Whenever you try to change your destiny, don't forget that destiny controls the balance of life
Nothing seemed to be on track.It had been a tiresome week for him. He was wishing that some miracle would happen with which all these troubles would wash away.But nothing seemed to be working fine. Work pressure was kind of taking more than its regular toll. Also to add on, Prathika was not keeping well for the last couple of weeks. As he couldnt take time of his office work, he had asked her to positively visit the doctor today. Surprisingly she didnt call after the visit either. He reached home and entered using his key. There seemed to be no noise whatsoever. The lights in the hall and kitchen of his 2 bedroom flat were off. The moonlight lit the dining hall beautifully and a thin beam of light shone out from the gap in the entrance to the bedroom. He placed his bag on the table and pushed open the door.
Inside the room, Prathika was lying down on the bed on her back, with her arm covering her eyes. Not knowing what the whole situation was he went and freshened up quietly. By the time he returned, Prathika was sitting on the bed with a worried look on her face.He realised that for all the 22 years he had known her, he had never seen her being this serious. He sat down in front of her and placed his hands on hers and asked her as to what had happened through gestures. In a low tone, she replied" I think i will have to quit my job for a year or two. There are things which need our attention now." This made Adwit more worried. He whispered into her ears" Dont worry, everything will be fine. I will take care. But even before you proceed to talk about the management and committment part, tell me exactly what the doctor said."
She couldnt conceal it any longer. " Well , Mr husband, you are going to get a promotion in less than six months time. I am going to be a proud mom of twins. Your dream of heading your family is going to be true. I am pregnant." This was the best news he had heard in a long time now. He was shocked. He could'nt control his happiness. It was the best thing that happened to him for sometime now. He was spellbound. She continued in her excited but tearful tone" I have been dying to tell you this from afternoon. Only I know how much I controlled this. I suspected it but didnt want to simply give you hopes and make you build your infinite dreams. Expected date is in mid jan. Adwith, how I still wish we could have had them by mid december. It would have been lovely if we could control that and had their birthdays coincide with the anniversary. It would have been great. but I guess this great too.. Two monkeys to take care of two more ."
It was like a thunderbolt of happiness for him. Everything now had a reason. The priorities were set straight. He just wanted to go bang every door in the neighbourhood and share his happiness. " You are the best thing that ever happened to me in my life. You dont understand how much this means to me. Did you call and inform Daadu and Meera chachi. They must know. I will try and ask Meera chaachi to comeover to stay with us. I am sure she will take good care if and when I am out. What say?"
"No . I have'nt told anyone yet. All I did was to call up office and tell them that i might be putting my papers down. Now even before you think too much, I have thought well enough and I have decided. I am not going to think about my career till my family is fine to handle things by themselves. This is my personal decision and I very well know you are happy with it too. I plan to call Daadu and Meera Chachi tomorrow morning. We need to plan a lot and take of lot of things. Whatever it is, we will do great. Please dont get worked up over it".
Adwith was laughing away. All his tiresomeness were lost in neverland. All he knew was that good times lay ahead.
Two months later.
Things were going right on schedule. The doctors were happy that Prathika not only put on good amount of weight but also improved her blood levels. Everything was going on schedule. Meera chachi will be joining them in a week. Adwit cancelled his tours for the next 18 months so that he doesnt miss the most important time of his kids lives -their first year. Almost everything was taken care of. They together ended up finalising on 3 names for each of the twins. The kids room was ready and they planned to sell this and move to a bigger place before the kids got into their pre nursery. Adwith was so anxious and excited with things that Prathika had to shout at him and calm him down. Though it worried her seeing him get so anxious, she was happy and confident of the fact that he would make an excellent father. She even chided him at times that he would end up teaming up against with the kids. Adwith was atlast trying to strike a balance with work and home. Till meera chachi came, he took permission to work from home. His boss realised that it was the best way in which he could work it out as there was no point in making him sit at office when his whole concentration was on Prathika and the kids. On the whole, Adwith felt life was never as good as this.It was the best time he ever had
A couple of hours later
The neighbours rushed her to the nearest hosipital after hearing Prathika scream. They had to break open the door. Adwith was out to office to submit his income- tax documents, Prathika was walking out of the bathroom when she slipped and fell onto the edge of the bed. She was crying in pain. One of the neighbours had called Adwith on his cell. By the time Adwith reached the hosipital, it was all over. She had lost the twins. Doctor had more bad news to share. They had to operate her to save her life and in the process she lost her ability to become a mom ever again.
