A to Z Series Post # 24 : X - Rays, and eXcitement later.....

Arun was already there at the hospital when I reached an hour later . Christina, Mahita’s colleague from the IT dept. was also there.

Mahita was in the ICU . I and Arun went to meet the doctor who was treating her,  Dr Shravan Patel, the Head-in-charge of the  Cardiology Dept.

I knew Dr Shravan before, as he was Kamini’s boss before she specialized and moved to the Women’s Health Department. I told him I was Kamini’s husband, and he instantly warmed up.

“ Kamini, yeah, I know her. She’s with the Gyneacs, now, isn’t she ? Blessed woman, a real angel among the nurses,” he said. I smiled.

I introduced Arun also, and told him we were  Mahita’s colleagues.

“What’s with Mahita, Doctor ? We would like to know because we have to help her with the Insurance procedures, “ Arun said.

“ She’s alone here, so….”, I added.

“Yes,I understand. She’s fine now. Just fatigue, probably lack of sleep. She’s currently under mild sedatives. We just thought of getting her Chest X-Rays, and  ECG done, you see. Just a precaution,” he said.

I was relieved. But why ECG ?

“ She already has a weak heart. She shouldn’t have stayed awake late into the night. That affects her easily,” he continued.

A weak heart ? I looked at Arun, he was looking at me in confusion.

“ I know you don’t know that. But I must tell you this at least now, that she’s not a very healthy person. Her heart is very weak, and she can’t take a lot of tensions.  There’s no specific reason why this should happen. This is her biological condition. ” he said, trying to tone down the unpleasantness of it. “She’s had this for almost five years now. And I’ve been treating her ever since she’s been here , in  the UAE,” he added.  

We looked at him in silence.

“But as long as she takes her medicines correctly, and as long as she maintains her diet and light exercise, and sleeps well, she will be fine. Just an extra care is needed, “ he said, helpfully.

We nodded in understanding.

“ We’ll just keep her here for two days, and she can then go home, after our usual rounds of check-up,” Dr Shravan offered.

We thanked him and walked out of the room.

Arun, along with Christina, went back to the office, so that he could take up Mahita’s Medical Insurance issues with the HR, and I stayed back and rang up Kamini’s department from the common telephone in the nurses’ room. They informed me she was in the operation theatre, assisting with some C-Section.

In ten minutes, she called back, surprised that I was there at the hospital. "Are you ok, Vinod ? Are you sick or something?" she asked.

I informed her that a colleague had been admitted there, and I had come to visit her.

“What’s the name of the patient?”, she asked. Typical Nurse, she is, I thought. 

“Mahita. Mahita Varma,” I said.

She remained silent for a moment. Then she said, “ I’m free for the next couple of hours. Shall I come over ? I will get permission, if I ask”.

I said, “ Yes, please do, only if you can”.

She reached the Dept of Cardiology in five minutes, and in the next five, she’d met Dr Shravan and got the details.

“ Vinod, I can stay here for some time. I've made arrangements with my Dept. Could you please do something about her son ? He’s at school,” she said.

That was when I thought of Sanju. It was  3.15 PM, and Sanju’s school would be over by 4. We had to do something about him. It was a good one hour’s drive, considering the traffic and the signals.

But how did Kamini know about Mahita’s son ?  I looked at Kamini with the question.

“ Dr Shravan just now mentioned to me, “ she said, “He has actually spoken to the Principal of the school and told her to keep the child there, and not to send him in the school bus. It would be nice if you could pick him up”.

I appreciated Dr Shravan, in my mind.

“ Yes, I know his school. I’ll go pick him up,” I said.

It was close to 5 P.M when I finally reached the school, because I had to take a long route as some construction work was going on along the road that I'd initially planned to take . Sanju was sitting in the Principal’s room, reading a story book. He was happy to see me, and came with me without a question. I thanked the Principal, after answering her queries about Mahita, and drove back.

“ Uncle, Mamma in hospital?,” he asked on our way.

“ Yes,  Sanju. But she’ll be back tomorrow, don’t worry dear,” I said.

“It’s ok. I know. She’s very strong,” he said, flexing his muscles like a wrestler.

I laughed.

“ But I’m hungry. I want to eat something, I want to sleep, ” he said, his face drooping innocently.

Poor kid. He must be starving, I never thought of that , so stupid of me, I thought.

“ Arey, we’ll reach now na. We’ll have something and then go to see your mamma,” I said.

“ Thank you, Uncle. I want veg-cheese-grilled-sandwich,” he said, sat back and grinned wide.

I looked at his innocent face. I didn’t want to tell him anything that would spoil his mood.

“ Shhh, Uncle. It’s so boring, no songs in your car.  Play this na,” he said again, brandishing a CD in his right hand.

“ Hey, what’s this ? You’re taking all this to school?”, I asked in mock anger.

“ No, No…I didn’t take it. Yesterday I was cleaning the study table so this was there and my bag was near ,so I put it inside. I forgot to take it out in the morning before going to school,” he made a sweet sorry face.

“ Hmm…. That’s fine,” I said as I inserted the CD in the slot.

The song that filled the car was melodious, and I was sure I’d heard the tune before.

Lalla Lalla Lori, doodh ki katori. A song, from an old hindi movie, released somewhere in the late 1970’s. Lata Mangeshkar had sung the female version of the song in that movie, I remembered now.

But I’d heard that tune very recently. From somewhere around me.

It became clear to me an instant later and I felt a wave of surprise surge through me, throwing me into pure confusion.

It wasn’t Lata’s voice that was singing the song for us.

It was entirely different  ; as soothing and as pleasant as a cool breeze on a hot evening.

And no, I wasn’t wrong with my conclusion this time.

It was Kamini’s voice in all its purity, serenity and tranquility.

And this was the tune I'd heard her hum sometimes at home, while she did something in the kitchen.

I looked at Sanju, he was nodding his heads to the rhythm . He looked at me and smiled, and I smiled back.

“Yeh aapki mamma ne gaya hai?”, I asked him, casually, to see his reaction .

“Nahi nahi,  Vinod aunty ne,” he said.

“ Vinod aunty ? Who’s that?,” I tried to sound casual , but my voice was trembling in nervous excitement.

“ Off oh, Uncle, jaise aapka naam Vinod uncle hai, her name is Vinod aunty,” he said, keeping his hands dramatically on his head.

I was now deeper in my confusion.

What did he mean by that ? Did he know her or did he not ? And how did the connection happen ?

More importantly, what was the connection ?

To be contd....
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Linking this to A toZ 2014 and the Ultimate Blogging Challenge.