Chapter - 1
After all the time we had spent with each other, Heena and myself converged on the singular emotion that we loved each other. The people in the family were happy that this finally ended on a logical conclusion - the tie of marriage . But what followed after that in my life was beyond logic and made me question every belief or opinion I held dear. The trip happened and we had a good time , explored places which we only saw in Instagram posts , found the will to invest in some costly food at fine dining places only to find that its the same ingredients but better surroundings and packaging. The hotels were thankfully good and brought more joy to our nights and made it a bit longer than we anticipated . It was a season of merry-go-round . We came back to our place to find an interesting visitor near the front door. An orange kitten. It was meowing as though, it got tired of waiting for us to begin its allotted act in our story. Being Pet friendly folks, our natural instincts were to pet the kitten and then let the decision to be with us or not be the cat's. We left the door ajar for a few minutes after the luggage were brought in , relaxed on the couch with a deep sense of satisfaction and assurance that we are back home where we can Fart in peace without judgements. As we got lost in a moment, she took the first few steps in and came in through the main door . Tiny jumps , some curious peeks and finally one big jump to land on the sofa , head on my lap and her paws on Heena's. The movie began .
Chapter -2
As things would have it Heena started showing symptoms of the next milestone in our lives but we didn't instantly recognize it to not disappoint ourselves after. Her cycle changed and she was becoming a bit picky with what she ate and one night she said she felt something very different and that she better get it checked the day after. The doc obviously confirmed our unspoken lingering thought that we were to become parents. Her hands were on mine and it tightened in its grip . We came back home , sat on the sofa in silence , careful to choose the first few words that came out of our mouths. After a moment, I said - I love you and she broke down in happy tears. We informed our parents a few days later for some random reason , as we wanted to hold onto something as sensitive and private as this just to ourselves and let it be 'our' thing at least for some time. The kitten was given the moniker Cherrita for 'cherry' as cherries grew in pairs and she had spots on her body resembling cherries . She became a part of the household now, got her own toys, bed, potty tray and whatnot. A few months later, she was about to hop in for a cuddle and Heena braced herself for the landing. But Cherrita stopped , glanced at her and tilted her head in bewilderment. Heena wasn't reading into it too much as cats do strange things. But not for long. Cherrita hopped on to the sofa's hand rest, very gracefully like an Oscar award winner pranced with such feminity, came near Heena, bunted ( scratch their head lovingly ) first on Heena's left side , licked it and gave a paw blessing. Then she sniffed the navel , slowly glided over to the other side, still body wrapping around Heena with trademark feline mannerisms and repeated the same act - bunted, licked and paw blessing on the right side. We were just smiling at her when suddenly we both got the same suspicion. Rishi ! She started crying . She held my hands and I also froze in shock. Are we expecting , she began . I muttered ... twins ? . We looked deep into our eyes completely unprepared for this kind of a conversation. Let's find out tomorrow . Don't overthink this until we have facts Heena, I said with conviction , silencing my own thoughts .
Chapter -3
The doctor was surprised to see us , as we were not due for a visit until few more weeks but welcomed us with no judgements as she was used to paranoid Newbie parents. All good ? She asked . We both nodded holding hands . Heena started crying and soon, I started sweating. The doctor asked with a chuckle - What, you guys are guilty you had sex with the baby IN and now worried if the baby is alright ? Don't worry , obviously you would have chosen a position more comfortable for her and as long as the penetration didn't put too much pressure on the stomach, you are allowed to still be intimate for a few more weeks or months I dare say. We were still speechless. What ! Speak something, I am not paid for a monologue . I gestured to the doctor showing 2 fingers , like the victory symbol. She didn't understand for a second before she herself in excitement asked, Wait - what you guys think its twins ? That's my job to confirm Lovelies - you couples always come with different dramas ! haha . She prepared the lotion, had heena lie down and started carefully studying the screen . She nodded and then made some notes . She nodded again and asked us to wait there for a moment. Went out, brought in a senior doctor named Susheela . Her grey hair, the wrinkles on her face , the specs over head and the confidence in her walk made us feel like we were with our grand mother. The doctor didn't take more than few seconds and confirmed the single thought across the room - This is confirmed Twins - these two better start saving money for 2 college applications ! See the 2 shapes here, these are 2 healthy fetuses ! We started crying profusely and I didn't know what came over me, with zero civic sense I hugged the Dr Susheela tightly and started crying even more. She was shocked for a moment but simply stood there not returning my hug until I gathered myself. Then she patted me thrice on the back , held my hands and looked me into the eyes and said,
"Whatever gave you this , will also provide you to take care of this - Just breathe, take this IN with no thoughts or judgements , simply accept it in peace and joy - one day at a time, you both can figure it out slowly with time . God bless you both !" .