It took just a couple of seconds for his life to turn upside down. It seemed too unrealistic. He felt as though he was watching the flashback in some old emotional bollywood movie. The only good news was that Prathika was alright. Had anything happened to her, he would have been devastated. She was his best friend from the age of 3. they were always together, both in school days and during college. They were so happy with each other's company that they never bonded with anyone else. In the last semester of their graduation, he realised that he couldnt think of his life without her and ended up proposing her. Exactly 2 years later, on the same day, they got engaged and to this december, it will be their 3rd engagement anniversary. Prathika always wanted to coincide the kids birthdays with this day. But now that could never happen.
As he entered her ward, Mrs Rao walked out. Pratika was silent. Both of them didnt know what to say. He came over and hugged her, not knowing how to break the ice. " Why us?" was all she said and she broke down crying. She was inconsolable.What surprised him was that after he entered the room, it was like blank... He just could'nt feel anything
Six months hence
The summer sun was out. It was half past 9 on a bright sunday morning. They had left early so that they could spend some quality time there. Now they were parked just metres away from the entrance to a place where they had spent most of their lives here. Adwith had actually decided that he would never comeback here ever again. It kind of haunted him of his past. There was now a new board to the campus - " D.H. Welfare Trust And Orphanage". It was here 22 years back when he had first met her. It was here that he found the lone and sole member of his family - Prathika. She was the perfect wife he could ever get. He knew it. In fact they knew it that they were perfectly made for each other.
Over the last 6 months she was inconsolable. They spent a lot of time sitting in the couch doing nothing but rest their head on each other. In the last one month, after a lot of effort from colleagues and well wishers,they got back to their normal selves. It was his idea to come here and adopt. It was shocking for Prathika as all through his stay in the orphanage, Adwit always told her he never believed that adopted parents would be as good as their own parents. He always felt that couples adopted more to satisfy their needs of having a child in their house rather than to be good parents. So all in all at one point of life or the other, it would effect the child and all this affection and love showered will be temporary. They had heard a lot from their friends who were adopted as to how indifferently his "adopted" relatives behaved.Prathika guessed that this was probably the reason why Adwith had parked his car outside the gate. He was not sure if he wanted to go through with this.He didnt know what to do. But she did.
He was standing out in facing the lush green farms which spread across the horizon. She walked upto him and after a couple of minutes she finally spoke-" There are times when we plan a lot of things. Things which we feel must be true and we start to live our lives in order to make them true. Some of them say it is ambition, some say it is persistence. When they achieve things as per their plan, they feel they have brought about a change in their lives, that they have changed their destiny". Adwith turned towards her and gave her a startled look. As usual she had succedded in reading what he was thinking about and she was actually putting it in words. She continued" Might be that we tried to change our destiny. Might be that our destiny is such that we are supposed to be each other's family and it has to end there. We know nothing of anyone before us and we have nobody after us. It is just us. Might be thats one reason why we gel so well. Might be thats why we had to meet here 22 years back and end up as husband and wife. Might be it is true what people say- We are perfectly made for each other. I believe it is true as i have never seen either of us compromise with each other. Our likes, dislikes, wants ,wishes are all alike. We have hardly argued and most importantly we love each other. In course of time we built a dream, a dream of our own family but that can never be true. Thats our destiny". She had tears in her eyes as she said this and rested her head on his shoulder. He spoke in a broken voice" True. I have been thinking about the same. We tried to change our destiny once for our happiness and in the end it got so dangerous that i almost lost you. We did a mistake as we were ignorant about this fact. We never knew that a dream of our own family would disturb the balance so much that it could seperate us forever. Yes i am hut that we lost our dream, but I am glad to have you next to me. To be frank I dont want to try on this front again. If we go ahead and adopt today and if tomorrow something happens to the anyone of us i dont think either of us are strong enough to take it. I am happy to have you in my life and i guess that was Destiny wants too..." They slowly walked back to their car and started their journey back home......
The End
