Welcome, My friend!

Thursday, 26th May 2005, 8:26AM. That was precisely the moment when I lost myself forever and was born all over again!

Trivia:

Back in 2004, Anindita (then, my beautiful/darling/loving/patient/caring wife; current status- my wife!) and myself were married almost 1.5 yrs and we were enjoying life & marriage immensely, like 2 free birds tied to each other by choice, having the best time of our lives! But my beloved mother sowed the seeds of "motherhood" in my wife, with the alibi of the famous "biological clock" ticking away, though wifey was not even 26! And a wife, with the purpose of turning into a mother can be very dangerous and unscrupulous! She gave plentiful explanations of having a bloodline to carry the "Nandi Flag" into next generation! The ever gullible me, ever trusting nature and the fierce intention to keep my wife & family happy, fell for the trap and my wife's report card said positive in Oct 2004! And so we started the journey to become a family!

Wednesday, 25th May 2005:

Every person has a way of handling stress. Some cry, some smoke, some drink, some do yoga, some walk or run and some eat. I am different. Wednesday, 25th May late in the evening, I sat in the loo, with a smoke in my hand, crying in desperation, to cope with the uncertainties which were in store for me the next day....

The first 8 months passed smoothly, almost sailed! Wednesday, 25th May 2005, I had scheduled my wife's "9th month starting" checkup with our Doc as the next week She (the Doc) was travelling for 2 wks. During our checkup, I sensed that the Doc was a little uncomfortable, asked me to take Anindita for a scanning. We promptly went to Wockhardt, the sonography Doc informed the results in chaste technical terms to our Doc! We visited our our Doc in the evening with the reports. After going thru' the reports, she broke the news- the baby was in a "breach" position, so normal delivery was ruled out. The baby also seemed a little underweight. And the worst, the fallopian tubes had started going round the baby's neck. Since the baby was now "term", Doc said she would not prefer to wait any further and have an immediate Cesarean delivery. She assured that for the baby, it's always best and least stress path to come into the world. She asked us to decide in the next 5 mins, so that she can call Manipal Hospital to book the OT for next day!

I was comfortably numbed, gaping at the Doc and trying to understand the magnitude of what she had uttered some seconds back! I looked at my wife; she was not at all perturbed, quite resolute infact! She just said, if it’s good for the baby, then that’s the way to go! Rest of the things went off in a trance- our Doc booked the room for the same evening and OT for next day at 8am in Manipal. We were supposed to check into Manipal Hospital at 10pm that night! We quickly left for home so that we could take some basic stuff to the hospital. I took a bath, released my tensions in my sort of way and then checked into Manipal at night! We were escorted to our room where we retired for the night after some procedures were carried out on my wife, to prepare her for her big day the next day! Just didn’t want to sleep, so we kept chatting and don’t remember when I finally dozed off!

Next morning started early, at 5am. One after the other pre-operation procedures went on with wife and I was the silent but painful partner, cannot physically share any pain which made the mental agony even more! Finally at 7:30am, she was rolled into the OT in a stretcher. Just before she got in, we both smiled at each other with anticipation! And after she went in, I sat outside the OT, prayed that everything went fine! Every minute was like ages, kept on pacing the corridor like a madman! At precisely 8:40am, a nurse came out of the OT with a small green cloth wrapped small parcel, announcing “Anindita Nandi” and trying to locate where I was. I froze but lift my hand for identification, she slowly walked over to me! “Mr. Nandi, this is your son, please check and sign here!”. I froze, was in a mixture of stunned, surprised and bliss; slowly told her “Sorry, but I don’t know how to hold the baby!”. She scooped the baby and threw him in my arms, almost forcibly, to my horror! All it felt like was a warm light-weight "half the length of my hand" sized bony "thing"! After I took him in my hands, the first thought was, he looked like a monkey! And then the prince woke up from his deep slumber, yawned big, stretched his hands and legs, almost saying without words- hey Dad, why the hell did you wake me up!

"Nipun Nandi" arrived, at 8:26am, on Thursday, 26th May 2005...and pushed back my so called world to become my most prized possession, my most important thing in my world!

Now:

With over 5 years in the making, I love everything that has happened till now. Right from the times when I saw his toothless laughter, to his first crawling, to the first stand and then walking and falling, to breaking every single thing in the house, to those nights when he sobbed with stomach pain and I held him in my arms, walking from one room to the other throughout the night, to the current nights when he refuses to sleep without me in the bed, clinging onto me with one of his leg trying to pierce my stomach and one of his hand clasping my neck almost strangling me, to his incessive demands of buying him toy-cars, to his current urges to "overtake" every other car on the road, to the snakes and ladders games where he inevitably wins (by "crook", almost always), I love him for everything. I don’t know what I would have done without him! God bless him always, even my share of blessings are for him! And like an eternal father-son relationship- I am his "best friend", I need him more than he does me! "He completes me!".