Nandita
Ajai came down from Nashik to Mumbai
to meet his fiancée, Nandita Sharma.
Ever since their parents arranged their marriage some three months ago
in her home in Mumbai, Ajai had been coming down regularly every weekend to
meet her. He had a well paid job in
Nashik with one of the country’s largest private banks. He was doing well in his job and already got
two promotions in less than five years.
So, when his match was suggested to Nandita’s parents they jumped at it
and got in touch with his parents in Agra. Everything worked smoothly and his weekly
weekend visits to Mumbai started, once the formal engagement was over. Not wanting to use his to be father-in-law’s
car, he would ride his two year old 350 cc Royal Enfield mobike. It was the only model which had the power he
wanted and yet fell within his budget.
Also it would enable his lady to hug him tight while riding
pillion. He reveled in racing at high
speed, slamming the brakes or going in for sudden jump starts. He did everything with his two wheeler which
would make Nandita cling on to him and press hard against his back. In Mumbai
he slummed it out with a colleague from his bank, though the place was a good
14 kms from the Sharma residence. While
smaller towns like Nashik had thousands and hundreds of thousands of two
wheelers, they are a rarity in Mumbai.
That is because Mumbai has excellent intra city bus and rail network and
also because parents considered the vehicular traffic in their city too heavy
and too dangerous for two wheelers. Only
brave souls rode two wheelers in Mumbai.
That Saturday evening Ajai took
Nandita for a movie in a multiplex. They
were getting back to Nandita’s house for dinner. The movie was Amir Khan’s ‘Dhobhi Ghat’. It got rave write ups in every broad sheet,
tabloid and magazine worth its salt because it did not follow the usual
Bollywood masala formula and also it
was directed sensitively by Amir’s wife, Kiran Rao. Ajai’s opinion was it was so so, nothing
great and all the superlative reviews were so much hot air. Nandita contested his views strongly and said
she agreed with the reviewers and it really was an out of the beaten track film. She was all praise for Kiran Rao’s maiden
directorial effort. Playfully Ajai
blamed her for being a feminist who cannot find anything wrong with any woman’s
effort in any field. The lively and
light hearted banter went on till they stopped at a set of traffic lights
sandwiched between a powerful BMW sports model in the front and an impatient
delivery van driver behind who never stopped racing his engine making one hell
of a racket. Nandita, sitting behind
Ajai gave up all efforts at continuing the discussion and started doing up her
hair. The lights turned green, the BMW
shot out and Ajai went into one of his high powered jump starts to race after
the BMW. With hands up on her head doing
her hair she had no support and fell off behind the bike only to be run over by
the impatient delivery van driver.
Ajai had gone past the cross road
ignorant of Nandita falling off until he was stopped by a traffic police
constable standing is his way waving his hands frantically. An astonished van driver reacted instantly
and slammed his brakes hard and swerved right as fast as his power steering
wheel allowed him to. But in a city
which believes in tailgating it is next to impossible to do anything to save
anybody. The van driver’s valiant
attempt to save the girl fallen on the road failed and its left front wheel
rode over Nandita’s back. The sudden
braking and swerving right of the van resulted in the Honda Civic on its right
scraping itself on the bumper of the van.
Worse still, the Maruti SX 4 behind him, unable to stop quickly, rammed
into the rear of the van puncturing its own radiator. The Honda driver got out and rushed to pull
the girl from under the van. By then
police whistles started blowing hard and a fat constable waddled across
pompously. As there was nothing he could
do for the injured girl and god knows when an ambulance can reach them in the
chaotic traffic, he agreed to the Honda driver taking the injured lady to the
hospital. He did his police duty by
taking down the number on the front number plate and sternly ordering the driver
to come to the police station and give his statement. By the time the van driver and Honda driver
lifted Nandita carefully and put her in the back seat of the Honda Civic Ajai
managed to reach the site and as he cannot take her on his mobike he agreed to
the Civic playing the role of an ambulance and he decided to follow it. He introduced himself as Ajai Pandit and
thanked the Civic owner who gave his name as Shekhar Srivatsava. Shekhar sped off to the nearby Leelavati Hospital. A thoroughly shaken Ajai took time to call
Nandita’s father and asked him to come to the hospital. He was further held up by the police trying
to charge him with “Rash and Negligent driving”. Shekhar made the necessary advance payment on
his credit card and got her admitted and then waited for Ajai. As soon as Ajai came Shekhar left as he was
already late to meet his supplier over dinner in South
Mumbai.
