Vedika- a fighter superlative

Friends,

This is our Vedika. Pinki and my Vedika.

When the staff at Sir Gangaram Hospital broke the news that we have a girl child on the 7th of Feb, I found myself in cloud nine.

Imagine.. after Siddharth... the happy go lucky Sidd we have another baby... Wow! Its a fantastic feeling to be a parent. I made frantic calls all over the country. From Assam (another love of my life after pinki) to Kashmir to Archana in Gujrat to Surekha down South to everybody, even to people for whom it hardly mattered whether I was father a second or third time, I called up all. I seated myself in the lawns of the hospital to make these calls.

As Pinki was brought in we gave each other a light hug. She narrated how she easy her delivery had been, in a room full of bright warm Feb morning sun. She was radiating the warmth all over the place. She was happy beyond all measures.

The 7 th Feb afternoon passed peacefully.

Congratulations! Thank you

God bless you! Thank you

What a wonderful baby! Thank you.

This went on and on. The nana and nani bought in their customary sweets and everything went on as usual. Little did we realise that day that for the next three months we would be in trouble. Deep Trouble.

On the 8th morning, the pediatric doc walked in for a routine check up. He held her in his hands and looked intently at the baby's face. His face was expressionless, but his forehead showed a frown as the baby yawned. He seemed to have decided something.

" We would want the baby to be kept in the nursery for few hours for observation"- the doc

Pinki," Is everything ok?"

"Well that's what we want to check her"

The baby was then taken to the nursery. She must have been there for almost 3-4 hours. I did not think much about her till then, I started thinking about how the settlement has to be made etc.

Few hours from then, I found myself in an ambulance moving to Escorts along with one of my trusted friends Bidyut Roy. Our baby was diaognised with multiple conginetal heart problems and her condition, the doctors told me, was worsening as hours passed by. The sight of your baby unconscoius inside an incubator, with wires meshed all around her little body, and the shrill unpleasant hooter of the ambulance, is enough to give nightmares to the toughest souls around. As I sat biting my lips, I remembered how Pinki had called me on my mobile while I was at the Shriram Clinic, and told me about the baby's heart defects. I had virtually ran to the docs to find out the matter. They explained me all TGA, PGA, CGA and what not.

I just remebered that she is not well and needed to be treated immediately. Fast. I had called Bidyut shouting at him to come soon. Tried to calm Pinki (she I later realised was actually calmer then me, it;s me who needed to be calm).

Presently, our ambulance entered Escorts.

Baby Admitted.

Name of Baby: "Baby of Pinki Sharma, Age 1 day, Father's Name: Raju Sharma

Admission Done

Thank you very much.

Dr Prashant. " Baby's situation grim. TGA, etc etc.

Dr Munish. " Baby has TGA and this, that, this, that, this and this. So surgery etc etc"

Relax. Night. Sleep. No Sleep etc etc.

OK next morning.

Dr Radhakrishnan. TGA///////////. Situation dangerous and risky

Dr Sunil . TGA /////. Situation high risky

Dr Aiyer. He just gave me a dry look. He did not say a word.

Raju :????????????????????????.

I was trying to look cool. "Ghanta cool", I said to myself.

Shailendra and Swati came in the morning to the hospital and deposited 1.45 lakhs. Imagine our own Shailendra from whom I could never take out Rs 1.45/. He deposited the whole thing. Later he told me that some money also came out from my cards.

I was pacing up and down in all the morning hours at Escorts. Pinki was equally tensed by all these turn of events and I was worried about her situation and her own need for rest and strenght after her surgery. Swati made me eat some breakfast and cold drinks and I thought that helped me gain some more desired energy.

In the after noon I broke down heavily, when Vedika was wheeled into the OT. Somehow dont have the energy to write more on this. will work on this at a later stage....