Business
Nimi Kurian
29 June 2009, 14:01Her mobile was ringing again. Every morning at eight sharp, for the past one week, he had been calling. She was beginning to dread the calls. But she answered. It was work afterall.
“Hello!” she said.
“Hello! Kamala! What has happened? One week and no news. I promised those people one week ago. They are getting impatient. How long do you expect them to wait?”
“Rajan, its babies we are talking about. We cannot manufacture them. We have to wait and watch. Only when there is an opportunity we can do something. Be patient.”
“Arrey! I can be patient. But that couple will not. They are so excited. They say they have decorated the new room for the baby. Bought a baby cot and everything else. They want to move into their new house with the new baby. Do something fast!”
“Okay, okay. I get your point. I will do my best. Actually today I may have a chance. There’s a mother in the hospital ready to deliver. It may be tonight. So be prepared. I will call you when she goes into labour.”
“Fine. I will wait for you call then. But please don’t delay any longer.”
Kamala got ready and went off to work at the government hospital. She was the ‘ayah’ and as she had been working there for a almost 30 years, she never got around to doing much work. She walked around the wards, bossing the other workers, tried to chat up patients understanding their backgrounds and shouted at the ward boys in filthy language if they asked her what she was doing wandering around the maternity ward.
Today she zeroed in on Bed No. 8. Yesterday, Kamala had had a long conversation with Raji. She now knew that Raji was the second wife of a farm labourer. The first wife couldn’t give him a son so he had sent her home. Raji was praying hard that her baby would be a boy, so that she too didn’t have to face the ignomy of being sent home. Her husband of course couldn’t leave the land and come and sit by her side. He had asked his mother, but she said she was too old and tired to be sitting in the hospital. Raji was secretly glad that the old woman would not come. She would not have been able to handle the pain and the old woman’s tongue at the same time!
“What about your mother?” Kamala had asked.
“She was all set to come, but my husband told her not to. He said, his family was well equipped to take care of me and they would do so. He was very rude to my mother.”
Kamala nodded understandingly. “Yes, they are all like that. But don’t worry. I am here for you. I am like your mother. I will take care of you. Whenever you want me just send word through one of these boys. Just ask them to call Kamalamma and before you know it I will be here.”
Raji was happy. At least here was one person who was kind and understanding. She knew she could trust Kamala.
So this morning when she saw Kamala she was overjoyed. Kamala went and sat by her bedside.
“Would you like something to drink? Some coffee or mosambi juice? Just tell me and I will get it for you.”
“No, no I am fine. I think the pains are starting. I suddenly felt something half an hour ago.”
“Then you better rest. Did you tell the doctor?”
Raji shook her head. “No doctor has come this way till now. Anyway I will wait. The nurse told me that the pain will come in quick succession. Then I must tell her.”
“In that case, I will wait with you.”
Raji’s eyes filled with tears of gratitude towards this stranger who was so kind.
By afternoon, Raji was in great pain. But it was evening by the time they wheeled her in. Kamala was by side all the time. Never once did she leave her. She sat by her side, wiping her face, holding her hand and comforting her.
Once Raji was taken in, Kamala sneaked out of the hospital and made a call.
“She’s gone in for her delivery. Try to be here soon. Don’t park in the hospital car park. Try to park in the side lane at the back of the hospital. Wait by the service gate. I will come anytime between 6.30 and 10.”
Rajan agreed and the call was cut.
Kamala scurried back to the delivery room. Very soon, she heard the cry of the baby.
“Thank god! The baby is fine,” she said.
Raji was wheeled back to the room. And once she was made comfortable, the baby was brought to her. By the time Kamala saw her, Raji was in tears.
“It’s a girl Kamalamma. It’s a girl. What will I do?”
“There! There! Don’t cry. She what a beautiful girl she is. He minute your husband sees her he will fall in love with her. Just you watch. And you are young. You can have many more babies. So don’t cry like this. It will upset the baby too.”
Raji was comforted by these words. She looked at her little daughter sleeping beside her and she thought, “Yes, indeed she is a beautiful baby.”
Less troubled, Raji dozed off. Kamala looked around. It was visiting time. And the whole ward was a confusion of people and noise. There didn’t seem to be nurses or ward boys around. Seizing her chance she quietly grabbed the baby and ran out.
She walked briskly down the steps, through the corridors until finally she was at the service entrance. She opened the small gate. She saw Rajan. Quickly she handed the bundle to him.
“Go. Go. Fast. I will come and collect my money tomorrow. Keep it ready.”
Rajan didn’t need to be told a second time. He rushed to his Tata Sumo. As he got in, the driver started and they whizzed off. Kamala, hurried back to the hospital. But she couldn’t go back to the ward as yet. Instead she went to the canteen. She ordered a plate of samosas and a coffee. When the samosas came she ate one. Then she spat it out, and shouted at the waiter.
“You call this a samosa? You idiot! Where is the cook? I will teach him to make samosas.”
The manager came rushing out and Kamala shouted at him too. The manager tried to calm her down but she would not listen.
Finally, she walked out of the canteen refusing to pay. The manager was only too relieved to see her go.
Back in the ward, pandemonium ruled. Raji had woken up and found her baby gone. She was sobbing. Kamala rushed to her and hugged her.
“We will call the police. This kind of thing is happening once too often,” said Kamala.
The police were called. They questioned everybody. When they questioned Kamala, Raji objected. “No, no,” she said. “Kamala is like a mother to me. She was the one who sat with me throughout.”
“So where were you between 6.30 and 7.30?” they asked her.
“I was by Raji’s side throughout. Then when she had dozed off I went to the canteen for a snack and coffee.”
The manager at the canteen and the waiter remembered Kamala very well. “Oh yes, she was here alright. I am not going to forget that in a hurry.”
The police struck Kamala’s name of the list of suspects and continued with their enquiries.
The next morning, a young couple were given a new baby. They signed papers (which they did not know were forged) and paid the money agreed upon. They drove home to their new home with their baby.
“God has been kind to us, Urmila.”
“Yes Sanjay. He has indeed blessed us abundantly.”
Terrific…was Kamala a gujju ?
— Jude · Jul 1, 07:33 · #