Part 15
As soon as they left the car, Geet started to look around in order to distract herself. They were moving towards a building, it wasn't very big or formal, but quaint, it had certain warmth. "BACHPAN said red bold letters in a white board just above the door they just entered. Inside there was a big hall, which was empty, they crossed to the other side where there were rooms in line perpendicular to the hall.
They moved directly to the management office, Maan held Geet's hand as a gesture of assurance but she was too occupied to notice it.
Maan talked to a guy who looked like a staff who directed them to the chamber of manager of the orphanage. Mrs. Sinha greeted them in a welcoming voice.
"Hello Mr. Khurrana, ma'am"
"Hello Mrs. Sinha. This is Geet, my fiance. And Geet this is Mrs. Sinha, she is the manager here at bachpan, she helped us a lot during adoption process of Antara."
"Hello ma'am. Nice meeting you."
She nodded and gave a small smile to Geet; though she liked the warmth that radiated from Geet's gestures, she was reserving her judgment for now.
"It was my duty Mr. Khurrana; we act in the best interest of children living here. I am sorry about your loss; Tara was a wonderful lady and great mother."
They were silent after that until a staff appeared offering them water. Maan took a glass and passed to Geet, she took it silently.
"So ma'am, tell me about this process."
He asked after the staff left and they took their seats.
"You see Mr. Khurrana your case is one of kind, so i had to take it to authorities for further action."
She could make out that he was confused so started explaining in detail.
"BACHPAN is affiliated to CARA, and we have specific guidelines from ministry for certain situations and actions to be taken."
"Right."
Okay, he knows about this, Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) was the adoption wing of Ministry of Women and Child Development (Govt. of India). They had registered there, that's how the adoption process starts.
"But I've never had the situation such as yours in the span of my career here, so i had to ask if there was any other similar case and take action accordingly."
"Correct, so what we have to do now?"
"It's a small process where we ask some questions and then counsel the prospective mother, nothing to worry about, it's routine."
"What do you mean by routine when you've not had any such situation before?
"Mr. Khurrana we have basic maternity tests for first time mothers, we will just combine them with some additional questions.
"You mean it was to be done when we first adopted Antara?
"Yes Mr. Khurrana, Mrs. Khurrana underwent them, I thought you knew about it.
She frowned not expecting that.
"Off course I knew about it, but I didn't expect them to be so elaborate.
"Well sir, we have guidelines from government, we have to follow them, all the children of this country are our own, especially when their parents washed their hands off them the state has to fill in.
"Okay then, let's start with them."
He agreed only when he was 100% sure that it wouldn't make Geet uncomfortable. While Geet was silent till now hearing them talk and trying to understand the process sincerely.
"Miss Geet please fill this form."
She filled the form and handed back it was just basic information.
"Okay Miss Geet if you will follow me."
Geet nodded and stood up, so did Maan.
"No Mr. Khurrana, it's a private interview with CARA officials you can't accompany Ms. Geet. Please wait here."
Geet looked at him a bit scared; he nodded in assurance and gently pressed her hands before leaving her to go. That's when she realized he was holding her hand all the while; she gave faint smile and felt a bit better following Mrs. Sahni.
She entered the room and was made to sit on a chair, in front was a long table and there sat 2 middle aged women, Mrs. Sahni joined them on table and introduced Geet to other members.
The lady in sari looked older and was senior CARA official by name of Mrs. Dutta; and honestly made Geet nervous. While the other woman who looked a bit young compared to other too was Ms. Meena she was manager of another orphanage by name of AASHIRWAAD, in Kanpur she had a mild, pleasing demure. They discussed something among themselves, it looked like Mrs. Sahni was briefing them on the case, then they fiddled with some sheets before they started questioning her.
"Do you have any kids at home?"
The first question was asked by Mrs. Sahni, okay! this is easy; Geet released a breath that she didn't know she held till now and responded.
"Yes. My nephew."
The started scribbling her answers on their pad simultaneously discussing and coming to a conclusion.
"Ms. Geet in that case we would like to ask you some questions about your relationship with the kid, hope you don't mind, it would help us a lot and you we can cut on the counseling based on your answers."
Ms. Meena informed Geet about their decision. Geet nodded, she was a bit confident by now.
"What is the age of child and how long you have been living in same house?"
"My nephew karan is 6 now, living with me for 3 years."
"How much do you contribute in his daily routine?
"We spend a lot of time together since his mother is working. I don't know how else to put this in words."
They started firing questions one after the other and scribbling something as she answered.
"Okay. Is the child comfortable to eat with you and sleep with you, in absence of mother?"
"Yes"
"What is the likelihood that he would come to you first with a problem? Say in terms of percentage."
"50%"
"Same question, but if his mother is present, what is the likelihood that he would come to you?"
"Depends on situation, if he thought he would get in trouble with his mother then he'll come to me."
They asked a couple of more general questions, after which they started to discuss amongst themselves. Geet was told to wait outside as they prepare for stage 2.
Maan ran to Geet as she exited from the room, he'd been watching her from the glass doors and though her back faced her, he wanted to make sure she was okay.
"All done?"
"For now. They asked me to wait for stage 2."
"Aren't they going over board?"
He asked a bit shocked. One side he was glad that there were such rules in place for insuring the better future of kids, but they should also rely on the judgment of adopting parents, after all they're capable enough to think about what is good for their kids.
"I don't know Maan, but it doesn't bother me anymore."
He smiled, as she seemed confident now no more in the state that he brought her in. They sat in the bench beside the door and started discussing.
