By Lakshmi Kannan
Gayatri got ready for the meeting. She stuffed her file covers and books into a tote bag, checked if her phone was completely charged, took the charger and put them inside her handbag. She recalled how she was both surprised and very pleased when her boss, the Chief Secretary, had called her on phone to inform her in advance that she would be required to attend this important meeting. “Save the date and keep it free of all other commitments,” he said. Given the agenda, the meeting could take a long time. Reaching the venue early would give her time to interact with her senior colleagues.
She went to her mother’s room.
“Feeling better Amma[1]?” she asked but was alarmed to see her still writhing in pain. She was doubledup on the bed, clasping her stomach.
“Oh God, Amma! Your pain has worsened. Wonder if it’s your appendix? Let me call our doctor.”
“Gayatri, please don’t leave me.”
She stared at her mother, aghast. How very uncharacteristic of Amma! She was a strong matriarch who could manage many things in the absence of her busy husband, or even her grown sons, in sickness and crises. On the occasions she fell ill, she seldom asked her children to stay with her. Her general health had always been good, and she led a very active life. She was a pillar of support to Gayatri, helping her evolve as one of the most respected bureaucrats. Her parents were proud of her and she… she never voiced aloud her secret happiness about her parents’ tacit agreement with her choice to remain single so far. It was upsetting to see her women colleagues hit a roadblock the minute they got married. They had problems not just with the man who married them ‘for love’, but equally with their in-laws. What a waste of professional training!
“Massage my back,” said her mother. “It hurts so much.”
Gayatri sat on a chair next to her mother’s bed. “Manni[2]!” she called, while gently massaging her mother’s back.
“Oh God!” screamed her mother.
“Where exactly does it hurt Amma, here?” she asked.
Sujata rushed into the room. Suddenly, her mother howled in pain, holding her stomach.
“Manni, please call our family doctor. Request him to come home immediately. Amma has too much pain.”
Sujata nodded and rushed out with her phone.
“Amma, don’t worry. Our doctor will here any moment,” assured Gayatri. “He may give you an injection that’ll control the pain. And check if it’s your appendix causing this pain.” She made her lie down and continued to massage her till the doctor came in.
*
“Is it her appendix, doctor? At her age?” Gayatri inquired anxiously, waiting outside the door with Sujata.
“I don’t think so, as she has no pain on the right side of her lower abdomen. She seems to be suffering from spasmsthat come on periodically. For now, I’ve given her a shot that’ll give her some relief. It has a mild sedativethat may help her sleep. I’ll come again to check,” he added.
“Thanks very much for coming doctor, at such short notice,” said Sujata, folding her hands.
Gayatri went in. Amma’s eyes were closed. When Gayatri got up, she felt a tug.
Her mother pulled at her dress. She asked her to sit down.
“Gayatri, please don’t go.”
“Amma, Manni is here. Anna[3] may also come soon. This is a very important high-level meeting. I’m lucky to be asked to take part in the discussion,” she pleaded.
Her mother nodded and patted her hands. “I know. I’m very proud of you, my girl, but today, I feel I may pass on. I want you to be around when I go.”
“What utter nonsense, Amma! You never talk like this, and you scold all of us if we talk negatively.” She relented a bit and stroked her hands. “All right, I won’t go. Now sleep for a while.”
The sedative seemed to work. Her mother drifted off to sleep.
*
“Sujata Manni will take good care of her,” she thought. “I’ll inform Anna too. Now, let me call my colleagues to pick me up on their way to the meeting in Oberoi Trident.” Gayatri gathered her tote bag, picked up her handbag and went to their living room. She tried their numbers repeatedly, but no one took her calls. Not even her brother. Let me call for a taxi then, she thought, when Sujata came in.
“It’s Appa[4]. He called me because your phone was busy. Talk to him,” she said, giving her phone.
“Gayatri, your phone was busy all the time,” said her father, petulantly.
“Sorry Appa. I wanted my colleagues to pick me up on the way for the meeting. But nobody took my call.”
“Their phones must be switched off.”
“What! And how can you tell?”
“Switch on the TV and see for yourself,” he said, hanging up.
*
The screen showed Taj Mahal Hotel, the Tower and Oberoi Trident in Mumbai. Then the camera panned over Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus and the Nariman House and went back to Oberoi Trident with a fire blazing on the fourth floor. “Terrorists have ambushed the places from all around, holding people as hostages…,” said the newsreader. Gayatri and Sujata looked at each other, and then glanced at their mother’s room.
Gayatri froze. Sujata held her hand and whispered, “Your Anna called.:
“Where is he? And Appa?” Gayatri whispered back.
“They’re together in a place, far off from the scene. Ramesh is also safe, but no one is allowed to go out of the school, or enter,” she said. The two women huddled together on the sofa and watched. A lone man with a gun walked around Shivaji Terminus. He was to gain notoriety later as the terrorist who went unrepentant to his execution in 2012.
.
[1] Mother
[2] Sister-in-law
[3] Elder brother
[4] Father and Father-in-law
Lakshmi Kannan is a poet, novelist, short story writer and translator. Her recent books include Nadistuti, Poems (Authors Press, 2024) and Guilt Trip and Other Stories (Niyogi, 2023). For more details, please see, please see her entry in The Routledge Encyclopedia of Indian Writing in English, or visit her site www.lakshmikannan.in
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