2 Trains

12:30 PM. Rewa started packing her suitcase. She was supposed to go to her mother’s place for her first delivery. All because of Rewa’s progressive-minded brother. Such a fuss he made! Shameless. What would the elders think? What will people say? The other day he barged in and said shamelessly to her mother-in-law that the child should be born in a hospital under medical attention and not a daai. Just what was this proper medical care supposed to mean anyway? Didn’t women have children during earlier days? Earlier, women used to have 7-8 children and no proper medical care. All these were big city ideas that her brother had got while working in a big city. But what could Rewa say? Her mother-in-law told her to go with her brother somewhere around the ninth month. So she packed her suitcase with clothes and some sugar and rotis for the journey by train. When her brother tried to take the suitcase from her, she slapped his hand, irritated by all the fuss he was making.

12:30 PM. Ishita got a call from her Yoga teacher. “It’s breathing techniques day for you my dear. Good for the baby. Don’t miss.” Her Yoga teacher was like a Hitler to Ishita. A polite Hitler. There were times she felt embarrassed at being told in front of the class that she was overindulging in sweets or the time when she got late and was told that she had to practice discipline if she wanted to raise a good kid. Is that a thing to say in front of the whole class? Anyway, she didn’t want to get late. But her driver was on a chhutti. These guys go to their village at the drop of a hat. Ishita decided to take the metro. It’s comfortable.

1:10 PM. Rewa was looking out of the train’s window. She got up. Her brother asked her where she was going. The bathroom she said. He signaled where to go and sat down reading the newspaper.

1:10 PM. Ishita got inside the ladies coach and was immediately offered a seat. She dug her purse for her bag of cookies and started munching on one.

1:30 PM. Rewa’s brother had broken the door of the train’s bathroom. She had not been responding to his knocking on the door or shouting her name. When they brought her out, she had fainted. Minutes later the railway authorities picked up a crying baby from the railway tracks. The baby girl weighed 2 kgs and had slight bruises. Mother and daughter were now being driven to a hospital. Rewa had never felt so ashamed in her life. But her brother was beaming and called it a miracle baby. What nonsense was he saying.

1.30 PM. Ishita and her baby were being taken in an ambulance to the hospital. The authorities had a tough time telling the commuters not to click pictures. Mother and daughter were healthy. Tired, Ishita sipped on the juice.