Today's morning started just like any other morning for her. Just as the night started to fade away with the sky starting to brighten up with the rays of early morning sun and the chirping of birds gradually making their way to her ears, she slowly opened her eyes to welcome a new day. A day which she never knew would turn out to be one of the longest days of her life. She sat up on her bed for a few minutes, watching Ashu sleeping comfortably beside her. He had a relief on his face during sleep which made her heart brim over with happiness. She just loved to see this relief on his face and she could go to any extent to see this. Her life took a 360 degree turn since the time he entered her life. She had never thought that she would end up loving a person to this extent who was almost double her age. But his maturity, a loving and caring person behind a hardstone rock type personality were just one of the few reasons which made her fall for him. She felt it was like yesterday when she got married to him despite her family's reluctance. But now that both of them were together, she knew that the day when her family too accepts their relationship wasn't far away. With these thoughts she got out of her bed and went close to the window and opened it up. A cool breeze touched her face and she closed her eyes to feel each and every bit of that fresh air. Few minutes later she heard Ashu tossing around in bed and covering up his face with the blanket as it was winter time and he was intolerant to the cold air especially during the early morning time. She saw him sleeping with his face under the blanket and she smiled to herself. She closed the window and went out of the room to begin her daily routine chores.
Her daily routine started with a bath and her pooja. She went and sat in front of the small temple in their home and started preparing for her pooja. She lit the diya in her Pooja thali and started reciting her daily prayers, but to her surprise and agony, she saw that today the diya was about to fade away. She knew this wasn't a good sign and she placed both her palms around it to prevent it from fading away. She felt some unknown fear inside her heart which she wasn't able to understand right now. So many prayers for the well-being of her Ashu and her parents went through her heart in a span of few moments that she couldn't ever count. She somehow managed to complete her Pooja with great difficulty but after completion, she somehow felt relieved that the pooja could be completed. After completing the pooja she went back to her room to wake up Ashu and to give him the sacred aarti as always. Although she was still apprehensive, but she decided not to discuss anything with him right now as she knew that he would be very upset to see her like that right in the morning. He didn't believe in superstitions and this was well known to her for long time. But how could she avoid him reading her eyes which he was so good at...this was what worried her the most.
She went up to him and kept the Pooja thali aside and slowly removed the blanket from his face.
Nidhi: Good morning...ab uth bhi jayiye...aaj hospital nahi jaana kya?
Ashu: hmm... aaj jaane ka mann nahi hai...aaj sochta hu ki poora din tumhare saath hi spend karu.
Nidhi: bas bas...baniye mat...mujhe achhe se pata hai ki aap ka kya mann hai...Dr Ashutosh apne patients se na milen ek bhi din...aisa to kabhi ho hi nahi sakta...aap mujhe bhool sakte hain par unhe nahi...isliye baatein banana chhodiye and uth kar aarti le lijiye.
Ashu smiled and got up and took the aarti as he routinely does. He noticed that her eyes spoke something else which probably she was hiding from him.
Ashu: Nidhi kya baat hai? kuch pareshan ho...
Nidhi: nahi aisi koi baat nahi hai...main chalti hu bahut kaam hai mujhe...(trying to escape from there at that moment)
Nidhi started to leave from there after this but as she stood up...the Pooja thali fell down from her hand. All her fears once again crowded her mind which she had been trying to hide from him but now with this incident, she couldn't prevent him from seeing her upset.
Ashu: kya hua Nidhi, kya soch rahi ho? Pooja ki thali gir gayi to koi baat nahi...utha lo...
Nidhi: aap ko nahi pata...aaj subah se apshagun ho rahe hain...pehle Pooja ka diya bujhne wala tha aur ab yeh...aaj zaroor kuch galat hone wala hai. Aap aaj please ghar pe hi rahiye...kahin mat jayiye please.
Ashu: kya keh rahi ho tum, aisa kaise ho sakta hai? tumhe pata hai na ki mere patients ko meri zaroorat hai...wo meri wait karte hain...
Nidhi: hospital mein aur doctors bhi to hain, who patients ko dekh lenge...aap aaj kahin nahi jayenge... Bas maine keh diya to aap ko meri baat manni hi hogi.
Ashu got slightly irritated to see her being so superstitious. He said tum bhi kin andh vishwason mein padi ho...aisa kuch nahi hota...tum yeh sab baatein apne dimaag se nikaal do aur mere jaane ki tayaari karo...mujhe der ho rahi hai
Nidhi: par wo...
