They considered the matter of her confinement and decided that she would be better off at her mother's house in Chennai for
The Other Side
155 her delivery. Bhagyalakshmi was initially reluctant to go away for such a long duration but Swaminathan managed to convince her only after promising to visit her in Chennai frequently. Thus she was back at her parent's Besant Nagar residence and the sudden exposure to the metro-life around her didn't seem much welcoming to her senses. Surprisingly, she neither missed her husband nor her house all that much. Swaminathan visited her every alternative weekend. On his last visit, Bhagyalakshmi had hesitantly asked him if he had noticed any abnormal activity in their house and he had smiled.
“It's all in the mind, dear. Honestly, the bungalow is as normal as possible,” he had said.
Swaminathan chafed with impatience as the taxi was struck in the rush hour traffic. He looked at his watch and realised that they had been stuck at that particular juncture for well over twenty minutes. He had rushed to Chennai the moment he had heard that his wife had been admitted in New Asian Hospital for her delivery. But traveling to Kochi, and then catching a flight to Chennai had been a cumbersome affair and now this traffic was not helping his cause. The moment he landed in Chennai, he had called Bhagyalakshmi on her mobile. His mother-in-law had picked up the phone and told him that the operation was still on. Swaminathan was nervous; he knew that he would become a father soon. In his nervousness though he had not forgotten to thank the Goddess; whose blessings, he believed, were instrumental in bringing about this magical moment in their lives. He wanted to just fly over the traffic and rush to the Hospital to hold Bhagya and their offspring in his arms.
“My child!” He thought and his face broke into a nervous
smile. He wondered how the child would look. Would it inherit its father's swarthy complexion and straight hair or would providence be kind and give it his mother's delicate features, wheatish complexion, curly hair and narrow black eyes? He imagined holding the baby in his arms with Bhagyalakshmi looking proudly at both of them.
His reverie was interrupted as the taxi rolled to a stop outside the hospital. He paid the driver in a hurry and rushed inside, not even waiting to collect the change. He found his mother-in-law waiting outside the room. Her eyes lit up the moment he saw him.
“Ah, there you are. We all have been waiting for you. Congratulations, Bhagya has been blessed with a beautiful baby boy!” his mother-in-law exclaimed, hardly able to conceal her joy.
Five years later. Bhagyalakshmi swung lazily on the swing while enjoying the mellow breeze. The rays of the setting sun bathed the entire vista with an orange hue. The old gardener pottered about, attending to minor tasks. ‘He is not so grumpy now,’ she thought. ‘In fact he has brightened up considerably and talks to Surya for hours.’
She heard a patter of little feet and saw her son Surya running behind a ball that disappeared behind the thick bushes. She stood up and went to fetch it for him.
“Don't go there. There is a King Cobra in the flowerbed,” Surya whispered. She froze once more at the mention of the snake, a distant memory tickling her brain and then she looked at her son. He looked so adorable with his fair complexion, blond hair and blue eyes.
“Everybody is a book of blood; wherever we're opened, we're red.” ¯Clive Barker
Red Bangles
Inever knew the meaning of love until the day I saw her. I was in school, an awkward and shy, stay in the background kind of teenager. Seeing her walk into the class hugging a stack of books to her chest, unsure about herself yet looking every bit like the angel she was, I fell in love.
She was fair, almost my height and walked elegantly with those thin deer-like legs that the school skirt did little to hide. She sat two rows behind me and I still remember turning back now and then on any given pretext just to catch a glimpse of her. A glimpse that would keep me going for the entire day.
“Students, this is your new classmate, Arti Sharma from Dehradun. She will now be studying with you. So everyone say 'Hello' to Arti,” our class teacher, Ms. Gonsalves introduced her and everyone except me had responded with a 'Hello Arti' in their singsong voice. I was too busy relishing the aura of her nervous smile warming my insides.
Try as I might, I never had the gumption to approach her for small talk as she had a large girl gang and was the cynosure of all eyes. Three years later, we passed out from school, I was dejected. Even though I had topped the board exams, I was distraught considering the fact that I would not get to see Arti again.
A pleasant surprise awaited me when I joined junior college a couple of months later. Arti had joined the same college! It was perhaps a divine sign, showing support towards my feelings. We had opted for the Science stream and were the only two students from our school to study in that college until Samit came along. Samit and Arti had been friends since she had taken admission in school and I remembered the burning sensation in my heart every time I saw them together.