A hospital
discharge is always testing. In Mom’s case, recovery still remained largely
uncertain. It was as though one battle had been won but the war was still
imminent. There was still a lot of fighting to be done. There was still a lot
more to overcome and a lot more to endure. The big difference was that the turf
had changed. She was now home. How that will change the equation remains to be
seen but what is known is that she will have her favourite team of warriors by
her side. This team is quite similar to the one that has been with her all
along in the hospital i.e My brother and I coupled with the love and support of
all our family, friends and well-wishers but there was one little warrior who’s
absence was always notable.
As we settled
mom into her room, which now looked more like a hospital room than her bedroom,
we ran through the list of all the equipment/medicines as well as disposables.
Everything seemed to be in place so it was time now. I took the stairs down to
my friend’s place and rang the bell. The sniffs and snorts began to get louder
as the maid came closer towards the door. By the time she had reached the door,
the snorts had turned into an all-familiar squeal. But this time, it almost
seemed like she knew that there was something different. As the door opened,
there she was prancing around, expressing her excitement in a way that only she
could. ‘Yay, you’ve come to take me home. Woo hooo’ would be my guess as to
what she was implying. This time,
however, Chuppy’s greeting was different. It was accompanied by an unusual
sense of urgency to go home. Could she sense that mom was home? After nearly
four months? If her non-stop plea to get home as fast as we could was any
indication, the answer would be a resounding YES. She knew. Somehow, she knew
that she was going to see Mom when she went home.
Despite all the
love and affection that we have for her, letting her go to Mom was a catch-22
situation. ‘Keep her away from possible sources of infection’ was the clear
instruction given unanimously by all the Doctors. And quite obviously, that was
the way to go. But, what about Chuppy? Should we prevent her from being with mom?
Is it even fair? After all, Chuppy’s connection with Mom is beyond explanation.
Predicaments such as these tend to evoke strong opinions that sometimes lead to
difficult decisions. But none of that would be so in this case. As I let her
loose when we entered the house, she went straight into mom’s room and stopped
in her tracks. Mom’s severe health condition meant that she cannot react or
respond to most things around her and Chuppy entering the room was no
exception. Disappointingly, there were no Bollywood moments where someone
magically gets better upon seeing a dearly loved one. That was reserved
strictly for the Yash Raj Films I guess.
What I did, however,
witness, was something else altogether. This is normally the kind of stuff you
see on Facebook ,courtesy videos that are shared by various people titled ‘What
this dog did next will blow your mind’.
Very slowly,
Chuppy made her way to mom’s bed. Uncertain about what to do next she turned
around to look at me. I didn’t say a word. She continued to go around Mom’s bed
slowly inspecting as it were some type of cage that was preventing her from
reaching out to Mom. She then put her two feet on the bed and sniffed around a
little and again looked at me. I remained silent. As did the Nurse and the
housemaid. This was Chuppy’s moment with Mom and none of us were going to
interfere. She slowly moved away from the bed and sat down beside it. Quiet, sober
and yet it was a statement made by her- “I am here by your side, I won’t let
you go this time” Mom could not react but I know deep down inside she was delighted
to have her little Direwolf right beside her. That in itself is one more battle
won thanks to her composure. It was a tender moment yet it showed just how
strong the bonds of love are between two beings. And it was cherished by all
who were present J J J