Ashu: par var kuch nahi...maine kaha na...
Nidhi tried hard but could not convince him as she herself knew Ashu would never believe in any kind of superstitions. She went to the kitchen with a heavy heart to prepare breakfast for him. Ashu got ready to go and came to the dining table for breakfast. She was absolutely quiet after this, he knew that she was unhappy with his decision of going to the hospital despite her insistence. They both had breakfast together and many times Ashu tried to start a conversation with her but didn't succeed. She didn't respond to any of his attempts and continued to remain quiet. He knew this was the way she expressed her anger with him and he very well knew how to pacify her. He decided that he would come back early from the hospital today evening and take her out for dinner and spend whole evening with her. He knew she can't be angry with him for a very long time.
While leaving he saw her eyes moist and he understood that she had shed few tears in the kitchen. He told her not to worry...that he is and will be fine always...as long as she is in his life...nothing can take him away from her. She told him that no one and nothing would be able to separate them and she would fight her destiny even for his sake. He gave a light kiss on her cheek and left in his car for his hospital.
Her eyes kept on following his car till she could ...praying every moment to see the car return back...but alas...neither the car nor Ashu returned back and she was left behind standing at the door with a feeling of void and loneliness in her heart. She kept on standing there for some time but after she managed to regain her belief in her love for him and her destiny which had brought both of them together, she came inside and sat down. She just wished her family was with her today so that she could share her feelings with them. Baba was also away for some important work and she decided not to disturb him with her fears. She went ahead with her pending chores and for sometime her mind was deviated from all those negative thoughts.
After finishing her daily routine works, she switched on the television to catch up with the news and as soon as she saw the breaking news on TV, she felt as if she skipped few beats of her heart...she found it so difficult to breathe and all her fears since morning came back to her and she found herself in the grip of some unknown power which just made her freeze there and then.
All the TV channels were reporting about the riots in the Lucknow city since last few hours and that no area was spared from its effects. The riots had broken out due to some clashes between two religious communities. Immediately she thought of calling him and confirming that he is safe. Her hands trembled but somehow she reached out to pick up her phone. With tears running down her face, she dialled his number...but...his phone was unreachable. She dialled his phone a number of times but persistently it was not reachable. She became so worried for him...his phone wasn't unreachable specially when he was in Lucknow. Even when he was busy with surgery, his assistant always picked up her call and informed her that Dr Ashutosh was busy. What might have happened that she wasn't able to make any contact with him. She called up the hospital to ask whether he had reached the hospital, but she was told that he had not reached the hospital today and all of them were also trying to contact him as they had many casualities in the hospital after the riots. There was all chaos in the hospital and the docs there were struggling to manage the crisis situation.
She became all the more worried to know that he had still not reached his hospital. Where was he, what happened to him...whether he was safe or not...what might have happened to him? All these questions which came to her mind for which she couldn't find any answers...troubled her to the core and she could think of no way out to find out about his whereabouts. At the same time, she was worried for the crisis at the hospital which had to be managed. She was split between her duty and her love...her love ...who was in trouble somewhere, she needed to search for him at any cost and her duty for the patients and hospital, especially when Ashu was not around. She rushed to the temple in her home and she folded her hands to pray for the safety of her love...her life. She somehow managed to regain her strength and as a responsible doc, she placed her duty above her personal fears...and she decided to go to the hospital.
As she got ready to leave for the hospital, she was keeping herself updated with the latest news on the riots. In view of the tense situation in the city, curfew had been imposed and the entire city was taken under the control of the security agencies and the police. She decided to go the hospital and on the way she thought she would call up Ashu's friends whose numbers she had...she just hoped she could gather any information about his safety. As she left her house and sat in her car, she had no idea as to what was instore for her in future...whether she'll be able to come out of this phase or not...whether she'll be able to see him again ever in her life or not. Her mind was crowded with all such thoughts when she remembered what her father used to say to her ...He used to say that ...
"Insaan ko har cheez ka saamna himmat se karna chahiye... Waqt ki yehi khasiyat hai...achha ho ya bura...theherta nahi hai...isliye kuch bhi ho jaye...kabhi bhi ghabraana nahi...mann ki Shakti aur bhagwaan me vishwas ho to har mushkil chhoti lagne lagti hai
Kabhi Neem Neem Kabhi Shahad Shahad
