He was just getting ready to sleep after a long and tiring day when he heard the loud thud. Scampering towards Savitri’s room, he finds her lying unconscious on the bathroom floor in a pool of blood.

Few minutes later, as the ambulance speeds through the night streets of South Delhi towards AIIMS, he tries to clear the fog from his mind.

‘I need to call up Bhaiya first…,’ he tries to steel himself tightly holding on to Savitri’s hands as she lay on the stretcher.

On reaching the Emergency wing, Savitri is wheeled inside by the hospital staff and the resident doctor immediately gets into action.

After a few minutes that seems like hours, the doctor comes over with a grim face,” Her blood pressure seems to have shot up leading to the fall…we will run some tests now to understand if there is any internal damage and then decide the next course of action.”

“Sir, is it serious? Will she be fine?” he finally plucks up the courage to ask the question he was dreading thus far.

“Yes, it is serious, particularly at her age and with high BP. You are her son?”

“No…. her son is in America,” he responds softly.

Oh, then you must inform him right away…”

Watching the doctor as he walks away, he prepares to make the call. ‘Bhaiya will be very upset; I hope he is able to control himself…’he tries to steady his hand while punching the numbers.

“Hello, what happened, why are you calling so late at night? All well?” he can fully sense Arnab getting edgy.

Narrating the whole accident, he breaks down into sobs for the first time since the accident.

Emotions run high at the other end as well, as Arnab tries to control himself.  “OK…I will book my tickets and catch the earliest flight. Let me see if someone can be at the hospital with you. Meanwhile, I am relying on you to manage the situation until I reach there. You will be able to hold on, right?” Arnab’s voice trails off as he realizes he is expecting too much from him.

Waiting on the sofa, the memories of his life flash back in his mind. He can still vividly remember the day when a car mowed down his parents as they slept on the footpath. He had earlier visited Savitri’s house with his mother several times, and so when Savitri wanted him to come home with her, he readily agreed. What then followed was a new lease of life…. studying, playing and growing up with Arnab. And, thus, his bond grew stronger with Savitri, particularly with her failing health and Arnab settling abroad.

“We have to arrange for blood…” suddenly he is jolted out of his thoughts.

“Blood…oh, ok sister, give me the details, I’ll get it from the Blood Bank,” he springs into action.

“We have checked in the bank, they have given us two units, we need three more - so you will have to arrange it personally. We will start with the existing blood supply, but you need to arrange the rest within the next four hours. We cannot afford to delay…” the nurse walks off after handing over the blood requisition slip to him.

“I need to inform Bhaiya, if he can suggest a solution, he starts dialing the number, but realizes the phone is switched off. ‘Oh, that means Bhaiya has already boarded the flight, now what to do?’ he desperately dashes towards the reception.

Just then, he notices two familiar faces – Arnab’s cousin and friend walking inside. ‘Thank God, you have answered my prayers.’

“Bhaiya, we need to arrange three bottles of blood for Ma,” he rushes towards them.

“Ok, let’s start talking to our friends and family, we shall surely find some donors…don’t worry we will arrange it,” they try to pacify him.

Three hours later, they are still running short of one unit of blood. That’s when he makes up his mind.

Next day around noon, the doctor declares it has been a successful surgery. It is late evening when the doctor allows family members to Savitri’s cabin. Just then, he spots Arnab walking in – visibly shaken.

“Bhaiya, you please go and meet Ma, the doctor has just allowed us to visit her,’ he suggests.

As he waits outside, Arnab joins him after talking to the doctor and a brief visit to Savitri.

“Thank you, Zaid, for being with Ma. I have told her what all you have done for her….”

“Bhaiya, … though she loves me just like her son, all these years she has never allowed me to cook or serve food to her, but today I had no option - I had to donate my blood. I know she would be terribly upset with me….”

“Zaid, Ma is waiting for you to feed her the first drop of water, she even refused to have it from me…”