My sweetheart Kanna…! ENGLISH STORY

 

 CORONA - COVID - 19

 My sweetheart Kanna…!

Kuru Aravinthan

After bathing the baby, the nurse brought the baby to the Niru, who was lying unconscious in the maternity hospital. Staring at the baby’s face, she gently kissed the baby on the cheek and hugged him saying “sweetheart, Kanna” and buried her face on him and began to cry.

“Give the baby madam, I’ll keep him.”, said the nurse who understand the situation.

“No… no… He is his sweet Kannan. I’ll only keep him carefully until he comes.”, she sighed like a psycho. At the next moment, she became silent hugging the baby tightly into her. The nurse knew that some mothers would suffer from this postpartum mental illness, usually after childbirth.

“What happened…?”, the nurse’s supportive question makes her who had been broken by the pain, to tell everything to the nurse.

The cell phone rang early in the morning like never before.

 I looked back lying on the bed. His cell phone was just calling. He was fast asleep. I took the cell phone without disturbing his sleep. The call came from the hospital.

As he had taken two days off, he was sleeping soundly. The struggle over whether or not to wake him up stopped me for a moment. Why they make call at this time? Is it not the duty of the doctor to save the life of someone who is in danger? My conscience told me that it is okay to wake him up from sleep.

I woke him up and gave him the cell phone. He talked for a while saying that “I’m coming” and then looked back at me. I said nothing. I had just persuaded him to take leave because he needed rest as he wandered off to work always. He was in an awkward situation.

“What?”, I asked in a single word.

“They are asking me to come in a hurry. I cannot deny. I told that I’m coming.”, he looked at me miserably.

 I got anger and irritability suddenly. Why this kind of work is needed without being able to rest one day and be with the family? He was waiting for my answer. That made me even more annoyed. Because he was making the decision alone and he is expecting me to shake my head up and down.

“You have told that you are coming. Then why are you looking at me? Just go…”

“Really, shall I go?”, he saw me as if I am a miraculous born without counting my anger. He knew that my anger lasts only for a short period of time.

I leaned my head on his shoulder and sobbed as he came closer due to my desperate situation. For a few days I felt like I was not having interest on anything. This cell phone news also vanished my happiness that he will be with me for two days.

“Sorry…!”, he tapped my head gently.

“For my sweetheart Kannan…!”, saying that he bent down and gave me a kiss on the stomach. I needed this closeness just because I was pregnant. Small wishes like this, that is why I asked him to take rest for two days and stay with us. But I could not even enjoy this pleasure.

 I handed him the coffee when he was ready to go. “See, take pills from time to time, then my sweet Kannan should not blame me that dad did not take care of him. Do not argue with Meenu babe. Children would be like this. It is our responsibility to make them as good citizens. Understand?”, I nodded my head with a smile on my face as usual as I understood what he was saying.

Meenu babe was asleep. He went near and kissed her on the forehead and stood looking at her for a while. He buried his feelings inside himself and left as if he was not showing anything outside.

It has been three years since I married him, doctor Kiritharan. The marriage took place according to the wishes of the parents. First child is a girl, Meenadchi. It has now been confirmed that it is male child who is in the womb. Both of us were thinking severely every day just to select a name for him.

“Couldn’t you stop him by telling him not to go?”, said mom.

They were the ones who selected doctor as their groom stubbornly. They were the ones who repeatedly instilled into her the desire to marry a doctor to rise the family respect. Now they understand the reality and suffer without knowing whom to blame.

“Does this man need this work without even remembering that he has a family?”, she could understand mom’s anger with the sound of her murmuring while she was washing the dishes in the kitchen.

“Now why are you having anger on him?”

“See, how anger is coming when I’m talking about your husband?”, said mom.

“Doctors will be like this. You know this and married me to him.”, said Niru.

“For that why he is leaving you alone like this when you are pregnant?”

“They are doing their duties. Then what to be angry about?”

