The hospital bed was hard. The hospital in which she had been admitted, in emergency, a far cry from the upscale one into which she had been registered by her gynoecologist. As if any of that mattered.
All that did matter was the baby she had just lost. The third one. Like all her sisters before her, this infant too had succumbed. Along with her lay shattered all the happy dreams, all the hopes that her parents had woven around her. Not that the mother was alone. Her own grief was heightened when she saw the hurriedly wiped tears glistening in the eyes of all her loved ones who were trying to console her. The haze of pain around her lay like a deep fog enveloping her. Physical, mental, emotional. Her traumas were many and lying exposed, even the hospital sisters around her, formed a protective barrier,unwilling to let visitors see so vulnerable a woman, it broke their hearts.
The day passed. Night was perhaps more merciful. It allowed her caretakers to ply her with medicines, drugs that would close her unseeing eyes and put her to sleep. Mask her pain from their eyes, obleviate her despair. The nurse on duty gave a sigh of relief as her pain filled eyes closed and she fell into slumber.
The cry awoke her. She was instantly awake. Surely it was a dream. But no. The persistant cries of the infant seemed never ending. The nurse beside her lay asleep, as she struggled to her feet. Painfully, an arm clutched to her stomach, her stitches raw, she went, pulled magnetically towards the direction of the sound emanating from next door.
The infant lay in its crib. The mother oblivious to its cries, with her back to the baby, slept the deep sleep of a mother who had been relieved of her burden after nine months. Nestled in the intruders arms, held safely against her breasts, instantly the baby was quiet. She stood their savouring the feel of it. That tiny, helpless bundle of humanity, trembling in her eager arms. And so they stood. the hurting, bereaved mother, the infant of the uncaring one, each balm for the other's soul.
" I heard about you, you are next door right ?" said the voice from the darkness. "I wish you could keep her. I have four more at home. All girls. My husband wont relent until he has a boy. But it is against his ego to surrender this poor little thing, for whom I have neither the time nor the love." She laughed cynically." Allah's human too, do you think? Instead of your room, this baby came to mine."
All that did matter was the baby she had just lost. The third one. Like all her sisters before her, this infant too had succumbed. Along with her lay shattered all the happy dreams, all the hopes that her parents had woven around her. Not that the mother was alone. Her own grief was heightened when she saw the hurriedly wiped tears glistening in the eyes of all her loved ones who were trying to console her. The haze of pain around her lay like a deep fog enveloping her. Physical, mental, emotional. Her traumas were many and lying exposed, even the hospital sisters around her, formed a protective barrier,unwilling to let visitors see so vulnerable a woman, it broke their hearts.
The day passed. Night was perhaps more merciful. It allowed her caretakers to ply her with medicines, drugs that would close her unseeing eyes and put her to sleep. Mask her pain from their eyes, obleviate her despair. The nurse on duty gave a sigh of relief as her pain filled eyes closed and she fell into slumber.
The cry awoke her. She was instantly awake. Surely it was a dream. But no. The persistant cries of the infant seemed never ending. The nurse beside her lay asleep, as she struggled to her feet. Painfully, an arm clutched to her stomach, her stitches raw, she went, pulled magnetically towards the direction of the sound emanating from next door.
The infant lay in its crib. The mother oblivious to its cries, with her back to the baby, slept the deep sleep of a mother who had been relieved of her burden after nine months. Nestled in the intruders arms, held safely against her breasts, instantly the baby was quiet. She stood their savouring the feel of it. That tiny, helpless bundle of humanity, trembling in her eager arms. And so they stood. the hurting, bereaved mother, the infant of the uncaring one, each balm for the other's soul.
" I heard about you, you are next door right ?" said the voice from the darkness. "I wish you could keep her. I have four more at home. All girls. My husband wont relent until he has a boy. But it is against his ego to surrender this poor little thing, for whom I have neither the time nor the love." She laughed cynically." Allah's human too, do you think? Instead of your room, this baby came to mine."
no one can understand emotions better than you..how poignant your writings are..
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