Page 101 of Made in Mumbai

“Shut up!” She reprimanded through her pain. “No, no, yes… shiiiit!”

He didn’t know what was going on. Hold, push, breathe, push, relax, push… those words were thrown around. He vaguely knew they were guiding her through the birth, but even after all his reading, he was still clueless. Maya had never discussed this part of her delivery plans with him, even in the last two months where he had waited hand and foot on her. It was always meant to be her and Dr. Rekha as a unit.

“G,” she hiccupped, sobbing, looking into his eyes. “It’s so bad.”

“It’s ok,” he soothed, suddenly finding purpose in that room. He pushed closer to her, locking his fingers with hers. “It’s not bad. It’s good. Just some more time and she will be here. We can’t push her back now.”

Maya laughed, breathing through her pain as the doctor had advised her.

“Let’s go again, Maya!” Came a holler from down below.

“No, please, two minutes Rekha aunty.”

“No two minutes business, come on, you are ready, you can do it. Give me a nice, big push. Chalo, chalo.”

She braced her back and he instantly wrapped his arm around it. Her teeth began to grit but she relaxed again — “I’m too tired, G.”

“You are not. You are just catching breath. Now come on, one last push and she will be here. Think, the sooner you do this, the sooner you will be done, huh?”

“Good motivation,” she smiled faintly, her body tightening in his arm as she braced, took a deep breath and pushed. Hard. And it came through.

“Oops, she’s slipped right into my hands,” Dr. Rekha’s amused voice echoed. “7.05. Congratulations Maya, you’ve got a healthy baby girl.”

“Phew,” Maya relaxed. He kept holding her, looking from here to there as the room erupted in frenzy. And just like that, a tiny baby wrapped in a loose white cloth was placed between them. His whole body locked. The tiny baby, tiny girl, was all folds of pink skin and big dark eyes, her hair sticking to her head.

“Ohhh…” Maya cooed, reaching up to touch her finger to her baby’s cheek. “Hi. Hi, baby girl. It’s me. I’ve got you. We’ve got this.”

“Daddy?” The nurse showed the baby to him and he was so overwhelmed, that he immediately made a cradle of his arms to take her. He had never lifted a baby in his life. Never even seen one so small. And yet he lifted her, the tiny creature that had kicked him and played with him through her tummy.

“MM,” his eyes misted, making her blurry. He immediately deposited her back in the waiting nurse’s arms, scared he would drop her. He was panting now.

“What is this feeling,” he wiped his eyes with the sleeve of his scrubs. They kept watering.

“Where are they taking her?” Maya called out and he zeroed in on the nurse walking out with the baby. Gautam immediately began to follow them, then turned back.

“Make sure she is not swapped with another baby! Go,” she urged. And he gave her a brilliant smile before running after MM.

————————————————————

He entered her room and stopped in his tracks. There she was, reclined on her bed, looking bright as the winter sun outside, holding her baby close, a pillow underneath to keep everything steady. He didn’t remember seeing a better sight in his life. And he had seen a lot many wonders of the world.

“Hi,” he stepped inside and closed the door.

“Hi. Did you find my bag?”

“It was left on the ground floor reception seats,” Gautam held up her duffel. In their panic last night to get her admitted, they had left it in the alley. Or rather, he had, as she had convinced him. He set it on a chair by her bed and walked up to where she was caressing the baby’s cottony cheek.

Ok, so he wasn’t a contributing member in this product, and yet he could easily judge that this was the prettiest baby of all. She even smiled like a lady, just like Maya. That small smirk which stayed, like she was plotting a coup, then widened into the sweetest smile.

Maya pulled her mobile out of the bag and made a call to her mother. He stood to the side, curious as to how this would go.

“Hello? Mom?” She smiled. “Hi. Umm… I, yes, I had her. It’s a girl…” her smile widened. But then it started to wobble. Slowly, very slowly, he saw her smile leach. But she kept looking positive, “Yes, yes… I know. No. He is not. No, Dad. Never.”

He waited patiently, hearing her argue with her parents about getting back with the reptile ex, while there was a beautiful little girl here who deserved nothing but good omens on her first day in the world.

“Enough,” he mouthed to her. And that’s when her eyes clashed with his. As if he had transferred some fire to her, Maya’s face changed. She nodded.

“Dad, Mom, listen, I called you guys to tell you that you have a granddaughter. If you don’t even want to see her then there is nothing more I can talk about. She is healthy, on schedule and I am doing good. I do not need anything from you or Hem. Ok, I am hanging up now. Bye.”

---