It is a busy day at the OPD. I have lost count of the number of sutures, the number of injections I have administered. Everybody seems to have chosen today to break a limb or cut a vein. God, am I tired! I know I'd told Dr Ashutosh that I was an adrenalin junkie. And nothing like tending to patients to keep the adrenalin pumping. But i am still human after all!
I grab myself a cup of coffee from the automatic. My mind goes back to the conversation that I'd had with Dr Ashutosh over a week ago. He'd told me Mallika was pregnant. I was so gobsmacked by the news that I did not know how to react for a moment. My first thought was 'Poor kid, what a mother to have'! I mean I had told Dr Ashutosh to inform her of Jagan's threat and all, but that was it. I was certainly not comfortable with the idea of Mallika coming within ten feet of my husband otherwise. He was mine and mine alone and I was not letting any twelve year friendship mess with my marriage once again. This whole pregnancy thing put a whole new spin on things though. We were just recovering from one baby attack. It looked like there was another baby threat to counter. Why did this woman have to be pregnant just now? Just when I had managed to convince Dr Ashutosh over the need to put our baby plans on hold. Just when he seemed to be getting over his sudden baby obsession and things seemed to be getting back to normal! Would this trigger off his baby dream all over again? Why was it that everything had to go wrong again when things just seemed to be getting right? Pushing aside my thoughts, I had categorically told him that while Dr Mallika had my sympathies, we would be foolish to allow her to mess with our lives again. He'd seemed disturbed but nodded anyway. I had left matters at that. Sometimes, it is better to let sleeping dogs lie.
Just then there is a commotion outside. I rush out only to halt mid-step. Dr Mallika is being wheeled in on a stretcher. She seems to be in agony clearly, crying out in pain.
"Please save my baby...I don't want anything happening to it...I have nothing left to live for...please save my baby or let me die along with it!"
I rush to her side and hold her hand.
"Dr Mallika...calm down...Dr Mallika...it'll be fine..don't worry!"
She turns at the sound of my voice. Some deep emotion flickers in her eyes.
"Nidhi...save my baby...please Nidhi...save my baby...only you can save it...please!"
I am taken aback by the fervency in her voice. What could I do, a junior intern? Why is she pleading with me?
"Dr Mallika, calm down...you know Dr Tripathi is the best gynaecologist in town...she'll be right with you...don't worry...!"
"No...no...only you can save my baby...only you can save my baby...please Nidhi...save my baby!"
She seems to be slipping out of consciousness. I scream at the ward boy to hurry and asked the nurse to call Dr Tripathi right away. As I try to move away, I realize that my hand is in her grip. Even in her unconscious state, her grip is firm. So, I run along with the stretcher towards the OT.
Her maid, who has accompanied her , tells me that she had a fall in the bathroom. She had started bleeding shortly thereafter. She had called her gynaecologist who had told her to rush to the nearest hospital as she was not in the city at the moment and would take a couple of hours to reach. The maid hands over Dr Mallika's medical file to me. I quickly scan it to check the medication she is on. I then ask the maid to wait outside.
The nurse rushes in and tells me Dr Tripathi is performing a caesarean section. Her assistant would join me shortly but she had asked me to provide the necessary care in the meantime.
I do not know what to do for a moment. My hands start trembling. I am having a panic attack. Two lives are dependent on me now. And I am not even a trained gynaecologist. I am just an intern who has suddenly rediscovered her passion for her profession. Suddenly DB's Bajrang Bali comes into my mind.
"Is this why I did not answer your prayers? So, you could panic at the hint of the first crisis? Enough of this now, go do what you have to! do"
"Yes Sir! Whatever you say, Sir!"
I salute him mentally before I instruct the nurse to start the IV. Obviously, stopping the bleeding is the first priority. Thankfully I remember a similar case being discussed by the Ob-Gyn Prof. It is like her voice is droning in my ear again. I quickly get to work.
It seems like hours but is probably more like fifteen minutes at best when Dr Tripathi herself joins me. She has gotten done with her surgery and proudly informs me that it was a healthy nine pound male baby. The smile on her face makes me think it is the first baby she has delivered, when the truth is it is probably the thousandth or more!
She quickly examines Dr Mallika and gratefully notes that the bleeding has stopped. I wait nervously while she makes notes on the case sheet.
"Brilliant Dr Nidhi...great job here...am impressed,...you have saved a life!"
She hugs me warmly and I feel a kind of euphoria building up within me which is indescribable. I want to scream and shout that I have done what I was intended to do. Save a life! I want to break into a celebratory jig.
" Excellent presence of mind...you did what I would have done had I been here...commendable indeed...and Dr Mallika is going to be one happy Mummy when she wakes up...I want her to have a scan once she has regained consciousness. Why don't you bring her yourself for an ultrasound when she is ready...am sure you will be just as eager to meet the first life that you saved!"
She pats me on my back and walks out.
I am in a daze. It all seems so unreal! What kind of twisted fate is this?
I feel a hand take hold of my wrist. I look down to see that Dr Mallika is awake.
"Don't worry, Dr Mallika...the baby's fine!"
She gives me a weak smile.
"I know!"
She knows? Is this some maternal instinct?
"With you by my side and helping me, how could my baby come to any harm? I came to you because I knew only you could save my baby!"
I don't know what to say!
"I know what I have done to you is beyond pardon. But can you forgive me, Nidhi...please...if not for this unfortunate mother, then for this baby that you have just helped save?"
"Dr Mallika, it is okay...it is all forgotten...let us not even talk about it!"
"No Nidhi...let me speak...for the last time if you will...I don't want to explain my actions...they cannot be explained...I wronged you and a lifetime of penitence will not take that away...but can you please forgive me..this child was not conceived in love but in hatred...and yet I love it beyond my breath...I want to give it all I can...and the first thing I want to do is ensure that it is born guilt free...free of the burden of sin...and while it's mother is weighted down by the burden of her sins, how can this child be sin free...please Nidhi, you have just given my baby a new lease of life...give it this blessing too!"
My eyes fill with tears. How strange are the ways of God? That he should make two women, who were once the greatest of adversaries, be connected again through an unborn life. A life that one carried and the other helped save.
I place my hand on her belly.
"Baby, I bless you with all the happiness this world holds. I bless you with peace. I bless you with everything in me. Baby, you are already blessed with a good Mumma. You mean the world to her and she will take on the world for you. But baby, if your mother is willing, I would like the privilege of being your godmother from now!"
Tears are flowing down Dr Mallika's cheeks. She beckons me to her. I bend down and she takes me into her arms and kisses my forehead. Our tears mingle as one.
"Enough now, Mama...my godchild will fall sick if the two of us cry so much over it...come on now, let's go..!"
"Where are we going?"
"To meet life!"
Bhabhi Ji Ghar Pe Hain?
