Evil eye
by sanyuja
“Rahul will not be coming to school even today, Mrs. Sharma”, said Nina. “He is still not keeping well.”
“He has been sick for more than a week, Mrs. Khanna”, said the school principal in a worried tone. “I hope there is nothing to worry.”
“No, the doctor says it’s the usual viral fever and Rahul should be fine in a day or two. He should be able to attend school from next week.”
“Hope he gets well soon. I will inform his class teacher about his leave.”
Nina thanked the Principal and hung up.
No sooner had she replaced the receiver than Rahul began coughing again. She rushed to him and held him, gently stroking his back. Though she appeared hopeful to the Principal that Rahul will get well soon, she had her own worries. It had been more than two weeks and Rahul had still not recovered. The doctor had prescribed heavy dose of antibiotics and that had made Rahul very weak. How much can a 7 year old take in, anyway? He had been on bed since day one. Neither did he feel like eating anything, nor did he feel like taking medicines. Nina had to coax him everyday that that was the last dose of medicine he had to take. It was the same scene everyday — Rahul would refuse to take medicine and Nina would coax him somehow.
The doctor had said that it was viral fever. The symptoms did point at it, but viral fever for 2 weeks seemed uncommon to Nina. Rahul had become so inactive — he would sleep all day and even refused to watch Tom and Jerry— and this was Nina’s main concern. He wouldn’t eat much which made him grow weaker day by day. He wouldn’t talk and answer by just nodding or shaking his head. Nina was getting worried with each passing day.
Rahul’s cough subsided a little and he sank back on the bed.
“Would you like some lemon juice, bittu?” Lemon juice with lots of sugar would give him a little energy, thought Nina.
As expected, Rahul just shook his head with his eyes closed. She gave him a glass of water, which too he refused to drink.
“Why are you acting like this Rahul? You will grow weaker if you don’t eat or drink anything”, Nina tried her trick again. “You drink this and you will get better and we will watch Spiderman together.”
These days Spiderman or Tom & Jerry had little influence on Rahul.
“Come on bittu, just take a few sips. Rahul is a good boy, right?” This time, Rahul didn’t even bother to shake his head.
She just sat there, thinking what to do next. Should she take Rahul to another doctor? This doctor’s medicine was not showing any effect – Rahul’s health showed no improvement. She was lost in her own thoughts when the door bell rang. It was her maid, Shantabai.
Shantabai could clearly make out by looking at Nina’s worried expression that Rahul was still not well.
“How is baba, memsaab?”
“He has still not recovered Shantabai”, said Nina in a bored voice.
“Memsaab, if you don’t mind, can I suggest something?”
Nina was in no mood to listen to Shantabai’s nonsense talk. But, she couldn’t say so on her face. “Yes, tell me”.
“I think someone has cast an evil eye on baba. That’s the reason why his fever is not going down.”
“What! What evil eye? What do you mean Shantabai?”
“It happens all the time with kids, memsaab. They go to school, go out to play, anybody could cast an evil eye on them. And we won’t even know who did that. You just do as I say and baba will be fine within minutes.”
“What am I supposed to do?”
Shantabai explained the remedy for warding off the evil eye and Nina was shocked – do I have to do that to Rahul?
“Okay, okay. I will do that,” said Nina.
“Remember memsaab, you have to do it during sunset only. If you don’t do it today, you can do it only tomorrow.”
Nina was lost in thoughts again. Evil eye? And to get rid of it, she has to use the broom? And her sandal? She couldn’t do that to her own son!
She was preoccupied with this thought for the whole of the day. Every time she looked at her son, her heart would leap out for him. She couldn’t see her son bed ridden like this. She preferred the mischievous Rahul any day to this ill, inactive boy. Should she heed to Shantabai’s advice? Should she put her son through all that? But, the doctor had said he will be better soon. Any day now, he had said. How long did she have to wait to see her son play again? She couldn’t bear to see her son suffer like this. After a lot of yes or no, she decided to do it and be done with it.
She took the broom and her sandal to Rahul’s room. Rahul was fast asleep. As instructed by Shantabai, she took the broom and circled it around her son nine times, spit on it and threw it on the floor. She did the same with her sandal also. She did everything hurriedly as if she was doing something wrong. Hopefully, Rahul should be fine by tomorrow, she thought.
Next day, Nina arose thinking guiltily of her previous day’s little adventure. Was she stupid enough to listen to her illiterate maid? Did she really do all that to Rahul? She couldn’t believe it! Everything seemed hazy in her memory. She sat there lost in her thoughts when the door opened and Rahul came running to her. Was he smiling or was she dreaming with her eyes open? Rahul – actually smiling? He was fine? She took him in her arms and showered him with kisses. She was so happy to see her son like this.
“Mommy, can I go to Nitin’s house and tell him that I will go to school with him today?”
“Sure honey.”
She was so relieved. Rahul was fine and there was nothing more she wanted. Was it because of what she did or was it the doctor’s medicines? Rahul had been taking the medicine for two weeks now and it could have finally worked on him! Or it could be the broom! Was her son really the victim of an evil eye? Was there something like casting an evil eye or was it just co-incidence? Whatever it was, Rahul was fine now and that’s all she wanted. Call it medicine or call it miracle – the outcome was the same!
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© by sanyuja
Posted
Tuesday, August 30 @ 12:11:31 EST - viewed 694 times
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Copyright
© by sanyuja
This content in whole or in part cannot be copied or used anywhere without
written permission.
Posted
Tuesday, August 30 @ 12:11:31 EST - viewed 694 times
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