ANYA ARRIVES

18 MAY 2013

 

It was a very long wait at the hospital; over sixteen hours. The waiting room was reasonably comfortable. There was a TV tuned to Fox News. A news anchor was spitting venom against President Obama. The restroom or toilet was just next door. The cafeteria was just a floor above. There were about twenty seats and during most of the day, apart from Sumita, Sattam and me, there were at the most one or two small families waiting with us. However, their wait was short. After two to three hours, an excited member of the family would enter the room, announce the arrival of a new born and the family would leave jubilant and excited. Around lunch time, an elderly Indian couple arrived. They had one look at us and decided to avoid any sort of eye contact. At one point, Sumita caught the attention of the lady and flashed a friendly smile. The lady turned her face away. Sumita was very annoyed. Some idle conversation with the family would have helped us get over the anxious moments. I tried to humour  Sumita by suggesting that probably this couple was a fugitive with billions stacked away at a Swiss bank and did not want to be identified. Or, probably the guy was an IPL fixer, who just escaped from the clutches of the sleuths in India.  In short, both of us concluded that they were not good people. After a while, a young man came in and addressed the couple as papaji and mummyji and whispered something.  They left, happy and excited.

Shamik was in the labour room sending occasional SMS updating us of the situation.

The scenario changed completely at around 8 PM. A Mexican family of six walked in talking boisterously breaking the tranquility of the place. Soon, a few others joined them… then and a few more … and a few more. In less than half an hour, the place was full of Mexicans. There was no seat left and a few were actually standing. They were absolutely oblivious of our presence and went on talking loudly, joking and backslapping each other.  They all spoke Spanish except four teenagers, three girls and a boy. The younger lot spoke fluent American English. There was an elderly matriarch seated at the middle who talked the least. She looked like a “Biji” of Hindi soap operas. She was busy weaving a woolen stole presumably for the soon-to-be-born. But whenever she frowned, the room went quiet. Her smiles were greeted with loud cheers.  At one point, we were scared to go to the toilet lest our seats were taken away. The fear was uncalled for.  Nobody made an attempt to occupy Sattam’s chair, when he went out for a walk to get over his anxiety.

Their noisy conversation was getting on our strained nerves. Somehow, we controlled our emotions. Strangely, they did not show any signs of concern though they were also awaiting the arrival of a new member of the family. Half an hour past midnight, when our endurance reached its limit, there was a MMS from Shamik announcing the arrival of Anya. Now, it was our turn to celebrate. Three of us hugged each other. Suddenly, the noisy room went silent and we realized that the crowd was watching us eagerly. One of the guys asked me in broken English, “Good noose?” I threw my arms in the air and said, “Yesss, we are grandparents and this young man here is an uncle”. The entire room stood up and cheered.  The Biji gave us a broad smile and said something that sounded like “Felicitano”. She whispered something to one of the teenagers. The young girl rushed out and brought three cookies for us. Suddenly, we were an extended family and the crowd looked so nice and friendly.

I love these Mexicans. Viva la Mexico…..