SS: Lamhe {updt Prt 05/Pg-16} - Page 4

She sat under the huge kadam tree.sunshine warmed her. And the hint of breeze kissed her skin.she was awestruck by the beauty this garden holds. The sweet fragrance and colourful flowers were enchanting to ones eye.she heard faint sound of laughter coming frm the other end of the garden she smiled with contentment. She started to walk towards the direction from where she could here laughter. She saw a swing tied to the branch a huge tree at the bank of the river. As she walked further she saw two figures. A little figure and another of a man whose back facing her. Giggling and laughter was in the air just then the rope loosened and they were screams. her wrld crashed down.

She felt pain.the tiny explosion that went behind those hazel eyes.the combustion of intense pain which was a sign of her return to consciousness.parting her swollen eyelids was agony. She tried anyway.

Tears roll down bruised skin with her effort.yet she didn't quit. It was first step in the difficult journey ahead.

She somehow managed to crack them into barest slits.but the wrld was blurry.soon tendrils of white lights met her eyes. It was too much for her to handle. Her brain exploded with intense pain. Causing her to shuts her eye reflexively.

Her eyes closed. She registered the noises of respirator,heart monitor and other equipments she was attached to.blood rushed to her ears blocking away everything other than .Pain.

Pain in her limbs,neck,chest,ribs..every muscle ,every fibre.it was spreading through her entire body .eating away her flesh and bones. She willed her body to die .and give up .end the sufferings.

More tears swelled. She prayed for nothing else but death . that pain was unbearable.but something within her refused to yield to defeat. The natural instinct within her wouldn't let her die.

And she braved her effort again wrenching open her eye lids.ignoring the dzzying pain it came with.she could feel the shift in her spine .heaviness in her legs tingling in her fingertips.

She pushed pain the back of her brain.and questions clogged her mind

What happened to her?

Where was she?

Why was she in such pain ?

And above all

Why does she feel incomplete like a part of her has been cut off?

She immediately inspected her limbs which were fine but bandaged.

._--------------------------------------

Sanskar stood at bank of river ganga. Which happened to be their fav place. Where they had spend quality time together. Away frm wrld,conspiracies,noises. It was them and the serenity. There happy times played right in front of his eyes like a movie. How swara was carefree around him. How she found happiness in little things. How she wanted him to tie a swing to the tree on the bank of the same river. And the craziest of all she wanted to jump in the river in the month of December.

He laughed at the memories they made together.tears pricked his eyes.he just closed his eyes to take them in.that is wat gotten him this far.

His phone rang tearing the silence.

"Hello?"

"What? I will be there in 2 mins"

"Nonsense I will be fine nd drive carefully"

He smiled looking up at the sky.

He reached hospital in record time. Ignoring speed limits and every other thing.he was a bundle of emotions right now anxiety,happiness,fear,restless. He ran towards the particular block where he spent last 2 n half months of life.

He was panting heavily by the time he reached

"Maa"

Shomi ran to him with tears in her eyes

"She's awake sanskar ..she's awake"

They both shared a happy moment

"Maa can I meet her?"

"Doctors are checking her..we need to wait..u prayers worked sanskar.. God can't be cruel to take her away from u"

He paced in the corridor.waiting for doctors to say anything. Leave alone he wanted to meet his shona.

Maheshwari and gadodias were informed about the same. But they couldn't come down citing to visiting hours. It was 4 in the morning when doctors finally a gave a nod for them to meet her.

Shomi pushed sanskar to go ahead.

Sanskar walked into well lighted room

But due to medication swara was fast asleep. He walked towards her sleeping self. Who looked fragile and delicate. Bandages still covered her. The bruises on her face finally healing. He slightly touched her face not disturb her or touch her bruise which still look pretty bad.

"Sanskar ko jeena sikha diya..phir tanha bhi chod..that was very unfair of u Mrs maheshwari."

"Har din ..har pal tumhara intezar kiya hai.. Tum thi par bhi tum nhi thi..aise saza dobara na seh paonga."

"Main tadapta tha ..wo pal dobara jeene k liye jab main tumhare liye srf dost tha par tum meri zindagi ban gayi thi...mere paas thi"

"I told u already..main tumhare bina jee nhi sakta.tum wajah ho mere jeene.humare jeene."

" Our lil angel she is still fighting to survive.we both need u".

All those tears which he kept within himself were rolled down. Sanskar can only be vulnerable infront of his swara.

He unwilling left the room giving shomi n shekar the to meet their daughter.

He walked towards the paediatric ward. The nurse on the night duty allowed him as he was always here .he walked towards the incubator . his little angle was wide awake. Looks like this little missy knew her father would come to meet her.she looked up at him with big doe like hazel eyes. Which she inherited from her mother.she was pink like candy floss.too delicate to touch.her body looked too tiny for this incubator. She cooed trying to get his attention.again something inherited from her mother.he smiled at her cupping her tiny face in hands which looked abnormally large in front of her.she took his little finger in her hands and started playing making cutest noises.how he wanted to take her in his arms but couldn't all thanks to monstrous large equipments she was attached to..he bend down kissed her forehead.he looked at corner of incubator where a blue dupatta was laid . he remembered the day after her birth . there were very less chances of her survival. And she wouldn't reciprocate any medication. Heck she tried finding the same warmth she was used to . sanskar and family tried every other possible means which didn't wrk.finally sanskar brought the blue dupatta. A child finds her mother with her essence. That's wat this little angle did. She found warmth in her mothers dupatta. Frm DAT day it has been with her.she played with it. Cried clutching it and laughed whole heartedly clutching it. Sanskar always felt helpless watching her little gal trying to survive everyday with just her mothers essence n father's. Presence she gave him the strength to fight this. Strength to survive this.

