text: This was supposed to be the happiest day of their lives. ‘Congratulations!’ said the nurse, as she was holding an eight and a half pound baby girl wrapped in a linen cloth, extending a warm smile to the mom, Prerna. ‘You have given birth to a beautiful baby girl!’ Prerna who was still lying on the maternity bed, and was struggling to somehow sit up, couldn’t believe the nurse’s words, but managed to extend her arms toward the baby and her eyes fixed on the baby’s face as that was the only part she could see. Taking the baby within her arms, Prerna struggled to lower her head so that she could greet her princess with a kiss. She could barely move her eyes from the baby’s face which looked so pure and fresh like the morning sunrise. Or was it like her neighborhood pond bathed by a full moon? Perhaps, the most recently bloomed rose matched her princess’ face. Prerna was at her wits’ end to decide on what exactly would match her baby girl’s beauty. ‘Oh!’ Prerna remembered about her husband, Amar. ‘Has someone called my husband?’ Prerna quickly asked the nurse. ‘Off course!’ said the nurse, ‘In fact, he was waiting here all night yesterday. Unfortunately, owing to the pandemic we’re trying to minimize visitors, including our maternity ward. So he had to leave. But we have informed him, and we’re expecting him shortly.’ Taking a deep breath, Prerna looked at the clock and then at her newborn baby. ‘It is 12 o’ clock.’ The nurse went on, adding, ‘So I assume you must be hungry and super ready for lunch.’ Prerna smiled as she nodded her head. ‘Hello!’ a deep masculine voice pervaded the silence that seemed to fill the serene atmosphere so long. ‘Hello, Princess!’ Amar just made his entrance as he put on his gloves and booties, and all the protection equipments prior to entering the room. ‘Congratulations, Daddy!’ The nurse remembered to congratulate Amar, as she turned to the couple, adding, ‘I’ll be bringing your lunch once you guys are done chatting, and then selecting from the menu options on the tablet.’ ‘I totally understand that this is a very special day in your life. However, please let’s keep the meeting to no more 30 minutes for now as we’re trying to minimize visitors so as to fight the pandemic.’ The nurse reminded of the regulations, as she gave a tablet to Prerna along with a congratulatory message card, and exited. ‘Are you happy now?’ Prerna asked Amar, as she reminded him, ‘So now can our princess inaugurate our new palace?’ Amar was busy explaining Abhay, their son and first child, who accompanied him to the hospital, the responsibilities of being an elder brother. ‘She has a new pillow, mummy!’ an excited big brother, Abhay shared as he grabbed the phone from his dad’s pockets, and quickly pulled up a few pictures of what the new touch up to the baby’s room looks like. ‘Wow!’ Prerna’s eyes glittered, as she scrolled through all the pictures. ‘I remember we were talking about the house on the lakeside.’ Amar said, fixing the linen cloth around his daughter and loosened the wrap a little bit. ‘Yes!’ Prerna could hardly wait to hear more about the house, ‘What about that? Please don’t...’ Amar looked at Prerna, assuring, ‘It’s still there. Your husband hasn’t forgotten about how much the house means to you. I also remember my promise about bringing our princess to her well deserved palace and not this house that we have been staying in for the last five years.’ A satisfying smile lit Prerna’s face, as she put her right hand on Amar’s upper arm and her eyes were fixed on the newborn, as Abhay asked, ‘Do I still get to have my stuff, mummy? My toys, my study table and books?’ ‘How can I forget my helper?’ Prerna responded to her son, reminding, ‘You are the King of the house. Everything is yours darling!’ ‘I am not the King.’ Abhay clarified, as he corrected, ‘I am the Super Man. Remember!’ The family of four even including the newly arrived filled the room with their laughter, as Amar checked his watch, saying, ‘Oh! It’s 12:30! I have a meeting in ten minutes.’ Amar gave a tap on his son’s back as he was about to leave, while also doing his duty as a responsible husband by reminding Prerna to eat on time and take care. ‘Both are doctor and the nurse is happy about the healthy delivery of our baby.’ Prerna smiled as she reminded Amar, ‘Hope we bring our princess to the home we both have been eyeing on.’ ‘Yes...ah! Thanks for reminding.’ Amar replied pursing his lips, as he made a note on his phone notepad to call the realtor soon after reaching home that very night. The son and dad duo made their way out as Prerna kept looking at the door even after they had left. Soon she remembered that she was yet to place her order for lunch. As she was holding the baby, she struggled to gradually move her other hand very slowly and grabbed the tablet from the bedside table, and picked from the options. Food arrived an hour later. The nurse offered to get her baby so that she could eat. Soon the baby was taken to her crib, and laid down gently on her bed. ‘I’m so full!’ Prerna said to herself as she put the food tray on the table. A minute later she put her head back on the bed cushion, took a deep breath and closed her eyes praying that everything gets back to normal soon. Everything has been nothing but death since April, 2020. Being an expectant mom, she had been scared about herself and her baby. A tired mom, Prerna decided to doze off early that night after dinner, as she picked up a book from the table, and continued reading from where she left a couple days before. In a few minutes, she could barely keep her eyes open and gradually slithered inside the comforter and fell asleep. Next morning, Prerna was prioritizing her to-dos. Grabbing her phone, she scrolled through her contacts as she happened to have some well versed interior designers in her acquaintance circle. ‘Should I call Shreya and ask for an appointment at her office?’ Prerna asked herself, as she reflected, ‘She is a legend for designing kitchens! How can I think of someone else?’ A few minutes later, the doctor and nurse arrived announcing that Prerna and her baby are ready to go home that evening. ‘Awesome!’ Prerna could hardly hold her excitement as she called Amar to share the news. Finally, the moment arrived. Prerna was done packing her bag, as she was holding her girl, and remembered to do a final check before the mirror, fixed her hair, adding a fresh touch of lipstick to her lips and pursed her lips. ‘Come on. Let’s go.’ said an exhausted Amar, who arrived straight from work. ‘How was work?’ asked Prerna, as she boarded the car while fastening the seat belt, announcing, ‘I am appointing Shreya for doing our new kitchen.’ A sudden loud noise approaching from behind made Amar who had just started driving, check the rearview mirror. Soon he moved to a side as it was an emergency vehicle coming from behind. ‘Let us first get the house.’ responded Amar as he resumed driving, while he checked the kids sitting in the backseat. Prerna preferred to remain silent and looked outside the window moving her fingers up and down her seat belt as if she was playing the sitar . Even after reaching home, the couple barely spoke except for checking with food and water. Next morning, Prerna wanted to call all her interior designer friends as she wanted to leave no stone unturned to ‘build’ her dream home. ‘I really don’t understand Amar sometimes.’ expressed an anxious Prerna, as she called her childhood friend Sheryl, the owner of Dream Palace Decors, a huge brand in interior designing. ‘Let me share my latest catalogue for patio and outdoor design.’ Sheryl responded as she adviced, ‘Share these with your guy tonight while enjoying a glass of wine. I bet he can’t say no.’ Sheryl’s words seemed to help Prerna as she shared, ‘But, Sheryl, we are yet to buy the house.’ ‘I totally understand, Prerna. There’s no harm in sharing some good pictures. What else can you do these lockdown days?’ ‘Amar Calling.’ Prerna saw the call waiting message on her phone, and concluded her conversation with Sheryl by promising to call back later. ‘Yes, tell me.’ Prerna responded to Amar’s call, as she heard her baby crying from another room. After checking with the kids and Prerna, Amar shared, ‘I have some good news and bad news for us.’ ‘Share the bad news first.’ ‘Are you ready?’ ‘Do I have a choice?’ ‘The promotion I was expecting, which could have let us purchase our dream home, has been put on hold. So that means, we have to wait a little more to buy the home.’ ‘So you mean we can’t take our princess to her palace? Oh my! She won’t get to celebrate her first birthday beside the lake?’ ‘It’s not that. It’s just a mat...’ ‘I need no explanation. You could have told me this before.’ Prerna could not hold her emotions any more, and burst into tears shouting, ‘How will I ever show my face to my friends, now?’ ‘Honey,’ Amar was trying his best to calm things down over the phone as he has to go for a safety measures training in the next few minutes. As moving to a bigger home was a priority for him, he went on, ‘We’re still getting the house. I just checked with our realtor, and he said it’s going to stay in the market, and he’ll make sure it does. It’s all yours, sweetie.’ Having received no response from the other end, Amar said, ‘Hello! You there! Prerna, you’re listening?’ Soon he realized that Prerna had hung up on him. Covering his head and face in his two hands, Amar was struggling to decide on his next steps, tried to imagine what has been going on in Prerna’s minds, and wished he could leave that very second. Somehow he managed to get up from his chair, and poured a glass of water to drink. ‘Hopefully things calm down in the evening.’ Amar said to himself as he noticed a text that flashed on the screen, ‘I’m going to my eternal home. No worries about buying any home any more. I’m relieving you of all liabilities. Be happy! J’ The text was from Prerna who rushed to open the backyard door, soon after typing the text. Even the loud cry of her newborn baby from the other room or the repeated pleading for peanut butter sandwich from her son didn’t bother her in any way. ‘There it is’ Prerna said to herself as she found the oil jar that seemed to be waiting just for her. Being health conscious, a one gallon jar of oil could last for months. She would be calculative about how much of oil to use for cooking, which was something that Amar could never really agree with as he loved fried chicken and fish. It took less than five minutes to empty the one gallon jar which was a few ounces less than a gallon. She seemed to have a bath, as she poured the entire jar on herself ensuring not even a drop falls on the ground. Soon she grabbed the lighter which was lying on the patio table. In a few minutes, she was standing on the patio ablaze. Black smoke engulfed the surrounding, which again informed Abhay about something terrible. ‘Mummy!’ Abhay was screaming as he rushed to call his dad. ‘Dada, mummy is burning!’ Abhay was crying over the phone as he was trying to inform dad over the phone, which actually went on voicemail. Amar received the voicemail at lunch, and unable to believe his eyes, called back at the number. He couldn’t get any response. He was trying to think what actually had happened. Soon he saw his boss walking in the lounge, and immediately approached to see if he could leave on emergency grounds. ‘Do we have a meeting scheduled today?’ his boss checked with him. ‘I don’t think so.’ ‘Ok then. Not a problem. Hope everything is ok.’ Amar immediately rushed to leave thanking his boss. Grabbing his backpack from his work desk, he ran to his car, struggling to start and disappeared from the parking lot within a few seconds. Taking his usual right turn, he seemed to have been ‘trapped’ in the traffic signal at the intersection. Looking at the red signal like a captive, he was tapping his fingers on his lap. ‘Why is it taking so long to be green today?’ Amar was unable to hold on his patience. ‘Ah!’Amar breathed some relief, as the light turned green. He was trying to drive at the speed limit but at times ended up in going above, and then succeeded in bringing it down and monitoring every minute. After driving for about a mile, he found that the road was closed owing to roadwork. Taking a U-turn, he followed another route which finally helped him reach his destination, his home. By then it was too late.