Page 162 of 12 Years
I gave him my four-digit password. He noted it down on his phone. For someone in cardiac pain, he seemed quite alert.
The doorbell rang a minute later—Dr Verma had arrived.
‘What happened, Anandji?’ Dr Verma said.
‘Chest pain since last night,’ Dad said.
Dr Verma put on his stethoscope and checked Dad’s heartbeat. ‘There is some arrhythmia,’ he said after a while. ‘If you want, we can admit him in the hospital for a night or two and run some tests. Maybe run a continuous ECG,’ Dr Verma said.
‘Hospital?’ Mom said, looking concerned. ‘What happened to him?’
‘Relax, Yashodhaji. Just being cautious. We don’t want to take chest pain lightly.’
I took the stairs at Kokilaben Hospital, each step heavy and tired. I had come straight from work, braving two hours of Mumbai traffic to reach the hospital in Andheri. It was close to 11 p.m. when I entered Dad’s room. He was watching Sudarshan News on the television.
‘Sorry, I’m late,’ I said. ‘Work and traffic. Both too much.’
‘Come, sit. Did you have dinner?’ Dad said.
‘I did,’ I lied. I hadn’t had dinner, lunch or breakfast. Not for the past two days. I just couldn’t eat. Akanksha had told me that Saket had reached out to her. He’d even met her. She’d also said that Saket seemed desperate and obsessive, and that I should stay away from him. Of course, he would be desperate and obsessive, just as I was to see and talk to him. I so wanted to call Saket. Ask him to meet me. To hold me once and tell me everything was going to be okay.
‘How are you today? What did the doctors say?’ I said.
‘By God’s grace, I’m lucky,’ Dad said.
‘What had happened?’
‘They discovered a blockage in one artery. Over ninety per cent.’
‘Oh no.’
‘Don’t worry. They’ll do an angio and put in a stent tomorrow. I’ll be okay after that. All God’s blessings.’
‘I’m glad, Dad,’ I said.
‘Thank you. Call Parimal, beta. He’s a good boy. Ever since the engagement, you haven’t spoken to him.’
‘That wasn’t supposed to be an engagement, Dad. You tricked me.’
‘I did what is good for you. Have you even spent some quality time with Parimal? Gone out for a meal with him? Spoken to him about the future?’
‘Why should I? Stop trying to control me so much, Dad.’
Dad looked away from me. He began taking short, fast breaths. I immediately called the nurse on night duty. She took his pulse.
‘Why are you up so late? Exerting yourself like this. Sleep now,’ the nurse said to him. She turned to me. ‘Madam, don’t visit so late. Exertion isn’t good for heart patient.’
‘Sorry, nurse. I’ll leave now,’ I said, getting up. ‘Bye, Dad.’
Dad held me by my wrist. ‘It’s your father’s wish, beta … I could die anytime. Please marry Parimal. He’s good for you.’
I took several long breaths to keep my composure. Then I extracted my hand from my father’s grip and left the room.
As I walked towards the hospital exit, my head began to spin. Everything turned dark and I collapsed and fell on the floor.
‘Ah, you’re up,’ Akanksha said. She was in the middle of recording her own video on her phone, which was attached to a selfie stick.
I looked around. I saw that there was an IV drip attached to my left hand. Clearly, I was in a hospital room, and Akanksha was making a reel about being in a hospital. Okay, was this all real or was it a weird dream?
