KHUSHI by Jalebi Jane (EPISODE 070)
**my favourite episode**
ARNAV SINGH RAIZADA had spent most of his adult life viewing matrimony with a caustic eye; it had been his entrenched belief that it was impossible for two people to sustain the devotion required to maintain a lifetime of mutual care and fulfillment. What he came to realize in that one afternoon at Lucknow City Hospital was that he had been wrong---so very wrong. The greatest challenge in married life was not maintaining devotion, but maintaining separation. When the team lifted Khushi's limp body onto the gurney and wheeled her down the hall, it was his lifeless body that they carried too.
He gave them one of his famous withering glares as they tried to keep him out from the room. But he didn't get in their way; he pressed himself flat against the wall, as they attempted to revive her.
Wake up! Wake up, dammit! Khushi, I command you to wake up now!
And she did.
She came too.
For once, his wife did as he told her without drama and debate. And when she took in a deep breath into her lungs, he too began to breathe. It was clear to him now that the greatest mistake in his life was dropping his guard and falling in love with this woman. This woman who took him to the heights of ecstasy and the pit of despair, every single day---sometimes twice or thrice a day. But it was done. It was complete. His heart and his mind and his body were irrevocably bound to her. To live a day without her was to dwell in a dark abyss. He gave up. He reconciled himself to seven long lifetimes with this certifiably crazy woman who had made him crazy in love.
Arnav propped her up against a pillow. "Khushi?" he asked, sweeping her hair away from her face, tucking the tormenting locks ungently behind her ears. His eyes examined her. He couldn't touch her enough. He took her hands, but was forced to release one hand as the nurse attached a glucose IV. He winced as it pricked her.
The nurse from the nurse's station---the one whom he had terrified!---returned his phone to him and said, "Dr Malhotra is on his way back to the hospital. He will be with you shortly."
Another nurse came to take blood. "Is that necessary?" Arnav demanded.
"The doctor on duty has requisitioned tests, Sir," she explained.
"No. We'll wait for Dr Malhotra," he said with finality. "For god's sake---let her recover!---she was lifeless ten minutes ago---" he was taking off on what promised to be a beautiful tirade, when he felt Khushi's cool hand on his face. With a small nod she conveyed that she was fine and that he had to calm down.
KHUSHI RESTED HER CHIN on her husband's shoulder, and said softly, "I long for a cup of tea."
That was all that was required. He shot up and wordlessly left the room. What he didn't see was that the moment he left, she presented her wrist to the nurse to take blood. "Hurry. Before he returns," she instructed.
The nurse worked quickly. When the nurse was leaving, Khushi requested, with an eye on the door, "Please---please, can you also test for pregnancy?"
"That's routinely done for married women," the nurse assured.
Arnav returned, followed by a ward boy bearing a tray with a cup of tea and a mug of coffee.
Mr and Mrs Raizada sat in silence and sipped their beverages. Khushi's eyes drank in the sight of her beautiful uneasy anxious husband. How blessed she was to love a man who returned her love. And how naive she had been to think that it was the most natural thing in the world to expect love to be reciprocated. Matrimony had always been part of her fantasy future; yet, she had believed that a lifetime of joy was readily available to any good girl who chose a nice boy. This is the more essential talk that girls on the eve of their wedding ought to receive. They should be told that happiness in marriage is entirely a matter of chance.* They could do everything right, but happiness may still elude them. Or they could do everything wrong---as she and Arnav had---yet love would pour from the sky and drench them to their bones.
He reached for her empty cup, and when she did not release it, his questioning eyes met hers. Though they were alone, she whispered in his ear, "I love you, Arnav."
"Khushi," was his reply.
At least he didn't say, 'I know.' That was his usual reply. She smiled and nuzzled his ear with her nose, and he drew her into his warmth, and placed multiple soft kisses all over her face.
YASH MALHOTRA ENTERED THE ROOM only to realize that the Raizadas were sharing a private moment. He began to turn away when Khushi stopped him.
"Yash?"
He turned back and approached. Arnav came to his feet and the two exchanged cool nods. Arnav said, "Can you sort out her release? I'm taking Khushi to a hospital in Delhi where we can get to the bottom of this."
"I assure you, Mr Raizada---" Yash's voice belied his irritation, "---this is as fine a facility as any I have worked at. Allow us to do what we can before you whisk her away for a second opinion. There is no need for alarm---"
"---No need for alarm?!" Arnav returned, his tone thick with incredulity. "Khushi faints with alarming frequency. Why does a healthy woman faint so often? That is my question, Doctor."
"It's a fair question," Yash held up his hand and replied. "But I have no reason to believe it's congenital. In Khushi's case, I believe it's situational. She has a tendency to overdo things. She feels things more deeply than she expresses." He focused his attention on Khushi, and asked, "Have you been under any particular stress?
Khushi reached for Arnav's hand and replied, "No."
Yash had been a physician long enough to know when a patient was lying. But he chose to ignore that for now. He continued, "When did you last eat?"
Arnav replied for her, "Breakfast."
Yash asked, "Did you feel faint when you woke up this morning?"
"Actually, yes. But I attributed it to hunger. Although when I sat down to breakfast my appetite was lost," she informed him.
"Where are you in your monthly cycle," he asked.
Khushi lowered her eyes and said softly, "A bit late."
Yash saw Arnav's eyes go to his wife, but she kept her gaze lowered.
"How late?" Yash asked.
"Four days."
A nurse interrupted to inform him that Mrs Raizada's test results were waiting on his desk. "Excuse me," he said, and went down the long corridor to enter his office.
Arnav Singh Raizada was right behind him. "What is it?" Arnav asked, not waiting for an invitation to enter.
If Yash had ever doubted whether Mr Raizada was the right life partner for Khushi, today had convinced him that this man opposite him would turn the world upside down for Khushi's slightest need.
Yash indicated the seat opposite. "Give me a moment," he said as his eyes noted all the familiar markers on the test report.
Arnav sat with all the impatience of a man who wanted to be elsewhere but knew he had best remain where he was.
When Yash looked up, Arnav repeated, "What is it?"
"Welcome to the joys of fatherhood, Mr Raizada."
*Adapted from Jane Austen's -Pride and Prejudice-
By Jalebi Jane
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