Sitting in a chair by his side Binita watches Manish’s pale face covered partly with the oxygen mask. Tears appear in her eyes and roll down her cheeks before she has the chance to reach out for the handkerchief in her purse and wipe them away
The engine keeps purring as Anil waits for his sister to get onto the motorcycle. Binita has forgotten her purse inside and is hastily scanning the room that looks quite messed up. In the lawn, a white Pomeranian is basking in the sun. When Anil blows the horn of his motorcycle urging Binita to be quicker, the dog stares at him and wags its tail. In the bright sunlight Anil can see the fading flowers in the garden. They seem like they need water if they are to remain alive much longer.
“Where have you gone?” Anil shouts at Binita.
Binita shuts the door and returns with her purse. Soon Anil drives her to the hospital.
In the intensive care ward, Manish lies unconscious in his bed. He is wearing a face mask attached to an oxygen pipe intended to increase the oxygen supply to his lungs. Saline keeps dripping from the bottle that hangs on a metal stand by the bed side and flows into the pipe that leads to Manish’s nerves.
Sitting in a chair by his side Binita watches Manish’s pale face covered partly with the oxygen mask. Tears appear in her eyes and roll down her cheeks before she has the chance to reach out for the handkerchief in her purse and wipe them away. Unconsciously, when Manish moves his right hand in his sleep, she clasps his palm and gently caresses his forehead.
A few weeks ago, while Binita was doing with dishes in the kitchen after the dinner, her husband had been watching a video from their wedding ceremony on the computer. And it had occurred all of a sudden. She had heard Manish yelling. He was complaining of a severe pain in his head. The next moment Binita had found him lying inert, motionless on the floor. Needless to say, Binita was left terribly shocked.
Later in the hospital, Manish was diagnosed with having had a brain stroke. The doctor said high blood pressure was to blame for the condition. He had explained to Binita that the stroke had led certain blood vessels in his brain to the rupture, causing blood to seep out into brain tissue. He had mentioned the complications that would arise due to the haemorrhage.
That night Binita had sobbed in the hospital alley. She had not been able to stand on her own feet and her brother had had to support her. She could remember nothing except Manish’s face and with it she sensed a raging, intolerable pain deep in her heart. Crying, she had blamed god, feeling he had conspired against her and her dear husband.
Since the stroke, Manish has developed numbness in the left side of his body—a condition akin to partial paralysis. He can move only his right limbs, and his mouth has twisted in a manner that makes his voice difficult to understand. He cannot swallow food, and the high doses of medicine he has to have regularly pumped into him have made him look frail.
Binita is Manish’s second wife. They got married a couple of months ago, after Manish lost Sandhya, his first wife, in an accident. After that tragedy, Manish had kept himself away from his family and lived in a state of constant detachment followed by episodes of insomnia and anxiety.
Manish has been a heart patient since his adolescence. He has always been on heart-stabilising meds. And with the disease with which he has long lived, his parents feared that his tragic condition would prove detrimental to his life. It was so they arranged for his second marriage with Binita, which Manish had sternly refused at first but accepted later on. Binita had managed to convince him that she held no prejudices in marrying him and would live happily as his second wife. She had assured him that she would give him all the love and affection that she could garner.
Even after his second marriage, Manish had closely held on his memories of Sandhya. At times when he missed her, Binita had seen him glancing at Sandhya’s photo, which he thought he had hidden from her under a book in the cupboard. She had watched him, many times, running his fingers over the photo trying to find some solace. Binita loved Manish as her soul mate and could understand how he felt without Sandhya, but as a wife she expected some love in return, and this Manish did not seem to care for.
He stopped taking his medicine after a time. When Binita would urge him not to do so, he would reproach her, saying he was completely fine without medication.
Now, Binita regrets not having forced him into take his medicine.
“I would not have seen this day if he had taken his pills regularly,” she says to herself in remorse.
As Binita walks off the chair to get some water for herself, Manish calls her out in a low voice.
Pulling the blanket to his chest Binita approaches him and stares into his eyes. They wide open, yet strangely dreamy.
It is the first time he has called out her name since their marriage.
He extends his right hand towards her, which Binita holds firmly with her left and rubs her other hand on his arm caressing it softly.
“I have troubled you, haven’t I?” Manish says subtly.
This time Binita clearly understands his voice. She even finds a hint of an appeal in it.
“No, you have never troubled me,” Binita tries to assure him.
She leaves the room as the doctor comes in to check Manish’s condition. Outside she joins Anil and they move towards the hospital canteen.
As they throw themselves in the chair, Anil sees something different in his sister’s face, a hope no doubt sparked by recent conversation talk with her husband.
“He spoke to me,” Binita says to Anil, almost bursting into tears.
Anil catches her hand. “He will get well soon,” he says, trying to console her.
Later the doctor tells Binita that Manish is indeed recovering.
“His speech has improved considerably as his mouth is returning to normalcy. Also his body seems more capable of movement lately,” he says, comforting her. “He will need a great deal of physiotherapy. That will help with healing his nerve impairment. Maybe, he will even recover movement in his left limbs.”
Binita thanks the doctor and returns to Manish’s room. Her husband is sleeping quietly with his right hand resting on his chest. As she comes closer, she sees something clutched in his fist. When Binita opens it, she finds her hair clip, the one she had left on the chair by the bed where she sat a while ago. Binita smiles as she clips it on her hair and walks towards the pharmacy.
- Subash Sharma
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