“Bhabhi! Bhabhi!” Neil barged into the house like a whirlwind.
Manjari came out of the kitchen grinning, “You used to come home calling out, ma ma before. And now it’s bhabhi?”
“Ma, where’s Akshu bhabhi?” he asked, for once completely ignoring Manjari’s teasing comment.
“She just came back from her NGO and went up to their room to freshen up. Arre sunn toh! Kya hua?” she yelled as Neil didn’t stop to hear more and bounded up the stairs.
Akshara came out of the bathroom freshly showered, dressed in a simple cream-maroon sari. She wore dresses and jeans to work but when at home and when the mood struck her, she wore saris. And today was one such day. She would go down and see if maa needed any help in the kitchen, she thought, adjusting her bindi. Her hair was still pinned up in a haphazard knot behind her head.
“Bhabhi! Akshu bhabhi!” Neil knocked and kept knocking.
Akshara opened the door, her forehead already wrinkled in a frown. “What happened Neil?”
“Bro got into a fight at the hospital,” he blurted like he couldn’t keep it inside himself anymore.
“Fight? What fight? Is he OK? Where is he?” Akshara looked beyond Neil, searching for her husband.
“At the hospital. One of the patients delivered a baby girl and the lady’s husband made all tamasha that it’s not a boy. Bhai intervened and…”
“OK. Is he hurt?”
“Arre, that guy has been admitted now. Tauji and some other doctor are treating him. Ek do fractures hue hain lagta hain!”
Akshara shook her head irritably. “Not that guy. Uski kisko padi hain? I’m asking about Abhi. Is your bro hurt?”
“Bruised knuckles.” Akshara strode past Neil with him tagging along, talking. “But sir and tauji taiji are very angry and upset with bro. There were some news channel people over there and…”
“Did he put some ice? Are they swollen? Are there any other injuries?”
Neil felt like he was having a parallel conversation with his bhabhi. “No. No other injuries. But bhabhi, are you even listening? I’m talking about everyone being mad at bhai.” He held on to her arm as she began going down the stairs at a rapid clip. His bro would have his hide if bhabhi tripped under his watch.
“Where is he now? Still at the hospital?”
“No. He is on his way home. I didn’t want him to drive his bike so got him into the car with the driver and I brought his bike home.”
Akshara halted and turned towards Neil with so much affection in her eyes that Neil felt surrounded by it. “You are the best brother Abhi could ever have, you do know that, right?”
His cheeks turned pink but he grinned. “Of course. I’m the best jugad brother bro could ever…”
“And my bestest friend,” she completed.
For once, Neil couldn’t give a flippant reply. All he could do was smile and smile and smile with so much joy that he was sure he was walking a few feet above the ground.
“Now, go and divert ma so that she doesn’t panic.”
“She said she had to go somewhere. I’ll take her,” he replied in a low tone. “Par aap please yaha sambhal lena because whenever bhai and sir clash, it becomes a huge tamasha.”
Akshara nodded and waited until Neil practically hustle ma out to wherever she wanted to go after giving her a thumbs up before going into the kitchen to get some turmeric milk ready. Sure enough, she heard the car screech to a halt just as she was pouring the milk in the glass. Quickly taking out the ice pack from the fridge, she wrapped it in a cloth. Armed with supplies, she came out of the kitchen in time to see Abhi aiming for the stairs.
“Abhi!”
His feet halted like someone gave him a swift tug from behind. He had been hoping his Akshu was still at work and would be spared all that was going to explode in a few minutes but luck just wasn’t with him today. Left with no choice, he pasted a smile and turned. “Hey, when did you come?” Then he saw what she was holding in both her hands and sighed. Neil! His brother had a loud mouth. Now she’d fret and cry…
Akshara just stood there waiting for him to come to her. And he did. She silently gestured him to sit on the couch. He did. She made sure he held the glass in his left hand before crouching in front of him, gently placing the ice pack on his swollen right knuckles. He quickly controlled his wince. Maybe he should’ve taken a painkiller, he thought to himself. He would, once he reached his room.
“Arre, it’s fine Akshu. Nothing happened.”
“Yes, I can see that absolutely nothing happened.” Her eyes held more pain than he was experiencing. “Look, I’m not saying you should stay out in that situation but you have be careful about yourself too, right? This is the hand with which you operate. Think of how many lives you save almost on a daily basis. What if something serious happened and you hurt yourself real bad?” And just like that, her eyes turned firm and serious. “You’d better be careful from now on, Dr Abhimanyu Birla. If not for yourself and me then for all those people depending on you to heal them. Is that understood?” Abhi grinned at her order. “What? Stop with that goofy grin and drink that milk.”
“Your wish is my command, my gharelu doctor!”