In the next four and a half hours
Nandita’s parents and two of their neighbours came to the hospital. Nobody was telling them anything about what
happened to Nandita. On her father’s
request their family doctor managed to take time off to come to the hospital
and found out that her spine was damaged and corrective surgery was being done
by a team of surgeons. It was well into
the wee hours of Sunday when Nandita was wheeled into the ICU, bandaged and
still under the effects of the anesthetic.
Dr Kulkarni, who headed the surgical team, called her father aside and
told him that they had done their best and nothing can be said for certain
about the degree of her recovery. When
pressed, he reluctantly admitted that in the worst case scenario she may be
paralised below the waist, but miracles can happen. He discreetly told a tear shedding Mr Sharma
to keep their fingers crossed and hope for the best and assured him that the
hospital will do its very best to get her on her own feet. They all realised that the young lady has a
long life ahead of her and they want her to be as normal as possible. Mr Sharma correctly deduced that his daughter
cannot walk any more. He wiped his tears
carefully and walked back with put on confidence to tell everybody that the
surgery had gone off very well and there is nothing they can do by staying
back. Nandita’s mother stayed back and
all the others went home. Her father
spent a sleepless few hours worrying about her disability which will stay with
her for life. He could not reconcile
himself to the near certainty of his daughter becoming a paraplegic.
The next day the outside of the ICU
was packed with Nandita’s family, friends, co-workers from her mall where she
works as a procurement officer, neighbours and well-wishers. Shekhar came but nobody was being allowed to
see her and he did not meet Ajai, the only person he knew, as he was inside the
ICU, evidently holding his fiancée’s hand.
He went away as he had to catch a flight to Bengaluru to meet some
business associates. That day Mr Sharma
realised that somebody called Shekhar Srivastava had put in a deposit of two
lakh rupees on his credit card to get his daughter admitted. Apart from the name and the credit card
number nothing else was known about him.
No address, no phone number, nothing. Nobody seemed to know him and Ajay
admitted that he knew only his name and did not have the time or presence of
mind to ask for more details as they were all in a hurry to move Nandita to the
hospital as soon as possible. A grateful
but confused Mr Sharma was at a loss to figure out a way to pay this Srivastava
back and thank him. He knew it will be
next to impossible to get any details from the credit card company. His anger against the system rose as he knew
that these credit card issuers are more than willing to give all the details to
telemarketers, for a price of course, but will throw the confidentiality clause
at him. Days went by, Nandita was
shifted to a private room and she was healing steadily but Shekhar did not come
again. Ajai called every day from Nashik
and kept himself updated on his fiancée’s progress towards normal health. As usual he came the next weekend and spent
all the time with Nandita in the special room regaling her with cooked up
stories and encouraging her and planning what they will do once she is back on
her feet. The following Wednesday
evening saw a shy and diffident Shekhar coming with a bunch of flowers and a
box of pastries bought from the cake shop in Oberoi. He apologised for not being able to come to
see her any earlier as he was out of town on work. But her father broke down into tears at
meeting his daughter’s savior and thanked him repeatedly. The next day he made it a point to go
personally to Shekhar’s production unit in Saki Naka where he makes disposable
syringes and gave himself the pleasure of personally handing him a cheque for
two lakh rupees. Shekhar asked him to
stay on for a simple factory lunch which was shared by everybody from the
lowliest employee to the owner. Mr
Sharma was very impressed with Shekhar, both as a responsible citizen and an
enlightened employer.
