32. Salvia is Born.
Mehar was staying with us in Rajendra Nagar and was now expecting her first baby. Her mother was a simple lady. Earlier in case of pregnancy of all my children, I alone used to go along for consultation with Dr. Mrs .D Singh.
I had planned to take her to Kurji holy Family Hospital for the delivery but Nuzhat put her foot down that there is no prominent lady doctor there so she had to be admitted to Patna Medical College Hospital (PMCH). In this govt. hospital, exclusive cabin is very difficult to be allotted but as the application had been submitted in advance, somehow it was managed at the last hour. Mehar was admitted there and later her mother also came over. After 4 days she had the labor pain since morning but she did not disclose it. It was a Sunday and you can’t expect any senior doctor there on that day. Allah was there again to my help. There was a batchmate and friend of Nuzhat, named Dr.Shanti who had become Registrar there. Though she was not on duty there, she arrived that very moment just to meet me on her own. I told her the problem that Mehar was having labor pain and there was no other doctor around for reference. She examined and asked us to immediately take her to the labor room as there wasn’t any time left.
Within a couple of hours, when the delivery process commenced, the junior
doctor came to me and asked me to call Dr. Mrs.D. Singh immediately. I got
panicky and rushed for the room where the phone was but there was a long queue
of waiting attendants. When I returned to tell them that phone is not possible,
I heard that a baby girl has been born who has turned blue as the cord had got
entangled around her neck. The midwife ran with the
newborn to get the injection. I also ran with her and the nurse on duty gave a
couple of injections to her and one injection near the belly button.
Eventually, the condition improved. But the doctor advised to avoid the bath
till the next day. The baby as handed over to us but Mehar was to stay in the
labor room overnight. This was the arrangement in the special labor room so one
can well imagine the scene in the general ward. The sub human being given there
to the delivering mothers is beyond description and at best can be
said to be utterly humiliating.
For the rest of the night the baby was crying incessantly. Whenever, I
asked for the nurse’s attention, she would say it was out of hunger.
Eventually I made the powder milk in the bottle but that didn’t help as I guess
it was all due to the injection pricks. Early in the morning, however the baby
went to sleep and Mehar also was sent back to the room.
After spending two difficult days there in hospital eventually we all
returned home and started preparations for the Chhatti (6th day
celebrations). The locally hand printed Chhapa clothes for the occasion both
for the newborn and the mom, are similar to that worn in the wedding by the
bride. When Neyaz’s girl was born, the name Lubna Neyaz was suggested by me.
This time I had a liking for the name Zeeshan but the difficulty was that it
was apt more in case of a boy. There was a convention in her maternal side to
have double first name instead of the surname; like Mehar Tabaan. So I named
the new born as Salvia Zeeshan.
When Salvia was nearly one month old Mehar’s elder sister visited India
and came to meet us with her parents. They had settled in Canada and her second
child was a girl who was around the same age as Salvia.
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Chapter
INDEX.------------------------------------
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