A night to remember!

Durga thought her father was the most unromantic person on earth. That was until she met the man she was going to marry. She could not blame anyone for the choice, it was her own. They met on a matrimony site in the most traditional manner. The photos were hugely likable to each other and to add to the bliss of their parents, the horoscopes matched perfectly well. Contrary to the custom, they met each other in the city without the family interference. Durga was swept off her feet by the exceedingly handsome and charming man who waited for her at the other side of the road. She had no reason to believe that it was not the same with him. Their families were overjoyed with the relation the kids had found for themselves and in a matter of 2 weeks they got engaged. Yes, that was quick, but there were no auspicious days for the next 4 months of the year. Apparently, the families didn't want to leave two love stricken people in the city alone, without the bond of atleast an engagement ring!

That was 3 months ago. Soon after, Durga started having second thoughts. He was not the kind she had envisioned at all. True, she didn't want a man sickly in love with her, or obsessed with her every single action, she hated that kind. But she sure wanted someone who would surprise her with gifts once in a while, hold her hand while crossing the road, buy her dinner in a romantic restaurant or talk to her lovingly over the phone. This man was none of this. Once when she wanted to talk, he said his stomach was too full and so he cannot talk. Again, when she held his hand once while walking, he suggested that the physical effects of walking are better observed when you can move your hands freely. And on her birthday a week ago, he got too busy and didn't meet her to even wish her. OK, now these are all silly things in anyone else's view, but then Durga believed that these silly things are what added to the beauty of life. Things to remember in the long years they would be together, stories to giggle about in future and to share with the kids, such was the contentment that would have made her life perfect. Well, Durga just realized that with him, that was not to be. She was even considering talking to her mother about the difficulties in the relation though she knew that there was no backing off. Everyone found him to be perfect and called her lucky. And most of the times, he seemed to the genuinely in love with her, though the next moment he would do or say something that made her feel like a fool.

On the day which would later turn to their first night together, Durga was feeling uneasy since the morning. She was new to the city, the hostel food was still not a fond memory and she was terribly home sick. She was sure that the Paneer dish she had for dinner last night had not agreed with her stomach. Anyways, for the lack of anything better to do in the dreary hostel room and since the office rest room was a much pleasanter sight as compared to the one in the hostel, she went on to her office. The barrage started around 9AM during her daily status call when she rushed to the toilet. After 7 trips to the potty, she lost the count. Her stomach was as sick as her heart and she was truly a damsel in fluid distress! He called her in the morning, he always did that, a call that never lasted for more than 60 seconds. Unlike a cold or a headache, dysentery is not exactly the kind of disease that gets you the right kind of attention, yet Durga managed to tell him that her stomach was sick. He didn't sound sorry, neither did he make fun of her, worse even, he started advising her. He urged her to get Ginger or Tulsi tea that might solidify her bowels. Durga was angry when she hung upon him. Between 5 and 6 in the evening, her rate of visiting the toilet went up to 23 times per hour, an all time record. Durga realized that she needed medical attention and that she would not under this condition manage to reach her hostel with out someone's help. In a city to which she had recently relocated for better marriage prospects, she had no one else to turn to, apart from the fruit of the above mentioned attempt. Reluctantly, Durga told him that she needed to get to a hospital. Luckily, this time he did not advice her, neither did he sound obnoxiously serious. The man did not own a car or even a motor bike and she knew that he could not drive one, so she wondered how he was going to help her. But almost 15 minutes later and 7 more visits to the toilet, he materialized in front of her office in a taxi. Durga can barely remember her ride to the hospital, she was just too tired due to the unlimited outgoing with zero incoming. At one point she was leaning against his shoulder and at another, she was lying on his lap.

The hospital was crowded in the fever month of July and Durga lay in one of the many beds, with him standing by her side. She had chosen to lie on a bed nearest to the privy for the obvious reason. She dozed off after a while and got up to vomit violently. He helped her to the commode, cleaned her up and got her back to the bed. Moments later, she found him shouting at a doctor for not attending to her. The response was quick, Durga was transferred to a room on a wheel chair, IV was administered and was given the necessary medicine to immediately cork the reckless outflow from her excretory system.

Durga did not want to be admitted in the hospital, she did not want to stay there alone and she did not have one friend close enough to stay with her for the night. But she had no choice, she was sick and she needed care, He stayed on, went out briefly and got her things to eat and drink and clothes to change, helped her get up and walk whenever she wanted, fed her and cared for her like a father for his toddler.

Realization hits people in different ways. Durga required almost 7 hrs, a hospital bed and a flux to realize that she was going to marry a man who would value her more than his life, no matter what state she was in. They spend their first night together on two different beds, with him tossing around, because the hospital bed was hardly hospitable, and also checking on her IV in between, and her, well, she didn't sleep at all. She was fondly looking at the man she would soon marry, whom she now loved deeply and with whom she would spend her life, happily. She now knew she was lucky indeed!!!!