Page 136 - FATE & DESTINY

FATE & DESTINY

The on-duty doctor listened to the baby’s breathing. He gave a few gentle pats on the baby’s back but the baby
didn’t breathe. He then performed mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. Seconds later, he declared the baby dead.
The poor mother dropped to her knees and sobbed her heart out. Nobody consoled her. She wrapped the body
of her lifeless baby in a blanket and trudged out of the ward at the darkest hour of the night. The worst of all was
nobody came to pick her up. My heart cried for her great loss.
Days later, Rinchen was shifted back to the cabin on my request. I loved the tranquility of the cabin. No guffaws
of women and no deafening cries of the babies. There was even a 17-inch Samsung Hiltron TV on the rack above
the foot of the bed.
Rinchen hadn’t taken a drop of water for over ten days. Dr. Jacob and Sampath Karl came with their team every
day. Seeing the improvement in our baby made me happy.
But starting from 4:00 pm a week later, Rinchen ran on mild fever. His temperature augmented by 9:00 pm.
“What’s wrong with him?” I asked. “Everything was fine with him this morning.”
“Go call the nurse,” said Choki.
The nurse examined and took his temperature. “Don’t worry, the fever will subside,” he said.
But fever won’t subside. Only one attendant was allowed in the cabin. So, I stayed back at the entrance, outside
the ward, reading the baby’s horoscope. I called Choki every half an hour. She said his fever remained the same. At
3:00 am, I called her again.
“He is asleep. The nurse gave him paracetamol.”
My heart returned to its normal beatings, but the stress drained all my strength and my head felt heavy. So, I
spread my shawl on the cement and went to sleep.
The next couple of days, Rinchen choked on a terrible cough.
“He can’t even cough,” I said. “What should we do?”
“Remember what Dr. John told us?” said Choki. “We must massage his back.”
“Oh, yes!” I turned Rinchen to the side and massaged his back. “Hell no! Look here. What is this?” I showed her
the stitches that had ruptured the skin around the anal passage. The wound was too deep for any baby to endure.
“Poor boy.”
Choki leaned closer to the baby’s bum. “Goodness me!”
When the nurse came to replace saline, I showed the wound to her. “Nurse, see this.”
“It’s deep,” she said. “I will inform the surgeon.”
Dr. Sampath Karl came with a kit. He dressed the wound. “Don’t worry. The baby should be fine now.”
Weeks later, the cough eased, and he played with his toys.
“Nunu,” he said, pointing at Choki’s bosom.
“No nunu for you until the doctor says so, dear,” said Choki.
He cried, digging his head into the pillow. “Nunu…boohoo!”
“We should ask Dr. Jacob,” I said.
“But I hope he won’t get annoyed.”
“Certainly not. He isn’t grouchy like Dr. S.K. Mitra.”
When Dr. Jacob and his team arrived in the evening, I said, “The baby is crying for milk.”
“You can try it, but stop if he gets diarrhea.”
“Oh, thank you, doctor! Um, what about food? Can we—”
“Try with soft foods, but little by little.” Before leaving, he tickled Rinchen’s cheek and said, “Glad you are
getting better.”
“You heard it, didn’t you?” I said to Choki, beaming. “We should buy a grinder.”
“A grinder? Why?”
“To grind Rinchen’s food. I must soften his balanced diet.”
“Do you find it necessary?”
“Of course, Ama!”
He deepened her thought, twirling her hair with her finger. “Okay.”
“But you mustn’t grumble over my choice.”
“Seriously?” She stared at me. “Do I grumble? But it must be of fine quality.”
I grinned. “I am always good at choices.”
Rinchen’s steady recovery brought me immense relief, but it was not over yet.
One of the junior surgeons said, “We have to close the stoma.”
“Does it mean another surgery, doctor?” I said.
“It’s a minor surgery.”
It robbed me of my breath. Until Dr. Jacob visited us in the evening, I bit my bottom lip for the hundredth time.
“No need,” said Dr. Jacob. “The stoma would close by itself. It’s just a small hole.”

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