Kolhapur Chronicles

19. pain

We cannot predict what turn life would take at any given moment, can we?

There is no chance on earth that humans could possess the ability to see the future, to be prepared for the worst, to know what lies the next minute, to understand the situations that would be thrown at them so that they can contemplate the course of their reactions.

Life pushes us off a cliff when we think we are in the middle of a beautiful farm.

This is what Pallavi felt.

Amidst the white light of the waiting room, surrounded by her family, sitting amongst other people whom she knew but did not care enough to recognise at the moment, her head had stopped thinking. The commentary of questions and thoughts that it was running a couple of hours ago was shut, making space for nothing. Staring into what her eyes had failed to memorize, she was terrified would be an understatement. The faint smell of disinfectant combined with the pungent odour of medicine was strong enough to remind her with every breath she took that she was in a hospital.

A place where people fight life and death.

A place which is known to be filled with humans who are considered to be next to god, because they work hard to pull every person that is wheeled in, out from the clutches of death, to help mend broken body parts, to make life alive again. A place which people dread to go yet run to the moment they feel something is wrong.

A place which gives life yet the one which takes it away.

And all Pallavi remembered was the time it took life away from her.

The moment Vahini's words through the phone were considered by her brain, it automatically went to the time when she was in school. Every result day, every parent's day and every function made her realise she was deprived of the privilege of bringing her parents to school. She used to look at other kids, holding the hands of both their parents and walking happily, taking part in sports together, making memories, while she just sat in the corner.

Alone.

Some students had one parent, and even though they were sad, they still could participate in the events and talk to teachers with that one parent they had. She has no complaints about how Aaji raised her, she feels immensely blessed to have her, still, she used to question Bappa on why he took both her parents away.

One parent would also have been enough.

These memories crushed her like a truck crushing a small berry below its tire, splattering all the positivity she had in her. As soon as the word accident hit her ears, all she could remember was how the particular word destroyed her chance of having a life with her parents, how it deprived her of all the memories she could make with them and how it made her an orphan.

That is when the fear started sinking in.

The ride to the hospital was filled with prayers, it seemed as if there was a rainstorm, with the winds making it hard to ride at full speed. She slowed down in an attempt to reach safely to the hospital. The last thing she wanted was to get admitted herself. As soon as she saw the faces of Dada and Vahini, she knew things were bad. They told her how he was just sitting in the tea stall, sipping tea when an uber driver crashed into the entire stall, throwing him off along with a couple of other people. Raghav was drenched in blood in seconds, and even though the people around had admitted him as soon as they can, the doctors had told them they could not say anything until they ran a few tests.

Hence they were here, in the waiting room, waiting.

Which is by far the worst part of existing.

She had no complaints about waiting for anyone ever, people get stuck in situations or else they are unpunctual, but waiting for someone you don't know would wake up or not is horrendous.