The third weekend after the accident
saw Ajai coming to Nandita’s house to see her back from the hospital and
totally bedridden. For the first time he
entered her bedroom as she cannot come out to greet him at the door as she had
been doing happily till the accident paralysed her for life below the
hips. This realisation had hit Ajai like
a shower of rocks. On getting back to
Nashik he phoned his parents in Agra
and discussed the issue at length. They
were concerned for Nandita, no doubt, but lovingly pointed out the inadvisability
of trying to live with a paraplegic for life.
Moreover, what help will she be in advancing his career in the
bank? An engagement is not final like a
marriage. He did not come the next
weekend and the weekend after. The
Sharma family had correctly deduced the engagement was off. Predictably, Nandita was deeply
disappointed. The family did its best to
keep her spirits up, but everybody and Nandita knew it was hopeless and she
will be bedridden and single for life.
Who will tend to her when the parents are gone? Both her younger teenaged brothers promised
to look after her, but the parents knew that the daughters-in-law will resent
it. Nandita sensed it and in spite of her
own doubts kept up a brave and happy face and talked relentlessly of what she
will do to be on her own. At nights she
cried into her pillow bemoaning her fate.
At times she asked herself the inevitable question “Why me?” But quickly added “So what?” She got the best treatment possible in the
world and she has a wonderful family standing by her. She will never, never ask for more.
The
engagement gifts given to Nandita and her parents were couriered to Agra. The break became
final and irrevocable when the gifts given by them to Ajai and his parents
arrived in two different parcels, one from Agra and the other from Nashik. Nandita steeled herself not to cry or go into
a depression.
About two months after Mr
Sharma gave him the cheque Shekhar came to see her on a Sunday morning. The girl was good looking. That is all he knew about her. It is always a pleasure to see a PYT, even if
she is engaged. He had always
discriminated in favour of his friends who had pretty wives. No harm meant and no bad intentions. He was aghast to see her bedridden at home,
as different from hospitalization. He
deduced there was nothing more the doctors could do and condemned her to
rehabilitation at home and psychological conditioning to accept her fate. He was shocked. Shyly he gave her the slab of Cadburys Milk
Chocolate he brought for her. He came in
a fairly jovial mood expecting to see a fully recovered Nandita and looking
forward to seeing Ajai and having some fun asking him if his bank will give him
a loan for a somewhat risky venture. He
noticed the conspicuous absence of Ajai on a Sunday but chose not to comment on
it. He drew his own conclusions about
his absence and made up his mind.
“Miss Nandita, you will
not remain in bed”.
“I don’t have wings, I
cant fly”. She smiled. Her milk white teeth shone with youthful
health. Shekhar smiled thinking of the
Colgate toothpaste ads. She could well
be one of the models in such ads. May be
she is better looking than all the toothpaste models.
“No, you will not remain
in bed.” Shekhar’s tone was firm and
brooked no contradiction.
“Okay. I will shift to the floor.” She smiled again, but a tear escaped from
each eye and the smile dissolved. It
happened in spite her determination not to show defeat. He wiped the tears with his not so clean
handkerchief. She let him do. She also whimpered, which she would not
normally do. He kept her smiling as best
as he could. He decided to make it his
mission to make her walk again. As it
was getting later and later in the day and lunch was getting delayed, the
inevitable happened. He was asked to stay
on for lunch.
Being a maker of syringes
gave him some link to hospitals. He met
the wholesale stockist to whom he gives his product for retailing. That guy took Shekhar to the purchase officer
in the Hinduja Hospital. He in turn took him to the Head of the
Physiotherapy department. Shekhar told
him about Nandita’s problem and what he wants to do for her. Not knowing the situation fully the Physio
Head asked one of his best physiotherapists if she is willing to help the
patient at her home. Desire to help
someone with her skills and the prospect of some extra earnings after hours
made the lady, one Mrs Patil, say yes.
Monday evening 7 pm
saw Shekhar arriving at the Sharma house with Mrs Patil in tow, much to the
surprise of Nandita and everybody else in the house. She never realised that Shekhar was
determined to do something to make her walk.
