Hope (Priya)

 Damale came back from the office.Neela gave him a cup of tea. “How was your day? “ asked Damale. Neela made some gesture which gave no indication about her day was. Damale was getting very worried about his wife. 

When he married Neela , he was most attracted to her eyes. They were big and black colored. They were so black that sometimes they showed tinges of blue too. Her eyes were full of emotions. Happiness, sorrow, rage could spill out of her eyes. After a few years all the emotions drained out of them. Her eyes resembled the Bhopal gas victims in Time magazine. They looked so dead to him. 

After a few years of trying for a baby, Damale had given up on that option. He accepted his fate that they were never going to have a baby. But it was very difficult for Neela. There was not a single option they had not tried. The treatments were the worst. Each month would start with a hope and end with disappointment. Neela’s body must have been injected with numerous medicines and she went through so many tests and ordeals, but it was in vain.

 Then started the phase of Ayurvedic and such treatments. Neela did all the things suggested to her. There was a fish baba who guaranteed a child within a month. But all these treatments were of no use. 

Everyone around started giving Neela some queer looks. She was never called in naming ceremonies or baby showers or birthdays. If she tried to console a baby , the mother would come running and snatch the baby from Neela. She was called Banjh ,“ a barren land”. No one could look at her good qualities. Giving birth to a child is the highest honor to a woman and she could not do it- so she was a lesser woman. This just drained Neela and it took her close to an abyss. Damale was scared that he would lose Neela forever.

 “Come on . Get ready. We have to go somewhere”. Damale said. 

“I am not coming anywhere. What’s the use? “ Neela said in a very sad voice.

 “Ohh come on”. 

 He took her to an orphanage. She had a questioning look. When they were sitting there a nurse gave Neela a small baby. Neela was so surprised to see that baby. She caressed it lovingly and smelled that new born baby smell from the child. The child cooed in Neela’s ears and tried to catch her hair with its small hands. There was an instant chemistry between them. Everyone in that room was touched by its blissfulness. Damale could see the spark in Neela’s eyes.

 “Mr Damale, what have you decided as a child's name?” A supervisor asked him. “

Hope, Hope Damale. That’s my daughter’s name and I am so glad she has her mother’s eyes. “