The Other Women

The Other Women

               I couldn’t help notice that beautiful salwar. She was wearing the same salwar which I had tried on  when we went shopping the other day.  It was awfully ill-fitting for me but it seemed ideal on her. She came out of the Gynecologist’s room along with a man. He held her hands and they were both blushing. “Oh my” I whispered this and quickly covered my face with one of the magazine lying in waiting area.  It was him. Not just any random man. It was Vishal.  He was the reason why I came to the hospital today.

                    Who is that lady I asked myself. My heart raced. I felt a lump in my throat. I called to his phone. I couldn’t hear it ring even though I was sitting just across the room.  I noted him taking it out and placing it back inside the pocket. I rang to his phone again. It was switched off now. Chuck the doctor’s appointment. I decided to follow them.

           Right after they reached the parking lot. I came out and waved my hand to an automan. I covered my face with my duppatta as I got inside. I always wanted to do this. Just like the movies. I wanted to get inside a car and scream “follow them”. Well I guess my wish did come true. Only thing this was not a sports car .Countless thoughts came exploding into my mind. Was he cheating ? He has another girlfriend? Why did they come to the gynac? Maybe she is just one of his friend’s? why did he put his phone on silent ‘? Why did he switch it off on seeing my call? Does he have a twin? Where are they going?

                They stopped in front of a house while I stay put in the auto.  It was raining. I was at quite some distance away from them. I do not have perfect vision and the rain made things more difficult . I saw a lady probably in her 50s stand at the door. A small  girl held her fingers. At the sight of Vishal she ran to him and hugged him. I kept calling to his phone to no avail. Vishal held a few papers in his hand. As they were walking inside the small girl took the papers from Vishal’s hand and asked him something. Except the small girl everyone else went inside.They all looked happy. She sat on the wet floor . Rain was her least concern. She was fiddling with that paper. After sometime she came to the roadside and placed the paper on the dirty water. She watched it float away. When she went back insde I walked to the dirty water . She had made a paper boat out of it. I took out the floating paperboat  which was half sunk by now.

                The automan took me back to the hospital. I unfolded the wet paper carefully so that it does not tear. The paper read “Result: Positive”. It was a pregnancy test. She was pregnant. But what really left me shaken  was something else. It was her name. “Mrs.Renuka Vishak “was printed in bold next to the patient’s name . All of a sudden everything made sense. It was like the colours of a Rubik Cube falling into place. He lied to me. He was married. The small girl who made the paper boat must be his older daughter. His wife is pregnant again. He bought her that beautiful salwar which I  loved.  I kept reading her name again and again till the letters turned blurry. My eyes could not hold back the tears.I was the other women in her life. And she was the other women in mine.I walked aimlessly out of the auto .The rain masked my tears. Here I was again at the waiting room of the hospital again. Just when I couldn’t take any more surprises the nurse handed out a sheet to me. It had my name Ms.Jeena  written in bold with Age as 32. It was the Pregnancy Result. It read POSTIVE in capital letters.