Page 31 - Till the Last Breath . . .

Pihu didn’t want to pursue it any more. She knew he was going through

denial. A certain part of her was going through the same. Except for this
call, she had not stopped crying since the time she discovered what she was
afflicted with. She had cursed the unfair balance of nature. What she had

was not something she deserved. She had cried and pored over the reports
again and again, hoping there would be a mistake. She wished she was

wrong in her self-diagnosis. She could be. She was only a first-year medical
student and she wasn’t supposed to diagnose it correctly in any case.

‘Are you going to tell them?’ he asked.
‘I think I will let some doctor do it,’ she said. Her eyes watered up. She

heard the flipping of papers from the other side. ‘I will talk to you later. The
signal is cracking up.’ She disconnected the call. I hope I am wrong about
this. She sighed. The tears returned and they never stopped during the three

hours it took for her to reach her home from the college hostel. All her
dreams washed away in an instant.

Once home, she stood in front of her parents, complaining about the strange
sensations in her right arm. Her mother started to ask her about the
examinations. Dad asked her if she was eating right. It took her an hour to

make them take the cramps and the loss of sensation in her hand seriously.
Her mom suggested stress. Dad suggested infection. ‘Delhi’s water is

riddled with parasites and germs. You’re almost a doctor, you should know,’
he said. She insisted on seeing a doctor. Her dad smiled at the irony. Pihu

knew what he was thinking about. He had imagined her as a doctor.
Something that Pihu knew would never happen. I hope I am wrong, she

sighed.
On the way to the hospital, she tried to be her chirpy self, even though all
she wanted to do was cry. Maybe she was wrong. The doctor in the hospital

asked her a few questions and prescribed her some blood tests.
‘It could be anything. Let’s wait for the blood test results,’ he assured the

worried parents. ‘Come back tomorrow and we will find out what’s wrong
with her.’ He pushed the bowl of candy in front of her. Out of habit, she

stuffed a fistful of Éclairs in her pocket.