Short Story #4: Ki and Ka - just friends!

12.24 am Her mobile beeped.

She grabbed her mobile before getting on to her bed. She has had a long beautiful day. Yawning almost aloud, she read the messages.

It was a message from her new friend at work.

She scrolled to the older messages and she smiled reading (for the tenth time today) ‘You are one of the nicest people I know. I want extraordinarily great things to happen to you’.

‘Very sweet guy’, she thought. Since day one.

They exchanged a few messages for the next ten minutes -randomly, about work, life and philosophy. It brought them to one common favorite point. Poems.

He loved to read poems.

She loved to write poems.

12.34am ‘You didn’t read the poems in my old blog, did you?’, she asked.

‘Uh, no. I would love to read them. Send me the link of the blog, I’ll save your poems’, he said.

‘That’s very kind of you’, she replied.

‘Hey …want me to write a poem about you? J’, she asked, excitedly.

Two minutes and then her mobile beeped.

12.37am  ‘About me? Very funny!’, said he.

She put the lights off and got into the comfortable warmth of her duvet.

12.42am ‘Say yes or no. Should I write about you?’, she asked.

 ‘Ha ha..why would I mind?! But you don’t know me yet’, he replied.

True. It has been less than 3 months since they have known each other. They met once in a week at work, a few messages every now and then. She knew nothing about him. But she thought he was a nice guy and she believed it. A friend she trusted blindly.

12.49am

From what seems like miles away,

Daggers follow stares,

From the eyes where smiles live,

The eyes that helps new dreams be born,

Tall and manly,

The beard just ancillary,

To the handsome lad,

Who is a man of few words,

Few but precious each of them.

He absorbs silence,

He freezes time,

He melts hearts with what he says,

For he wishes well, I am sure.

He thinks I don’t know him yet,

I don’t care I know what I know,

He is a great friend, I am sure, 

What else do I need to know?

We all are what we show people we are,

Some are what they don’t show,

If that maketh the man, why not.

Here I am,

Watching the moon go yellow,

Writing to him.

P.S. I’m NOT hitting on you.

P.S again: This is what I could write in 3 minutes, you boy.

12.51am WHAAAAATTTTT?!! OH MY GODDD!! Freak!!, he replied, ‘Don’t make me cry’.

‘Hahahahahah… Chill, buddy’, she assured.

‘It is just that I am happy..’, he said.

She giggled at how innocently sweet he was.

Another message from him: ’No, wait.. “happy” is an understatement. Whatever you wrote about me, it might be true, though I wouldn’t care if it wasn’t.., but it was beautiful’

‘Hahahah.. so humble? J ..  It is true that I know so little about you, I don’t remember asking any questions to know about you… though I have told you so many stories about my life!’, she said.

‘But it is never too late to start knowing about you’, she said, almost immediately.

1.19am.:'Thanks a ton! I don’t know what to say!’, he said

1.20am: Stop thanking me, will meet you tomorrow J Good night, friend.

1.21 am: Good night J

And that is how one of the strongest friendships began.

Short Story #3: Choices, if any.

6^th April 2016: Shraddha had butterflies in her stomach. Right after her 28^th birthday last week, she had skipped a period and she knew what it meant. She smiled as she held her Preg Kit result showing two small red lines. She has been planning this for a while now; it has been 3 years since she got married to Abhay.

She, excitedly, called her husband who was at work, ‘Abhay.. Guess what?’

‘Hmm-hmm?’,  Abhay replied, lost in some work, ‘Anything urgent, jaan?’

‘I’m pregnant.. I’m pregnant..’, she chirped happily while Abhay laughed in joy.

After 10 minutes of sweet nothings with loads of excitement, she hung up.

She wished she could meet her family doctor, who was away with her kids in the US for the vacation.

She logged on to Practo and surfed for gynaecologists close to where she lived.  Too many options, too hard to choose, she thought.

‘Umm..Andheri East.. Friday.. 6pm to 8 pm..’, she mumbled, as she read the profiles and reviews of the doctors, and went on to click a few more options to make her appointment.

She installed 4 different apps that would give her all the information about pregnancy, safety tips, nutrition advices, tests to be made, packages from hospitals for maternity services, shop for maternity wear and all that she would ever need for the next 9 months. 

She was very excited about this. She was going to be a mother.

6^th April 2016: Indira walked the 3 miles back home. She couldn’t work much today, it was exhausting her. She had been nauseous all morning, like she has been in the past 4 days. She could feel a little bump in her belly and she feared she knew what it was. The 21-year old was married for a little more than 3 months now, the exact three months when she hasn’t had her periods. She hoped it was normal, as she hadn’t had regular menstruation in two years now. Saves a lot of discomfort, she always thought.

She confided in her neighbour Pushpa about this, who listened patiently even as she dried the clothes on the wall one after another, shooing a cow away from there.

‘Pushpa didi..what do I do now?’, asked Indira, worriedly.

‘Don’t worry.. I’ll be going to the (District) hospital next month.. Come with me, we’ll meet the doctor’, assured Pushpa.

Indira told her husband and mother-in-law about it that evening.

She had to wait one whole month before she could meet a doctor and get it confirmed. She was anxious. She also knew that the nearest health facility (District Hospital) was over 120 km away. There was only one Prathmik Swasthya Kendra for the 62 neighbouring villages, and the centre didn’t have a doctor for 10 years now.

She wished she knew more about what she had to when pregnant. She wished she could go to her mother’s place (village) sooner than she should.  

‘We also had 8-9 kids.. we never went to hospital, we never had any tests done.. don’t get influenced by what others say..’, she could hear her mother-in-law crib.

A hundred thoughts ran in her mind. She remembered how a pregnant woman in her village recently had died waiting to deliver, because it took the ambulance 3 hours to reach her village. Of course, this is why most women delivered at home, she thought. 

She was scared. She was going to be a mother.