"So what did they ask?"
"They asked me if i have a kid at home and my rapport with him. General questions. It's good in their opinion I think, makes their work easier."
"Yeah, they might think so, but i don't think that you'd be a good mother to our Antara because you have an experience of being around a child..."
She looked at him questioningly as one side he said "our" Antara and also he left the sentence incomplete. He held her hand and looked directly into her eyes before continuing.
"I know that you will be a good mother because you are a good human with a gentle, loving heart, you can form relationships easily and value them so much. You know the importance of discipline and how to balance it with love, that's more important in parenting."
She smiled although her eyes were wet knowing how he had high trust on her along with hopes. These tests didn't matter to him, part of her worry before this meeting was 'what will Maan think about her if she failed in this? Would he also think she is incapable of being a god mother?' But listening to his words her shattered confidence was getting repaired slowly under his praise.
Their little eye lock was broken when a staff came to call Geet was stage 2 of the test, he gave her thumps up as she followed the lady.
"Ms. Geet this is a different kind of test, in this we will give you a situation and we have an expert to assist you, who will ask you questions like a kid of a specific age and you have to respond to that situation, we will mark you accordingly."
She just nodded, and smiled a bit thinking Maan's reaction when he comes to know about this it's an overkill' he'd say. Then she was introduced to a man, Mr. Thompson, he looked old enough maybe 45, he was a psychiatrist. She found that Ms. Meena was missing now and so was Mrs. Sahni great. Mrs. Dutta was assisted by the lady who came to call her. The same lady explained the procedure.
"When I say start, the scene will start and it will go on till we say stop, you can also say stop to end it prematurely. Are you ready for scene 1?"
When she nodded in affirmation she was made to sit on a couch and given a newspaper. The situation was she was reading a newspaper, and her child, who's supposed to be 6-7 years (played by Mr. Thompson), says i want to read the newspaper too.
She looked at the newspaper, half of the page was covered in news of violence in some part of the country, next page had news of farmer suicides and the next had advertisements on sexual awareness.
"I will give you paper tomorrow okay?"
She tried to say softly as she was hesitant with the person acting as 6 year old. But they are trained for the task so he argued immediately.
"Nahi mujhe abhi padhna hai mumma."
"I will give you new wala paper with cartoons."
"Kyun? Aap bhi toh padh rahe ho na?"
"It is for big people. Achha i am also not reading see."
She folded the paper and kept inside
"let's play board games."
She said to distract and was successful.
"STOP
"Ok Ms. Geet well done, I have few questions about your response and reactions."
This was the first time that Mrs. Dutta opened her mouth and Geet was surprised to find her voice so sweet.
"Yes."
"I observed that you did not say no to the demand of the kid, which was an easy option, can you explain that?"
"Yes ma'am, actually saying no immediately will impact the curiosity of the child. If they hear no continuously from parents they will seek alternative sources of knowledge with may misguide them."
"You said you will give tomorrow did you actually plan to give tomorrow and how?" (referring to the contents in paper as everyday it would be same)
"Yes, there are many newspaper exclusively for children, i can subscribe to that. And moreover parents should make good on their promises to inculcate same values in children."
They gave her a couple of more situations like kid demanding chocolate/fast food/gadgets which Geet was able to handle successfully. Sometimes she faltered, took a lot of time, she even stopped a scene as she was irritated with crying of kid (Mr. Thompson in this case) but overall she was satisfied with her own performance when she left. The better part was explanations; she felt that she was able to explain her responses well.
They were both waiting in the office chatting with Mrs. Sahni who was all praises about Geet. Maan smiled feeling a bit more proud of her, though he had no doubts in her capabilities but someone else saying that has a larger effect. Just then a staff came up handing a paper to Mrs. Sahni who read it and smiled then gave it back to the staff.
"Isko Antara Khuarrana ki file me laga do, aur mujhe for 50B do.
She directed the staff before turning back to Maan who was on high alert as he heard his daughter's name.
"Its good news Mr. Khurrana, the report says that Ms. Geet shows high aptitude of being a good mother to Antara. Major formality is done, I will take up from here, and I just need you both to sign this.
She handed them the form that was given to her by staff, they signed and passed it back.
"All done now, you will receive a No Objection letter from CARA and I will start the process for revised adoption certificate for Antara Khurrana but I will need you marriage certificate for that so it has to wait.
"Alright ma'am I will send you that as soon as possible. I'll take your leave now.
They walked out after that. While they were in car, Geet had a doubt.
"Kya baat hai Geet, tum ab bhi chup ho? It all went well.
"I was thinking we should have donated some money, for other children you know.
"I do Geet; I transfer a fixed amount every year on date of Antara's adoption. It's for basic education of all the kids
She was silent after that, but spoke again.
"Its 4 years now, do you think it's enough?
He took some time to understand where she was going.
"You are right. Let's do one thing I will ask for an estimate from Mrs. Sahni and I will make cheque according to that from next year.
She smiled and they kept driving in comfortable silence until she realized they were not going towards her house.
"Hum ghar nahi ja rahe?
"No.
Though she was confused, she didn't ask any further, Maan smiled at her trust. He knew she wasn't to trust anyone easily and was glad to make it till there.
Precap: Meeting with antara.
Next on: first week of Sept.
Disclaimer: The process geet underwent as shown in this update is completely imaginary and so are the names of people as well as bachpan and aashirwaad. But the facts about CARA are true.
Edited by Sundari. - 7 years ago
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