A Pause
A Pause
One Week later…At home
"Where is Ishaan?" Ayaan asked.
"Ishaan is in the hospital, he is not well", Riya said.
Time passed, Ayaan slowly moved on with his routine. He realized that Ishaan would never return. He has a memory that Ishaan was not well and admitted to the hospital. Ayaan has a blackout of that particular week and the vision which he witnessed on that day.
In a few months, everything was normal for Ayaan. It hurts to let go but it hurts more to hold on. So was the case for Rahul and Riya. Ishaan was still live in their hearts and memories. Due his responsibilities, Rahul was managing with the big loss and continuing with his routine. But, Riya was not. She was doing everything for Ayaan but completely stressed out because of that accident. She was not able to manage her stress. She was always in her thoughts with Ishaan, She wanted him back!
When Rahul and Riya shifted to that house with Ishaan and Ayaan, the first thing they worked was, increased the height of the balustrade (railing of the balcony). As the kids were small, shall start walking in a few months, better to have a childproof higher railing in the balcony. They made it a little higher, but not fully covered to touch the ceiling of the balcony.
During these few weeks after the accident, once Ayaan awakened from sleep and said this to Riya, "Mom, Ishaan didn't listen to me. I told him you will fall, get down, but he said, don't worry Ayaan, god is with me. He was climbing up on the railing Mom. But, while coming down, ...(a pause by Ayaan) ...he lost the balance and fall down." Ayaan cried and slept again after some time.
Ayaan never recollect this conversation with Riya again.
On the other side, Riya was very depressed because she wanted to find her son, and that was not possible. Rahul was trying to help Riya, so that she could get out of it. They started thinking to plan for a baby. After a few months, Riya became pregnant. The
time passed away, and during her pregnancy too, she had the same thought, Ishaan will be back to her. She was waiting to see this little one, a new member in the family. She always used to say a Hindi phrase, "Palak zapakte hi sab badal jana, aisa suna tha. Ab lagta hai, wo mere liye hi likha tha." My world has changed in just few seconds.
After the accident, Rahul and Riya left that city. Rahul looked for an opportunity and got his job location transferred to a new city. Thinking that, location change may give them little peace, because whenever they used to think about Ishaan in that house, always feeling had been the same. "Kaash hamne railing full covered bana li hoti to, aaj Ishaan hamare sath hota."
Finally, the day, when Riya gave birth to the little one, an angel in their life!
And by god's grace, they blessed with a cute baby girl! Riya was very happy, and a surprise was, the little girl was a complete resemblance of Ishaan. She looks very similar to Ishaan! Not a boy, but Riya was very happy and accepted the fact as "Ishaani", they gave name to the little girl.
Ishaan will never come back, and the guilt about that balustrade (railing of the balcony) will always there with Rahul and Riya.
A learning for all, who are reading or who can just share this story with others in their contacts. Nobody makes such mistakes knowingly, but such incidents just happen and we realize it later. And guilt for it forever. Later we say, we couldn't help it, or maybe it was decided by destiny for them etc.
But, we can do whatever is in our hands, or whatever we can do with our mindfulness.
Yes, it's an actual story and an acute incident, which happened with one of my friends. I just tried to write it down and gave words to the feelings, emotions and the situation, which they had been through.⁹
Now, Ayaan is 9 and the little daughter Ishaani is 5, and again a happy family.