Surprised yes, but delighted too, beyond measure! The grind started. The first step was to raise one leg at a time
at the hip joint. Just five degrees to start
with. It also meant simultaneously
bending the knee inwards at 5 degrees.
It was done for each leg, one after the other. But it took a good nine days to achieve this
very modest target. The legs were raised
with the back flat. Then the legs were
kept flat and the back was raised. Then
to 8 degrees. After the 12 degree rise
was achieved, there were three days of consolidation. There were days when she felt pain as some
sensation was still left at the hip joint.
She bore it silently. She shed silent
tears. Some days she cried aloud in
pain. But she never said no to the
twenty minutes of daily torture to get her legs to bend. Through all this Shekhar sat with Nandita,
sometimes holding her hands to share some of her pain and reassure her that he
was there physically to comfort her. It
was the first step to be able to sit in a chair with the thigh horizontal and
perpendicular to the torso. Then came
the additional exercises to bend the legs at the knees to the fullest extent of
135 degrees. Mercifully it was painless
as paralysis made that part of her body insensitive to any kind of pain. But it was a nightmare for the physio lady to
correctly assess how much to bend the knee joints on any given day. She cannot afford to tear any ligaments or
tendons.
Every day saw Shekhar
bringing something for her. May be
flowers, chocolates white, dark or bitter, magazines, CDs of movies or popular
TV shows. Or just his ebullient good humour
and charm. His daily visits, including
weekends were not lost on the older Sharmas.
As long as his presence kept their daughter happy and in good spirits it
was okay with them. Nandita, fondly
called Nandu at home, also seemed to have taken his daily visits for
granted. Actually she did look forward
to them. Her younger brothers, Ramesh
and Sunil took it for granted that Shekhar will come every evening. If he keeps their sister engaged they don’t
have to feel guilty for not keeping their disabled sister humoured. One day, more as a joke than in any
seriousness Sunil asked Shekhar if he can help solve one of his science
questions. After that both the boys took
their problems to him. Not just about
studies but also about other problems in their school or college. Occasionally he was asked to stay back for
dinner. Sometime during the second month
of physiotherapy he had to go to Delhi
for three days. Imagination or reality,
Nandu’s mother thought her daughter seemed disappointed with Shekhar’s
absence. The cheerfulness in her face
was somehow missing.
That night, she opened up
to Mr Sharma. She was happy, no doubt,
with her daughter regaining activities she seemed to have lost forever. It was so heartwarming to see the cheerful face
of her daughter. She seemed happy even
during the day, perhaps expecting to see Shekhar in the evening. But where will it all lead to? Is their sensitive and helpless daughter
expecting too much from Shekhar? What
will happen when, at some point, Shekhar decides that there is nothing more
that physiotherapy can do and stop coming in the belief that he had done what
best he could for a paraplegic girl. So
many confusing thoughts were churning in her mind. Her husband, equally worried about possible consequences,
including Nandita descending into depression, could not say anything to set his
wife’s apprehensions at bay. They hugged
each other in desperate need and tried to sleep, hiding their tears from each
other. But Nandu had no such qualms. She slept happily and soundly every night.
Shekhar brought a
beautiful blue Salwar Kurta from Gyan’s in Karol Baug in Delhi.
The sales girl assured him that size zero will fit his lady snugly. He asked Nandu to try it out. The next evening she welcomed Shekhar looking
resplendent in the dress he brought her.
That brought a visible glow of satisfaction on his face. In a few days both the thigh and knee joints
had become fully articulate in both the legs and she could sit in a chair for
the first time. There was much clapping
and hugging and kissing when Nandu was successfully eased into a chair. Mr Sharma and the boys promptly voted for
buying a wheel chair. They asked Shekhar
to join them and all the four men went off to buy a wheel chair. Back at home a coconut was broken to welcome
the wheelchair and Nandu was made to sit in it.
She propelled herself happily into each room in the house. Every room appeared to be new and somehow
different. She was blissfully happy at
her new found mobility.
