Chapter - 25 (Mr. Rajan Gets Back Home) 

Akanksha was not exaggerating when she told her mother that they owed to Dr. Jishnu big time for Mr. Rajan's second lease of life. Even the veteran cardiologist, Dr. Amlan Sarkar expressed the same opinion to Mrs. Sania the day Mr. Rajan was discharged from the hospital, almost two weeks after he had suffered the attacks. As the Senior Nurse handed over the file to Mrs. Sania, having already explained when the medicines were to be given and all that, she told her (Mrs. Sania) to call either of the two numbers printed at the top of the prescription. Dr. Sarkar, on a round at that precise moment, happened to stop by and in fact, said in a friendly tone:

" You must be delighted to take your husband home. The past two weeks must have been a constant worry for you all. We're also happy for Mr. Rajan's speedy recovery. But all credit to Dr.Jishnu. Your husband could have been in a far more critical condition without the timely interference of Dr. Jishnu."

Mrs. Sania requested Dr. Sarkar if he could be contacted in case there was a probkem. She also asked the jovial senior doctor to thank Dr. Jishnu on their behalf as Dr. Jishnu was not available at the time of Mr. Rajan's discharge. 

She had already decided to invite him to their house at a more suitable time. Anushka called from the ground floor to tell her that the cab was waiting as the cabin boy dragged the wheel chair with Mr. Rajan sitting on it, out of the cabin, along the long, mosaic corridor and waited outside the lift. Mrs. Sania and Akanksha followed close behind.

They got inside the cab. Mr. Rajan in the middle of the back seat with his wife and Anushka on either side, while Akanksha sat on the front seat beside the driver. They all kept unnaturally quiet throughout the journey. Only once after Mr. Rajan leaned his head against the back of the seat, did Anushka ask her father if he was comfortable, to which he nodded with a vacant expression on his face. 

For the rest of the ride back home, Anushka kept looking outside, careful not to hurt her father in anyway by unknowingly pressing against him. When the cab passed Ladies Park, especially the part which had been converted into a children's park with the swings, see-saw and all those marble.statues, statues of faces and stuff like that - Anushka, all on a sudden, was reminded of the day when both she and Akanksha had pestered their father for accompanying them to that corner of the park. 

"We are bored, Baba. Sitting at home like this, with nothing to do! Why don't you take us to Ladies Park, say, for and evening stroll? The sisters had cried out in unison. 

While the sisters had spent the rest of the evening having the time of their lives on the swings and sliding poles, Mr. Rajan, a very reclusive man by nature, ran from the merry-go-round to the swing, back to the sliding poles, watching the sisters having fun. 

How young her father looked then as Anushka thought watching the glow on his face as the sisters clapped and screamed going up and down in the merry-go-round. 

Recolkecting those childhood days, Anushka cast a sidelong glance at the immobile figure of her father beside her. She had only noticed recently how skeletal he had become over time. What did bro Jishnu tell him last evening when she met him in the Doctors' Chamber right after the Visiting Hour? He had earlier come to the cabin, went over to the teenager who got admitted the night before, having complained of a severe chest pain and backaches. The boy was lying with the drip inserted in his bandaged hand, as Anushka saw Dr. Jishnu answering a question posed by his father, 

Later, he came around to Mr. Rajan's bed. Anushka looked up at the handsome charmer of a doctor and stood up to offer her plastic chair to him in case he wanted to ask her father anything. Dr.Jishnu glanced at her before asking her father some questions like how he was feeling, if he was exited to go back home shortly and so on. Anushka noticed that her father answered most of the questions in momosyllables. And after a while, he closed his eyes and fell asleep. While Anushka accompanied Dr. Jishnu to the door, he told her that Mr. Sarkar, the senior doctor, would definitely tell them everything in detail later on, before her father got discharged. But there was no denying the fact that the family members had to be extra careful once Mr. Rajan went back home. He mustn't be allowed to do any heavy physical work. He must be given enough time to rest and recover. Finally, and most importantly, he mustn't be made excited under any circumstances. Of course, science and technology had advanced by leaps and bounds over the years, and people suffering from various heart ailments, were living longer than before. Even then utmost caution was to be exercised in taking care of her father. 

Dr. Jishnu also told her, looking somber and grave, outside her father's cabin that Mr. Rajan was lucky to have survived the attacks for the first time. But if it happened again, Mr. Rajan might not be so lucky again (Bro.Jishnu sounded more like the boy she had come to like in the days he started teaching her). Besides, even if he got through a second attack, the consequences would be severe in all probabilities. Such patients mostly got confined to bed for the rest of their lives. 

Dr. Jishnu would have continued talking about the implications of her father suffering another heart attack to Anushka, had he not noticed, how pale she was looking at that time.despite her striking looks. 

"I'm sorry, Anushka. I shouldn't have talked about all this to you but tomorrow I'll be out of station when Rajan uncle gets discharged. I won't get to meet either Akanksha or auntie in the evening as I've outdoor duties tonight."

He stopped then and faced Anushka with those dark, hypnotic eyes. 

Mr. Rajan was lying in bed in their room on the ground floor. The paid Nurse left sometime after eight at night. Anushka got up from the couch, turned off the TV and walked around the dining table towards the kitchen. Akku was helping Ma out in the kitchen. She sneaked a peek in from the door. Mrs. Sania on hearing her daughter's footsteps, turned her head around to find her younger daughter. 

"Anu, it must be nearly 8.30. Time for your dad to have the medicine. Why don't you go over and give it to him? You'll find the strips of the tablet in an envelope in the drawer. Please hurry up, will you?"

Anushka cast a look at her sister's direction. Of late, since Baba's return home, Akku seemed to be spending a lot of time in the kitchen, supposedly helping Ma. She was done with the gulabjumuns right then. She put the steaming pot down from the oven and wiping her forehead with the back of her right palm, uttered:

"Ma, once they have singed completely in the sugary water, I'd like you to pick and keep a few for Baba. He'd have it tomorrow. He's always been so fond of the sweets."

"That's okay. Next time you make the gulabjamuns, we'll keep aside a few and offer them to the gods in the altar room first. Make sure to use the other oven that time, Akku." She told Akanksha. Then, as if remembering something, she added,

"That reminds me, Akku. Don't forget to ring Jishnu tonight regarding the alternate tablet. I looked everywhere and it isn't available anywhere." She hastened to add. 

The last thing Anushka heard as she proceeded towards her parents' room was Mrs. Sania telling her elder daughter, "And don't you forget to ask him either if he is available this Sunday. It's high time we showed how grateful we are to him by inviting him."

"So that's why Akku's started taking such a keen interest in cooking these days. Her fave Jishnuda, after all, is a famed foodie," Anushka said to herself as she turned the knob of her parents' room, without trying to make the least bit of noise.