Naina scampered off into her mother-in-law's room, stress evident on her face as she found Enaika shivering and sulking for motherly affection -- murmuring in a restless voice while struggling to cover the blanket on her petite frame - "Mumma, Mumma come naa."
Sameer was thoroughly shocked when he heard his daughter asking for her mother and not for him, his feet abruptly halting before the bed as he moved his unsatisfied gaze at his wife, rushing to sit next to Enaika as she lovingly shifted her warm head from the pillow to her lap, asking her in a soft voice - "Kya hua Shona? Thandi zyada lag rahi hai?"
"Haa," Enaika replied to her in a low voice, her whole body burning with high temperature, her small hand holding her mother's left one.
"Sameer, humare room se medical kit se bukhar ki dawai le aao, blue packet wali." Naina guided her husband, but he was clueless about the medicine she was referring to him. This was the first time he was in charge of getting the fever-reducing pill for his daughter -- usually Naina handles all these things and cures Enaika whenever she falls sick but at this moment he couldn't understand what to do and how to locate the preferable medicine for his unwell girl.
"Can you tell me the name?" His voice was strangely full of guilt and embarrassment when he queried his wife -- placating Enaika.
It wasn't surprising for Naina to hear this question from her husband. He doesn't even know which medicine is good and effective for children under age, yet he claims to be the best father and holds her responsible for mistreating their delicate daughter.
Sighing weakly, she told him the brand name of the packet with despondency in her eyes, and he scurried to their room to get the needful.
"Mumma, Enaika doesn't like medicine." The little girl, flaming in the hot temperament of her body, cribbed with annoyance in her meek voice.
"Even Mumma doesn't like medicine, beta, but Mumma has to take it every day to work like a Superwoman." Naina coaxed her tantrum-queen with fake displeasure framing her visage, scrunching up her nose, and running her tongue on her upper lip -- to show how bitter those pills taste and how much she dislikes consuming them.
Enaika innocently stared at her birth-giver while quivering with body pain and frigidness surrounding her insides, feeling sad to know that Prashant Mamu prescribed her a pungent-flavored pill for cold, cough, and fever. She doesn't like the taste, it's so ridiculous and irritating. She would rather take a tasty sweet syrup than swallow down a giant-sized medicine for her unwellness.
Sameer was back to his wife with a glass of water and a packet of medicine in his right hand, gently giving it to her with morose eyes, still feeling highly mortified by his lack of knowledge about medicines specifically for kids. Naina took a half portion of the pill in her palm by breaking it adroitly, carefully making Enaika sit on the bed as she offered the unpleasant white round drug to her, patting her back to encourage her to gulp it down in one go and be a brave girl of her Mumma.
Enaika began to protest against the idea of taking a bitter pill with a wild shake of her head, helplessly looking between her grandma and father to help her out with this inescapable problem, but they too were compelled by her increasing fever to ignore her soft imploration and stay silent.
"Shona, jaldi jaldi medicine lo, phir Mumma aapko woh Elephant and the mice ki story sunayegi." Naina zealously induced her little dramatic girl with her suggestion while raising the edge of her left eyebrow, exciting her to take the pill and get a chance to hear the fairyland-kind tale she has a keen interest in -- Sameer was happily amazed by the way Naina was calmly dealing with Enaika and cajoling the four-year-old Satan with a tempting offer. Now realizing why it's so damn important to have a mother around kids when they are sick or going through a mental disturbance. Mothers are the route to children's peace and happiness. They can instantly make the unhappy kid dance to the tunes of delight, and can smartly coerce them to consume healthy food and follow a good lifestyle to prevent falling sick.