“This is husband and wife problem. Why the unnecessary work for me?”, said Mom.

I can understand mom’s fear. Labor pain can come at any time. I often have to pacify my mom.

He was unable to come home. I was talking to him along the cell phone for the past one week. I called him along the cell phone with sorrow as I did not get any news from him today.

“What happened? Why didn’t you call me?”

“Many people have been infected with this Corona virus unexpectedly. We don’t know what to do. So we have to check all one by one. We two or three doctors only have to manage all…!”

“First you stay safe as it is an infection. Did you eat…?”

“Yes, I ate from the canteen. Did you eat…?”

“Yes, I ate. Can I borrow dinner for you for the night…?”

“No, this corona virus is spreadable. No medicine has been found yet. So that don’t go outside.”

“Will you come by the morning…?”

“I will. You sleep well. You need good sleep at this time. You have to take pills as prescribed. Understand…?”

“I understood…!”

“What Meenu babe is doing?”

“She is looking at the door for you. Won’t you get anger if I ask one thing from you…?”

“What, tell me…?”

“We are desiring to see you once. Can you come here?”

“You are always seeing me in these years. Then why this sudden desire?”

“No, Meenu babe asks where her father is. Please you come and show your face at least for one time.”

Silence prevailed on the other side.

“What, are you thinking of coming home?”

“No… no… I’m coming but…!”

“But what tell…?”

“You know very well about the corona virus. It spread through the air, it spread while touching. So that it would be dangerous if I come close. That too should not be required while you are pregnant. Not only for you but also it would spread to our kids.”

“Meenu is searching for you while going to sleep and while waking up. What can I do alone?”, her sobbing sound affected him.

“Okay, I will come but I will stay at the door. I will not come inside. You and Meenu should stay inside. You should not come closer to me, understand?”

“What, why are you saying many conditions like this? Don’t you think to see us?”

“Don’t I have the desire to see you? But the situation is like this…!”

Many were stayed indoors following the government’s announcement not to flirt outside the home. The streets were alone as schools, shops and public places were all closed.

Doctor Kiri came at the right time. He parked the vehicle on the road and walked slowly to the outer door.

He talked to them through the cell phone while staying outside the iron gate in the road. His voice was broken. Meenu babe talked eagerly from there. She didn’t understand why her father wear a mask around his nose and mouth.

It has been not even five minutes. Standing there when he shook his head and said goodbye Meenu babe suddenly shouted as dad. I do not know what she thought but she ran towards him.

Niruja had no choice but to chase her and stubbornly dragged her inside. Meenu babe kept crying all day. The situation has made changes. She suddenly noticed that her husband was not as usual even during that very short period. The loneliness of not being near him worried her badly. She was frozen inside the house in a state of confusion with two kids, one on the hand and the other inside her womb, without knowing what to do.

“No one has expected that a virus infection would come like this. Doctor, this killing Corona has even affected you who came to save the patients. Is there no medicine for this?”, the nurse wept as she saw Doctor Kiri working day and night.

He could not move because his lungs were completely damaged. But he showed the table nearby. She picked up the paper which was on the table. It was written in his handwriting. She read it.

“No medicine has been found for this yet. But we can prevent the spread of this virus which prevent our relations from even getting close at the last minute. It is spreadable in the air. It can be spread by touching the patient or what he has used. Use masks for face and hands. The virus can only survive for two weeks even if it is infected. So, wash your hands often with soap and water to prevent infection. Stay away. Isolate yourself. At least isolate yourself for two weeks just like how you were isolated for measles. Drink plenty of water without getting try throat. Do not gather in public places. Wait until the medicines for this disease arrives.” He mentioned many things like this and shared his experience even at the last moment. At last he had expressed his anger in one line. “The health of the country is in your hands. Save the country…!”

Niruja who was in labor pain was taken to a maternity hospital in ambulance. One of the hearses from the hospital stopped at the side of the street and continued its journey towards the cemetery after the ambulance passed by the side.