pictures, I got several phone calls that I chose not to attend cos I knew, I was going to hear condolences from my dear ones….
For one last time, before I drank the baygon mixed water, I placed my hand on my stomach and gave my child a last kiss….
I m sorry baby, amma is going to the place where appa has gone…If I have a next birth, I will be born as Maithreyi, marry Ram and give birth to you…. I am so so sorry baby…. Saying so, I cried loudly and took the glass in my hand….
Maithreyi, how can you be such a coward! Did you not promise Ram that you will deliver his child?  You are scared to face the reality Maithreyi! Come on, throw it out and face the world bravely… You just have one life, live it girl…Imagine your child being born and you are watching your baby grow up…. Ram’s presence will always be felt… Your child will be  one of the best assets Ram gave you….You will raise Ram as a child once again…. Don’t die Maithreyi..face the reality…. The strong Maithreyi in me spoke…. I will face this world, come what may, I will be Ram and Maithreyi to my child…. I will see Ram in my child… I will bring up my child to be a good person like Ram…. I am not going to Die… I said to myself.
My phone kept ringing and I ignored the calls….  An hour later, composing myself, I attended a call that I got from an unknown number… Cell phones were new in the market then….
Hello, Mrs. Ram?
Yes, speaking…
Madam, I hope you are doing fine?
Yes I am….
I am calling from  Radha Hospital, Mumbai…One minute Madam….
My heart beat very fast…. I tightened my fist…I was sweating profusely….
Maithu…. I am not dead…. I am alright daa… A weak voice spoke
It was Ram….
I cried out loudly over the phone…..
Madam, I am Dr. Chris, it is indeed a miracle that out of 4 injured, Ram is the only Survivor…. He is a strong man…. He has a severe injury on his neck…. before we took him in for treatment, he said he wanted to talk to his wife, we told him he cant but he insisted to talk to you… he was not confident of living anymore due to heavy blood loss…. All the way during the treatment, he only told your name and called some name “Sita”… When I asked, he said he wanted a baby girl and he’d name her Sita…. You and your unborn child have saved Ram…He has a strong will to see his wife and child…this saved him madam… You are very lucky and so he is, to have a loving wife…. God Bless you! He will be alright soon and within a few days he will come back…

Could you please give me the details about the hospital and cost of the treatment…please give him the best treatment to recover soon…
Sure Mrs. Ram….Radha hospital’s emergency care is located in Bandra… And please do not worry about the treatment’s cost, it is being taken care of by the Airports authority, as it was their fault… We will send him back home, safe and sound….. 

My brother and Father-in-law left to Mumbai as soon as they heard the news and returned back home with Ram in 15 days as it took some time for the wound on Ram’s neck to heal…..
Ram decided not to take up the job at USA..His resignation in the place he had been working was luckily not yet accepted…..
A month later, I delivered our child. It was a baby girl…. As per Ram’s wishes, we named her Sita….

Sita indeed, is our angel… And of course, it was because of her that Ram is alive…. If I had committed suicide that day, I would have missed all these, probably Ram would have been all alone in this world… his dreams would have been shattered….  From that day, I learnt a lesson .

“If you are put on this world, you are put here with a purpose…If the almighty has given you a life, only he has the right to take it…. Face the reality…stay strong…If you have very bad times going on, remember you have very good days ahead….If you are being tested till the worst, be prepared for a miracle to happen…God is there to take care of you….do your best and leave the rest to him…Life’s Precious”

Since that day, I decided to stay strong…. Ram and I formed a team to counsel the ones who are depressed, those who broke down and those with suicidal tendencies….  By God’s grace, we have been successful in our work, to help them out and are doing our best to save many Maithreyi’s Rams and many Ram’s Maithreyis and yes, many Ram’s and Maithreyi’s Sitas and Krishna’s….

Oh yes, did I tell you, Sita has a brother Krishna…2 years after Sita was born, Krishna was born…
Amma…. appa and Krishna are here I am going with appa and Krishna for some Ice cream that appa has promised to buy.. You go home after work…Bye amma… Love you…See you at home 😀
Ram, how many times do I have to tell you, not to buy them Ice cream in winter? You are pampering our kids and spoiling them…You are a bad daddy Ram!
Amma, don’t scold appa…He is world’s best daddy!  Sita and Krishna hugged Ram….

Aren’t these moments beautiful? It is these moments that make your living worthy… Pledge to live…. Life’s Precious… Be Good, Do Good! 🙂

Life’s Precious – #Semicolonproject416