Chapter-4
Silent Prayers
"Oh! God, please help me out of this mess." Gunjan Kapoor prayed desperately, looking at the stars above for a fraction of a second, and then looked back on to the road, trying to concentrate on her driving. The hospital was still pretty far, and it would take at least twenty minutes to reach there even if she continued to drive at her maximum speed like this. What if something happened to him before we could make it to the hospital? It was still raining slightly, but thankfully the road was almost deserted, owing to the fact that she had taken a short-cut to the nearest hospital. At least there was some advantage due to her late night wanderings, she thought. She was quite familiar with all the short-cuts in and around the roads of Bangalore. "Oh! No, Babaji, please keep him safe", she prayed looking briefly at the young man lying at the back seat of her car, now finally unconscious.
She could see that he was still bleeding a lot, and that he was in an uncomfortable position, owing to the fact that he was a bit too tall to fit comfortably on her back seat. She had earlier noticed that he was quite well built, and she had had quite a lot of difficulty in settling him inside the car single-handedly. His strong body and muscles implied regular workouts, and perhaps, even some martial arts, Gunjan thought, and then mentally slapped herself the next second for checking out the bleeding man who lay unconscious at the back seat of her car. She cursed herself for being so shameless. Instead of concentrating on taking him to the hospital as fast as possible, here she was checking out the helpless person shamelessly. 'It was your mistake he is in this state now', she reminded herself. 'I should have listened to Nupur while she advised me to stop listening to such loud music while driving, and I shouldn't have drunk all that wine too', she thought as she accelerated through the wet roads of the outskirts ofBangalore. 'Maybe I should call Nupur, she might help me, being the more sensible person among the two of us', She thought, as she adjusted her Bluetooth handsfree, and dialled her best friend'snumber on her black berry.
*************
'So much for having a lazy weekend at home', thought Nupur, as she drove through the wet roads to the hospital, in the car she had borrowed from her neighbour, to help her friend in trouble. Gunjan had just called her about some ten minutes ago, saying that she had accidentally hit a man and he was unconscious, so she was taking him to the hospital. Nupur hadn't thought twice as she rushed out in the middle of the night, although she was too tired to even get up from the couch. But then, Nupur could never sit back and rest when one of her friends was in trouble, howsoever tired she was. And her neighbour Sharda aunty had been kind enough to lend her car, and Nupur silently thanked her Babaji, for giving her such a nice neighbour. She could have taken her scooty, but that wouldn't be a wise decision, considering that it was still raining slightly.
*************
Nupur breathed out in relief, as she spotted her best friend,pacing frantically in front of the ICU, looking clearly tensed and pale. 'At least she is not hurt', Nupur thought relieved, as she walked quickly towards Gunjan. "Gunji..", she called out as she reached her, and received a tight hug in response. "Gunji.., relax. It's okay, am here now... everything will be fine..", Nupur whispered, as she gently rubbed the back of her clearly shaken best friend, trying to calm her down.
"Nupur, am so worried.. What if he doesn't make it? I would never be able to forgive myself. He was bleeding so much, and was unconscious too, and these stupid hospital guys were not agreeing to treat him until some relative came, or else they said they will have to inform the police as it was an accident case. Then I had to lie to them that his sister was on the way, that was when they agreed. And the doctor just saidhis condition is pretty serious and that they can't say anything for now." Gunjan said, now almost completely broken down in tears.
"Gunji, that's enough. Now sit down here.", said Nupur as she led her friend on to the bench in front of the ICU. "Now, take a deep breath and relax. Now tell me have you got any clue about this person? Anything, his name, or his phone or anything like that?"
"No Nupur, nothing. He was bleeding so much, and later became unconscious, so I couldn't find out anything. Anyway, I was too panicked to think straight. But yeah, he has this silver bracelet which has the letter 'S' on it. The nurse handed me this, a few minutes before you arrived, see?" Gunjan said as she extended the bracelet for Nupur to see.
"Okay, so maybe his name starts with S, or we'll assume so. Now listen. I'll tell them he is my brother and his name is...ermm..ya, Sameer. Whatever happens afterwards, we'll face it together, fine? Now just relax and pray for him." Nupur said, as both the friends closed their eyes in silent prayers, for the young stranger who was fighting death behind the closed glass doors of the ICU.
Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi 2
Anupamaa
29