A GIFT FROM GOD

Naina’s arms held her bundle of joy with tenderness and care. She was unashamed of the tears of relief that ran down her cheeks. Her gaze was lovingly focused on her new born daughter’s pink cheeks and curly hair. Her small eyes were half open. Just then her husband came in with his parents. They looked thrilled and took the baby in their arms turn by turn.

‘After all, they are grandparents now,’ she thought.

She could never forget the ordeals she had to undergo at their hands when for seven years after marriage she had not conceived. It had not been that she did not want a child. She wanted one more than anything in the world. But the wait had been unduly long. So she had turned to rising up her career graph. The pointed barbs, the veiled opposition to everything that she wanted to do, all were everyday affairs. Anand, however, had been a pillar of support through those trying times. Then all of a sudden, during a family function, she had been introduced to Anand’s cousin, Dr. Bhargavi.

Even then, her mother in-law butted in and made a hurtful statement “Beti, this is Naina, my daughter in-law, who has been married for seven long years and still not a mother.” Her apparent disdain and the hurt look on Naina’s face had registered on Dr. Bhargavi’s mind. She pushed her card in Naina’s hand and said in a whisper, “Meet me tomorrow at five in the evening.”

Naina looked at the card and was stunned. Dr. Bhargavi was a gynecologist and ran a well known infertility clinic.

Naina had been quite hesitant at first. But when she showed the card to her husband, he had insisted that they go to her clinic together. 

 That had been a momentous decision. The doctor had various tests done, and happily, Anand had been extremely co-operative when she suggested in-vitro fertilization as the line of treatment. They had not breathed a word to Anand’s parents about their visits to the clinic. Within a few months, Naina became pregnant. As soon as parents in-law came to know of her pregnancy, their attitude towards her completely changed. Her mother in-law became really concerned and caring. She became over protective. She refused to allow Naina to do any work. She even asked Naina to forgive and forget her past comments.  

Nine months down the line, now, when her baby has made its entry into this world, Naina is content seeing her family together in this moment of joy.

 ‘My daughter is truly a gift from God,’ she thought happily.