Next morning. Everyone was eagerly waiting for her to wake up. Sanskar didn't slept a wink. Well that wasn't new to him he survived with Max 5 hrs sleep everyday for past 2n half months.

When the nurse announced she was awake all rushed to the room.

She smiled at her parents and tried to get up .but due to her fractured elbows she had to take help.

Sanskar felt it was a dream.he had his eyes only for her .it didn't go unnoticed how she flinched even at touch. She was in terrible pain .her lips cracked.he wanted to run help her take away all her pain. But it was not in his hands.

"Maa" she croaked in a hoarse voice.

Tears rolled down her eyes. It took a lot of effort for her to speak.

Shomi ran to her . but stopped herself not wanting to hurt her daughter any further.

Shomi slightly cupped her face in her hands

"Shona"

"No...tears ...maa"

"Mera baccha ..mera shona..u don't ever do that to your mother again..."

Swara nodded no.

"Bahut sataya na sorry..nurse filled me in about my long slumber"

"U almost killed us"

"Shh maa dnt say DAT..."

"Baba" shekar came to her side

"Swara we really love you"

"I know baba" more tears rolled down her eyes. It was a perfect family moment bothe her maa n baba hugging her

Dadi and dida hugged each other and cried in happiness.

"See maa baba my deep slumber brought them together again"

"Woh kahan hai?"

Sanskar's heart skipped a beat

Shomi was about to reply

"Maa ragini kahan hai ? Main yahan jaag gayi woh abhi tak yahan nahi hai"

Everyone around were surprised and shocked. The first person she wanted to meet was ragini ?

"Shona... Ra..ragini?"

"Haan maa. Finally we are a happy family only ragini is missing"

This again preplexed everyone.

Sanskar fears came back.

"Sh..shona..wo ragini wo.." Shomi was confused like hell she didn't knw wat to say.

She looked back at sanskar who stood in the corner of the room. His eyes conveying pain and fear.

"M so happy dadi accepted you. Wer is ragini MA? See even maheshwari are here.."

Everyone were shocked.

"Shona wo ragini.."

Doctor who clearly understood the situation intervened.

"Mr n Mrs gadodia can u plz move a side I need to do regular check"

He asked everyone to leave . shomi nd shekar requested to let thm stay sanskar didn't move while everyone left

Doctor checked her after which he started the routine questioning

"Any pain?"

"I feel terrible in my whole body"

"Does your head hurts?"

"It hurts. Very bad"

"Can u see clearly ?"

"Yes"

"Hear properly?"

"Yes"

"Talk?"

"My throat hurts ..nd my tongue seems quiet swollen "

"Year"

"2015"

"Name?"

"Swara Bose...sry swara Bose gadodia"

This shocked them

"Age"

"22"

"Where do you live?"

"Kali badi"

"What caused the accident?"

"I dnt remember much"

"What's the last thing u remember?"

"My family is completed. Happiness..swaragini"

"Anything else u remember?"

"Ragini's engagement, laksh"

It was like huge blow to sanskar .some one had just poured ice cold water over him

Before he could react he heard her cry in pain.

Her head hurts due to all mental questions being asked.

Nurse gave her sedatives. And put her to rest.

Doctor silently walked out with them

"This is something I feared"

"Wat happened doctor ..swara ..why dsnt dsnt remember a whole year of her life" cried shomi

"Mrs gadodia. It's very uncommon for coma patient to wake up perfectly fine.the case with Mrs .maheshwari isn't different"

"Many patient forgets their whole life even after a day in coma be medically induced one aswell"

"Mrs maheshwari forgot half of her live . "

"Amnesia?" Mumbled sanskar

"Amnesia are of different kinds. What Mrs maheshwari is going through is

Psychogenic amnesia, also known asfunctional amnesia amnesia amnesia amnesia or dissociative amnesia, is a disorder characterized by abnormal memory functioning in the absence of structural brain damage . It results from the effects of severe stress or psychological trauma on the brain, rather than from any physical or physiological cause. It is often considered to be equivalent to repressed memory syndrome..

this psychogenic amnesia is an act of self-preservation, where the patient might be overwhelming anxiety or even suicide. Unpleasant, unwanted or psychologically dangerous memories are repressed or blocked from entering the consciousness as a kind of subconscious self-censorship, but they remain in the unconscious. Neurologically, normal autobiographical memory processing is blocked by an imbalance of stress hormones such as glucocorticoids and mineralocorticoidsin the brain, particularly in the regions of the limbic system involved in memory processing."

"Will she ever remember ?"asked a defeated sanskar

"It's as hard to predict anything. Such repressed memories may be recovered spontaneously, years or decades after the event, triggered by a particular smell, taste or other identifier. Because it is due to psychological rather than physiological causes, psychogenic amnesia can also sometimes be helped by therapy. Repressed memories may be accessed by psychotherapy, hypnotism .but I personally suggest u against it. Mrs .maheshwari isn't in the condition to go through mental pain.we could try psychotherapy when she is physically and mentally strong enough to accept it..and also be careful around her. Stress isnt gud for her.I suggest you all to be silent about this whole amnesia.let's hope for the best"

His hope..came crashing down.

He walked away like a lifeless person

"Sanskar"

"Main thik hoon bade papa..I'll go check my lil angel"

He walked towards the emergency exit

"Tears blurred his vision.he clenched his hand in fist..he wanted to scream out his pain."

He sat there for gud time,when he was brought back with his phone ringing

Seeing the caller ID he ran towards paediatrics block.

Where he was said his baby was finally improving ..now she could breath without equipments. But she still needs lil more time to get used to breath without equipments.

That day for the first time he was allowed to take her in his arms. He took her in his arms and the tears never stopped.