I can make anything to happen!
‘Which idiot is calling me at midnight?’, I yelled and opened the front door, eyes half closed and half opened. The huge figure wrapped in a big sari, the lady in the opposite house was there and I rubbed my eyes to make sure that it was not a dream. Damsels from heaven used to appear in my dreams earlier but of late, only negative feminine characters of Ramayana are visiting me in sleep. But this is not a dream, it is real. I’m awake!
‘Meera, eami sangathi ? You, in this midnight? What is the matter?’, I muttered, giving respect to her gender and age.
‘Pada, take me to the Saibaba maternity home’, she ordered in her hoarse voice.
‘Santhosha vartha meeru naakku cheppalaeaethae’. Oh, congrats! You didn’t give me the happy news earlier ‘
I looked at her middle part but was difficult to gauge whether she was pregnant or not as the entire front portion looked like a barrel, covered with a color cloth.
‘Not me, my daughter in law Ramalakshmi. Jeldi randi. come fast’.
I pleaded my helplessness . ‘ I’m not a doctor, not even a midwife, in what way I am going to be useful to your DIL?
I have never delivered a baby ’
‘You can make it happen. You have an obligation, nay responsibility, my daughter says’
‘Obligation, responsibility, my God, what am I hearing! I was shocked. ‘upon God, I’m telling you, I have no obligation, no responsibility. I’m totally innocent, harmless, came here just a couple of months ago. I was away for one year’
‘Don’t tell me stories. ‘I want SP, I want now’, says my daughter’
‘But, for her I was uncle, while in good moods or thatha while in not-that – good mood. She never used to call me SP’
‘SP!’
‘Now you’re calling me SP? ‘
‘When your are SP for her, you’re SP for me too. Come on. She is waiting for you, carrying a baby ready to come out, which will happen, the moment you land there. You have to make that happen’.
‘I have to make that happen!’
What is she talking about after waking me up from my deep sleep, midnight !
I told her the truth. ‘Madam, I have no car. I never had a car. I don’t even have a two wheeler. You know, I can’t walk to the Nursing home. You carry on now. I will come early morning to see the baby and give my blessings’
She didn’t say a word. She pulled me by her big hand and took me to the street ahead where a few rickshas were parked. ‘Drive on’, she ordered me, after occupying one.
‘But, how? I never drove an auto ricksha. Bicycle rickshas I used to drive , when I was jobless. Anyway sit in the center. The ricksha is tilting to a side. She moved to the center and the moment her full weight jammed the driver who was sleeping there, he yelled, ‘Devuda, Devuda, God, I’m getting crushed, I’m dying’.
My neighbor ordered the driver: ‘get up and drive the ricksha to Saibaba Nursing Home, fast. Glad that you are inside your ricksha’
Her daughter, mother of three girls, all prepared to deliver her fourth baby, may be a boy, may be a girl, made me to sit on a chair near her bed and said, ‘uncle, I know your relationship with my mother’.
‘My relationship with your mother ! I know her as a neighbor, that is all. Nothing more, nothing less, that too only for the past two months. Last year when I left for USA, my opposite house was vacant and when I came back, it was richly occupied by your mom’
‘Yes, I know. And on the very first day you landed, she saw you standing near your side gate and without any formalities, enquired where your wife was. You replied you’re unmarried and raising both your hands up said, ‘I’m looking for a big wife.’ She become very close to you from that time’.
‘Close to me in what sense?’, my voice had started shivering.
‘She is your FB friend and likes any rubbish you write.
It was great relief. If closeness is restricted to FB , nothing to worry. I’m safe.
‘Uncle, I’m in a critical position,’ she continued. ‘ It is going to be Caesarian for me. My husband wants my present baby to be a boy and he has gone to Tirupathy seeking Lord Venkateswara’s help. The doctor has posted my case for tomorrow morning and I need 40k before 8am.. I have my husband’s two ATM cards but don’t know the passwords. . I know two passwords but the relevant cards are not with me. The moment my husband is back, your money will be returned ‘
‘If the Baby happens to be a girl again and your husband in utter dejection goes back to Tirupathy, what will you do?’ asked the old lady. Wrong question in wrong time, which deserved no reply. But, the daughter had a reply, which shook me to my roots.
‘Shut up mom. I’m sure my next baby will be a male and I know that SP will make it happen ‘.
While I was standing stunned without knowing what to say, the daughter asked, ‘SP, will you please go home and get your ATM card? There is a center right across the road’.
‘SP will make it happen’, assured the mother and asked the riksha wallah to take me home and bring me back safely
‘And come again tomorrow morning with sweets to bless the baby, your baby!’, the mother -to-be-soon again ordered, while I was coming out.
‘My baby?’, I turned back and asked, anger unavoidably reddening my query.
‘We too are your babies, SP’, hailed happily both the mother and the daughter.
‘You too, madam?’, I turned my sharp eyes towards the obese old lady in the opposite house.
‘Me too’, she declared clearly, loudly and vehemently .
My doubts are cleared. I can make anything to happen.