Little Words - Bigger Impact !! :)

My phone beeps for the nth time, while I was in no mood to have a look at those 11 pending messages sent by Appu. She is my best friend. Her name is Aparna, I call her appu.
She is a chirpy, lovely, expressive, caring and ofcourse my darling friend. I get up from my bed, walk into the kitchen, to eat something. Due to the on-going situations, I haven't eaten properly for the last two days. My hunger pangs were unbearable now.

Suddenly, I hear, "Pehla Nasha..", a default song set to my family members as ringtone on my phone.
I rush towards my bedroom, eager to know what's happening "there".
It is from my dad. He called me to check in whether I had my food, and following the study time table sticked to my bed-room door as I have my last exam tomorrow. I answered his questions and sat on my bed.

I could sense the tiredness in his voice, because from past two days, my dad has been staying in the hospital with the new born baby, who is about to get operated tomorrow. How could such a fragile baby be operated, I thought. My sister gave birth to this baby boy a week before completing 9 months. She dint even had a look at him. Due to complications, he had to be operated, so he was moved to a different hospital. My mom was staying with my sister at different hospital, my dad with the newborn baby and my brother taking care of their needs. Since I had my board of intermediate examinations, I was not allowed to the hospital and was staying with my neighbour aunty.

"It's a love story" by Taylor Swift, my phone rings, and I forcibly come back to the reality. It is appu. I answer her call hesitatingly. "Are you mad? Why are you not answering my calls and replying to my messages? Did you start preparing for your exam? Did you eat anything?". I could sense her anger. I said "Appu, I can't do it, please understand me, am not able to concentrate, am so concerned about everything that is going on and yes, I've decided not to attend the exam". Before I completed talking, I realized that appu hung up the phone on me.

Staring at the fan, on the roof, I sobbed slowly, thinking of how my sister and jiju dreamt of this baby, how we three of us, made a list of names starting with each alphabet, how me and my mother teased my sister on how fat she would get after delivery and how she would ignore everyone lost in her baby. By now, I was crying uncontrollably. I could hear some body at the door.

I went towards the door, wiping away my tears. It was appu with a cover in her hand. I could smell something spicy. "Pooh, listen to me, please have this, I know you're in no mood to eat this, or prepare for your exam, worst , you don't want to talk to me, but you have to, because you don't want to let your family down, not to make your sister feel guilty about it, and not to hurt your father, I know how much you love your father". Her words hit me hard like a punching bag. I hugged her and cried. She said everything would be fine and that I had to be practical. Some how, I felt little better, after flushing out my pain and that heaviness from me. I washed my face, ate what she bought and thanked her for coming home, while sipping the coffee she made. Appu stayed with me that night, made sure that I revised half of my syllabus.

I woke up the next morning with my father's call wishing me the best for my exam. I could sense something bad in his voice. When I told same thing to appu, she brushed it away by saying that he must have been too tired. Then, we quickly finished our bread, omlette and milk and headed to our common examination centre. Both of us were busy revising throughout our 30 minutes journey. Appu hugged and wished me for my exam.

I entered my room, sat on the bench on which my hall ticket number was written. I was never this nervous before. I used to be very confident like an experienced hunter. I prayed to god about my sister and the baby and lastly to get through this exam. Thanks to all those pre-final exams which I topped at my college. I completed the whole paper within two hours. I thanked appu for everything and hugged her tight after exam.
Then, on the way back to my home, appu and me stopped at a hotel to have meals.

I opened the gate and I could already see my dad crying inconsolably. Beads of sweat started to cover my forehead, my heart beating at its all time high, I rushed towards my dad. He hugged me and said that the baby was no more. I felt numb. I hated god for what he did. The baby died on the early morning itself when my dad called, but he dint tell me, keeping my exam in his mind. I couldn't think about my sister. She dint even had a glance at the baby, whom she carried carefully for eight long months. I questioned god "why my sister?" and cried like crazy. My brother calmed me down.

Days passed by, my sister was discharged. I was battling with myself, how to face her, as this was the first major shock that I have ever had in my life and I did not know how to cope up with it. To my surprise, I was blown away when the first question she asked me was "How did you write your exams? First rank right ?". There she is, world's best and bravest sister, I thought.

A month later, it was my results day, I dialled the number scrolling on the tv screen, my heart beating fastly, I entered my hall ticket number after the beep. I take a pen in my hand and wait to hear the marks from the other end, so that I could write them down!

English - 94/100
Sanskrit - 97/100
Chemistry - 58/60
Physics - 55/60
Zoology - 58/60

My heart was beating a hundred times per minute by now to hear the marks in botany, the exam before which I went through the trauma, which I wanted to give up, which Appu, my darling had forced me to write...

Botany - 60/60 !!!!!!!!!!

I couldn't believe ! I called thrice to that number to confirm it.
Now I was on cloud nine, felt like a feather in air. I felt as if I won over some evil force. I was never this content before. The first thing in my mind was APPU. Before I could realize what was happening, appu came to my home. It was one of those best days in my life, where I don't mind getting killed by a psycho or in an accident. How stupid thought haha !!

Its wonderful, how small push from a friend through her words and actions, can take you to the top!!
The next year, my father recieved a prize "best student" on behalf of me, as I had my graduation exams.
My dad was more than happy that day. I couldn't help but thank my dad and appu again and again in my head even today.