Little Did She Know

There she was,her hair undone with little hint of red in the middle, sweat beads on her forehead, eyes wide open, biting her lower lip, clutching the bedcover with her fist.

Couple of nurses were dragging her stretcher from above, while her better half was walking backwards briskly with one hand he was holding her foot and with other he was holding the handle of the stretcher.In her labour pain she was murmuring "wahe guru!, wahe guru!"

Suddenly the alarm rang, and she was woken from another nightmare, turned to the other side of the bed to grab the bottle of water and gulped some, snoozed the alarm went back to sleep but in vain.The hospital scene kept coming back to her mind ,and she kept tossing and turning on her bed. 

And the alarm rang again and now she can't sleep anymore, she has to wake up and live the life as usual.

She has to get her son ready for the school, prepare lunch for him,drop him at bus stop and do lot other chores.

While she was at breakfast table with her husband and father in-law, she told them about the nightmare and her husband patted her knuckles and father in-law told her "Keep faith in Wahe Guru.Everything is gonna be alright" which bought a meek smile on her face, but deep down she still wants to burst out in tears and cry her heart out.

The very thought of that night and the nights that succeed is giving her shudders.She is weak both mentally and physically.She is only 29 years old and into her seventh year of wedlock, with a son who is 5.

After her husband and his father left for their jobs, she surfed through channels on her television set, didn't found anything enough to divert her thoughts, so she turned it off and went to the book shelf and took out the Guru Granth Sahib, covered her head with dupatta and start reading it 

"Even kings and emperors, with mountains of property and oceans of wealth - these are not even equal to an ant, who does not forget God." 

And she recalled another quote in her mind, she read somewhere else "Dukh mai simran sab karen, sukh mai kare na koi. Jo sukh mai simran karen, to dukh kaye ko hove"

and a smirk appeared on her lips, and she read the Granth further 

For each and every person, our Lord and Master provides sustenance. Why are you so afraid, O mind? The flamingos fly hundreds of miles, leaving their young ones behind. Who feeds them, and who teaches them to feed themselves? Have you ever thought of this in your mind?

All this and much more bought some transistory peace to her.

Meanwhile the doorbell buzzed and it was her son.He came running and hugged her tightly, she ruffled his sweat filled hair and kissed his forehead and changed his clothes while he kept his jibber jabber on, about what happened in the school. She smiled at the empty lunchbox as she checked his school bag, and asked "Puttar! You liked the pronthas?" to which he nodded.

And than he asked "What happened to my new born sister?". She starts sobbing and took handful of napkins from the napkin box on the table and covered her eyes and face.The little boy asked "What happened mumma?."

To which she cleared her throat and wiped her tears and told him "Puttar! She deserved a better a place to live. So she left us all, for her heavenly abode." He nodded.

She opened the Guru Granth Sahib that was lying there on the table and read to him 

He Himself makes the mortals anxious, and He Himself takes the anxiety away.

To which he smiled. And they had their lunch.

She went to her bedroom and lay down on bed and recalled everything, and it feels like yesterday to her, when she was rushed to hospital to deliver a premature child of 6.5 months and doctor assured her that the child is fully developed except for the lungs, for which they will keep the child under observation, to which she readily agreed and left the child in the hospital and did all the rituals of taking bath and distributing sweets and what not.

Little did she know that in just couple of days the things will go upside down.

After two days of observation doctor called her husband and said "Sorry, your daughter is no more."

Hell broke on them.

And she turned to bury her face in the wet pillow as her son entered the room with his homework.

And after years of faith and believe in Nanak she is blessed with a girl child, which she named as RavNoor(God's Light).

Today she reads the Granth to her daughter who is 3years now.

They, who have no eyes in their face, are not called blind. They alone are blind, O Nanak, who stray away from their Lord.

Little did she knew,that someday all that pain and agony will become a distant memory, and she stuck to her Lord.