Now I have get back to what I was doing - I have got other patients to help , she began to move towards the door , turned to looked at our doctor, lowered her specs and said, I am damn sure you knew this yourself , then why did you call me here ? Dr Indra warmly replied with a big smile , Doctor, you are right. I knew , but I wanted this wonderful news to be confirmed by someone whose Blessed hands had delivered over 100s of babies as a form of protection and Good Energy. Dr Susheela , nodded in humility and gestured to the skies as though saying, "we are just doing our duty but what's ordained upstairs alone prevails" and again smiled at Heena before she left. I was thinking, while the whole world is still in tatters wasting time on the debate of existence of God in the arrogance of an evolving human intelligence, here is a world with people with actual skill , Intelligence and Experience still attributing their work to the Supreme in Silent faith and humility. We asked the doctor , 'what now?' . She said , 'We wait'. And she addressed the elephant in the room. How on god's green earth , did you both suspect this ? We said, we have an angel ourselves at home and narrated the incident . She was amazed at how life arranges the events in our lives. She gave us some advice on the usual matters and some tips to read the situation correctly without going into a fear-spiral. A Good doctor is someone who empowers us in such a way that we don't lose the reliance on the doctor for their knowledge, at the same time we don't completely depend on them for everything . Just the right amount of knowledge and restraint .
Chapter - 4
Our days followed with renewed vigor , attention and silence. Visits from the family were more often , Cherrita started getting a bit chonky herself because of all the treats as people started pampering her once they knew this was the soul that recognized it first. We started baby-proofing the apartment, as we had our own place, a gated community with neighbors who rarely interacted with each other unless by chance but never with purpose. We started going through the finances , the pre-started commitments which will require us to move some funds ahead of the Big date. Luckily, it was the time of getting the yearly bonus at my end , I was never this desperate to receive it in all these years. We cut down on our luxury spends, reduced it to just one OTT subscription , fewer trips with the car to save fuel expense, took the stairs to get fitter , drank more water , stood more in the balcony to get some sun , removed the aggressive movies from our watchlists, cleared old shelves and gave away unused clothes to the maid's children, started feeding dogs on the road and called up people in our lives to say sorry / thanks and what not as a humble way of making amends, creating a positive world around us by reaching out to the people in our lives . We are not the most religious but we are believers , we started lighting lamps in the evening, burnt camphor on fridays and incense sticks every 2 days. We were surprised how life can evoke the untapped dormant patterns in us at the most random junctures. The visits to the doctor were becoming more regular and we requested a local auto driver to be on standby by paying him a bonus amount for an anticipatory call. Heena glowed with such aura that I began to respect and worship her, and what I thought as Love , a few months before started getting expressed in so many different ways. She also grew increasingly close to me , completely letting her guards down , softening her natural self reliant attitude. The date was marked and we informed our immediate neighbors to look out for us, handle any visitors or parcels . Thankfully they were understanding and not as nonchalant as we feared and they even prepared some meals from time to time for us, invited us for some conversations and gave us some ideas to handle the situation. Its surprising and scary to actually see the Doctor's words manifest with such force - what ever gave you this will also provide for it . Things began to align itself , people and events , as though the 2 unborn pure souls where literally controlling everything on the outside from the inside and we were both just helpless characters simply accepting whatever happened around us with gratitude.
Chapter - 5
Heena was lying on the bed clutching the pillows , this time in pain and not in pleasure. I stood helpless beside , taking rhythmic breaths, sweating profusely and looking deep into her eyes as she was doing her bit - the most important one. Dr Indra was adept in her profession, with a calm demeanor her confidence and focus was stunning. The nurses around all were holding some medical equipments, ready to serve at the command of the chief doctor. Time seemed to slow down, especially when I wanted all of this to be done as soon as possible. I was hoping with such sincerity that she must deliver these babies the natural way as the thought of Heena being opened in the middle and suffer months of discomfort made me fear I might love my babies any lesser than they deserve . A whole mess of conflicting emotions - the health of the babies, the hospital bill to be settled , the items at work that need to be completed after my paltry 5 day paternity holiday , the agonizing state of Heena , the thought of C-section - at some point it felt as though I was fainting myself, like I became numb to all human emotions and I just wanted to force shut down myself and not see or think anything . She gave a huge cry , more intense than the previous ones and I was desperate for a male company myself to ground me, but I managed by myself. Her contractions were becoming closer and finally out popped the 1st head . In a few minutes, came another. At that moment , I felt as though something touched my core. It was an indescribable tsunami of peace, joy, fear and bliss. We were now parents of two mixed gender twin babies - as though to balance each other out and complete our family. Heena was almost on her edge, but she composed herself with the help of the medics around her. The Doctor herself, just in the very last few seconds displayed some semblance of emotion - to remind that this is also a human being doing this whole thing with such poise. They cleaned up the babies, and brought them over to be placed near Heena for a few seconds and then took them away for observation of vitals. I noticed my shirt was drenched heavily in sweat and tears , but I somehow gained a great deal of confidence that I can manage this , simply because I have Heena in my life . I realized how much I loved her. I paced myself , went out and conveyed the news to the gathered close family . The hospital was kind enough to give us some complimentary Baby kits and other utilities as it was the 25th year of Hospital's Existence and every delivery was treated special. Dr Indra came back again , with the usual stoic look of gritty calm and initiated me into the Fatherhood protocol.
I am still shaking as I narrate all this, to share with you all, given that Cherrita has now grown so fond of my own babies , Ritwik and Spandana , now 2 years. Thanks for travelling this journey with me.
If you were an expecting couple , I wish you all the luck .
If you are a trying couple , I wish you all the Luck again .
Just be a Couple - because , that's the whole point of being in a marriage .