Soon the time had come for
Nandu to stand erect and try walking with a walker or crutches. After two days of trials the walker was given
up in favour of a pair of light aluminum crutches. Every evening Shekhar would make her hobble
on crutches so that she was not necessarily confined to the wheel chair all the
time. Shekhar broached the future with
Nandu. He wanted her to do two
things. Take up a career that can be
handled from home and get into some sport for the differently enabled persons.
Indian students love “Made
Easy” books. So she decided to exploit
that window of opportunity to earn some money.
Shekhar approved it, much to her satisfaction. The very next day he came with some seven
different made easy books on maths and high school science subjects that were
floating around in the market. Together
they discussed what she could do best and also have good prospects for
sales. She chose maths as she is good at
the subject. After a quick scan she also decided that maths is her choice as
the three books he brought were not up to her standard. She was confident of doing better than those
books. So, the laptop was now being put
to different uses apart from aimless surfing to while away time. The time she spent watching the TV also came
down drastically. She restricted herself
to watching just three of her most favourite soaps. The laptop has now become less of a play
thing and more of a career tool. She
found a purpose in life, thanks to Shekhar.
Then Shekhar suggested
that she should get out of the house.
Going for a drive was not what he had in mind. The doting family had been giving her outings
as frequently as they could. They
changed the family car to a Qualis and modified it so that she could be wheeled
into it. It was not fully automatic, but
served the purpose, with the family always there to help her in and out of the
car. She was anyway wheeling herself out
of her bedroom to help her mother in the kitchen and chasing her brothers all
over the house for fun. It was more fun
than hobbling on crutches with someone beside her to make sure she will not
fall. One fine evening she asked Shekhar
to wait and wheeled herself into the kitchen and made him a cup of tea. She used to do it for Ajai. Unobtrusively
Shekhar had slipped into Ajai place.
Shekhar suggested a
paradigm shift. He wanted her to take to
a competitive outdoor sport. He gave
archery, fencing, basketball and football as options to choose from. Nandita was thrilled at the prospect of going
out of the house and playing a game.
Without batting an eye lid she opted for basketball, the game she used to
play in college. She was already
visualising the thrills of maneuvering her wheelchair to dodge the other
players and raise herself in the chair and plop the ball into the basket. She even tried to raise herself erect in her
wheel chair. Even the thought was
exhilarating. She was completely sold
out on it.
Nandita took to the
special wheelchair used for playing basketball like a fish takes to water. The feeling was akin to her adoring the first
cycle she got for her eighth birthday.
She reveled and lived out her dreams in the one hour she spent daily at
the special sports facility for people like her. Joining others like herself in any endeavour
was an ennobling and satisfying experience for her. Shekhar was there with her five evenings a
week at the paraplegic games facility to encourage her. His approval and encouragement was something
very special to her. Her life became
full and extremely busy with writing books to make maths comprehensible to all
and sundry, helping her mom in the kitchen and trying her hand at cooking,
chasing her brothers, arguing with her father on the deplorable state of the
country and what she would do if she were the prime minister and playing
basketball and watching her favourite TV serials and movie CDs. Her life has become as close to normal as it
can be and she was supremely happy.
Lately she even started bullying Shekhar to get her way with him. Normally she treated him like a god and never
questioned his suggestions or actions.
Looks like continued familiarity was changing the equation.
Time flew and the first
anniversary of her falling off the mobike came round. There was a celebratory dinner at home. Their home got packed with family and close
friends sitting or standing at every available place. The doctors who operated on her and Mrs Patil
who infused strength into her limbs and confidence into mind were there as
special invitees. Two magnums of Champaign were opened to
much cheering and backslapping and complimenting Nandu. Nandu and the family were having a whale of a
time. There was radiance on Nandu’s face
and a wonderful glow. May be there was a
halo too! The happy and boisterous noise
was reduced to sudden silence when somebody tapped a spoon loudly on a glass
table. People instinctively turned
towards the source of the tapping. What
did they see? Shekhar, looking debonair
in a dark suit took three rapid steps to Nandu, kneeled and asked: Miss Nandita Sharna, will you marry
me?
DVR Rao (Nani)
Pune
