Beginning Of A New Journey

In perfect sync with an old saying-"The end of one thing is only the beginning of another", I was about to end my 9 month tenure inside my mother's womb to begin one outside. Although I would be saved from the effort and pain which always precedes any achievement as my mother's achievement of delivering a baby would outshine mine. It is thus ideal that she gets to feel more pain than me, which she eventually did.

Her bout of labor pains would begin to grow longer and intense at around 3 am. My father would then wake up my dadee and all three decided to call up doctor at around 7am. It's time to head to hospital and we all (my dada-dadee and parents) were in hospital by 8am. Dr auntie arrived and so did Umang uncle. My mother was administered some medicines and put under observation for a normal delivery.

My father would then tell my dadee that it is a girl as my heartbeat is in the higher bracket of 130-170 range. My Veda bua had conveyed this from her own experience of delivering 4 kids.

And, my mom was anxiously waiting for her turn. But God had different plans for my mother as my heartbeat would fall to an alarmingly low levels of 70-80. Doctor shouted- "It's time to do an emergency C-section and take the baby out". By the time my father could complete the formalities, my mother found her inside operation theatre (OT). My frightened dada-dadee would wait anxiously outside OT along with my father. Their faith in God and His blessings would give them much needed strength to carry through those frightened moments; moments which ended at 9.17 am with my successful and safe delivery. By God's grace, I was safely out in this world after a successful C-section. Umang uncle would come out first and give the good news to my waiting dada-dadee and my father- It's a girl and both mother and daughter are safe. Everyone thanked God and now begins the new wait- to see the baby and the mother....

While I was grappling with the outside light and my cleaning up inside OT, my mind would think of the irony of the situation most aptly captured by an old Indian saying- "When you were born, you cried and the world rejoiced."