He had just placed the empty glass on the side table when he heard the sound of one more car and next minute, Harsh, Anand and Mahima piled into the room. Or rather, marched into the room.
“What the hell is this, Abhimanyu?” Harsh snapped the minute he came within a few feet of where Abhi was sitting. Abhi’s face was wiped clean of all expression. “Every damn day is a drama day with you! I keep struggling to make Birla hospital a household name and you just wipe it all off with one act of yours.”
“Yes, Abhimanyu! What you did today, you shouldn’t have done!” Anand added in a slightly softer but no less firm tone. “That guy has sustained a lot of injuries. There was a crack in his jaw, one tooth broke and shoulder dislocation.”
“Can you imagine what it took me to calm him down and not report to the police?” Harsh took over once again.
“Abhimanyu, you’re not a teenager with hormonal issues anymore. You’re a doctor,” Mahima blustered. “Why can’t you think before you act? How can you…”
“That’s just it bhabhi! He never thinks. He just does whatever he feels like doing and damn the rest of us all! Abhimanyu, I’m telling you, one day…”
“I’m proud of him!” Akshara’s clear, firm words silenced everyone.
“What?” Harsh frowned in furious bewilderment.
Akshara stood up from her crouched position and came forward, shielding Abhimanyu from their view by standing between him and the rest. “I’m proud of of him and what he did today.”
“Oh! You’re proud!” Harsh scoffed. “Do you know the tamasha he did today?”
Abhi opened his mouth but he never got a chance to get a word in edgewise. His wife bet him to it. “It was not a tamasha. He did what he did…”
“Tum chup hi raho toh behtar hoga, Akshara,” Mahima snapped.
“But why? You’re all saying what he did is wrong. All I’m saying is no he didn’t.”
“These days we don’t need special reporters and cameras, Mrs Akshara Birla,” Harsh interjected. “All we need is a nosy person with a camera and everything is viral in the next 10 minutes. Along with the headlines and commentary on how Birla hospital’s notable doctor boxed a patient’s attendant and broke his jaw.”
Abhi opened his mouth again but he didn’t get the chance to speak. Again. “Attendant ko maara. Patient ko nahi.” Akshara countered. “And that guy is no attendant. He is a monster who would’ve harmed his own child and the woman who had just undergone an extremely painful birth process. He is no attendant.”
“Who cares?” Harsh countered. “People watching the video won’t give a damn!”
“I’m sure you can make sure they listen, know and give a damn, right?” Akshara argued back. Abhi felt like he was a ball in a tennis match between Harsh and Akshara. She didn’t yell or shout or cry. No, his wife used the same soft tone. The only difference was now it had a layer of steel underlying her words. “Some kind of press release stating how Birla’s notable doctor saved the patient’s life from her violent, abusive husband who would’ve killed a newborn baby. Right?”
And she tagged it with a warm smile. Abhi had never hero-worshiped anyone in his life. Not even as a kid. But admiration for his wife filled every pore of his being in that moment.
“Anything we say now will sound like an excuse,” Harsh yelled, almost at the end of his patience. Oh it was so much easier to shout at Manjari or even Abhimanyu. The worst his son could do was break a few glasses or chairs. But this girl! Urrggh!
That stalled Akshara but for barely a few seconds. Then her eyes lit up. “Not if you talk about girl child and how the hospital won’t tolerate or support any discrimination…aisa kuch?”
She sounded so pleased with herself to have come up with the idea that an involuntary chuckle almost escaped Abhi which he quickly turned into a cough.
“OK, let us assume Harsh handles that,” Anand accepted. “But look at his hand, Akshara! What if he had caused some kind of permanent damage to it? You know how important that hand is!”
“Ji. And he knows it too. You know him better than me. He says you’re his teacher. So you know he would never do anything to jeopardize the lives of patients dependent on him.”
Harsh threw up his hands, Mahima looked up as if expecting some kind of divine intervention and Anand let out a defeated sigh.
Akshara went back to her crouching position in front of Abhi and checked his hand once again. “Yes, swelling has gone down,” she smiled looking at his fingers, relieved, completely missing the look of absolute adoration in his eyes. “You’ll need to drink another glass of haldi doodh before going to bed tonight.” She adjusted the ice pack once again. “And keep that on for some more time,” she ordered.
“Ji doctor,” he let the grin he’d been holding back slip free.
Akshara waited until Abhi went up the stairs and disappeared from the view. “Papa, shall I get you your tea? Tai ji, tau ji?”
They nodded reluctantly. Mahima waited until Akshara was out of earshot before muttering, “Ever heard the term, meeti churi, Harsh? You got yourself a meeti churi as your daughter-in-law. Enjoy!”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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