The nurse came with this tiny ugly thing in her hand. Purnima looked up and saw the smile on the nurse’s face. ‘Its a girl’ she said to Purnima and gave her the baby.

Purnima was not sure whether she will be able to hold her baby properly. She was weak and a mother by mistake. But to her own amazement, she held her baby perfectly. Just like they show in the movies. “So its natural for us girls” thought Purnima. She looked at her baby with scanning eyes. The baby is as dark as she. ‘Oh! it has such small hands’. Purnima started to cry. She cried for the mistakes she had made, and she cried for the uncertainties of the future. How she wished Kartik was with her, like the man he always promised to be.

It started with a short bus trip. Purnima took a bus from Andheri to Borivali. It was the seat selection that would change everything. She sat next to this serious looking guy. He was reading a book. The bus got stuck in a traffic jam. Purnima was sweating and was not feeling very well. She saw a bottle of water with the guy. She said ‘Can I have a sip of water?’. A simple line that would roll into motion so many things. Purnima will come to know the commuter as Kartik and she will come to know so much about him.

They started talking about things. They started seeing each other. Before long they couldn’t live without each other. One day Kartik came over to her rented appartment. They did everything that they shouldn’t have. It was love of the most intimate sort.

In love you want to give everything you have, and so Purnima gave all of her to Kartik. And in return she got a part of kartik. It came un-invited. It came after 9 months. They were the longest 9 months of Purnima’s life. The months when Kartik will stop talking to her. Will not return her call and finally, will move out of reach.

Purnima wiped her tears and saw the baby again. How can she not have her? Why did she even think of abortion? She smiled. She was smiling because she has received someone who will always be with her. She kept looking at her till she fell asleep due to weakness.

She could hear someone crying at her feet! She woke up with a shock. Who was crying? She looked and saw a man’s hear on her feet. The hair that she knew so well. The shoulders she had felt so relieved. It was Kartik.

He looked up and saw her directly. His eyes were read. And he said

‘A man I don’t know did this to my mother! Left her with me. I cannot do this to you. I can’t repeat mistakes of the past. History will not repeat itself. Purnima, will you let me be a part of you and our daughter? Will you not just let me be a man in our daughter’s life? Will you let me be your husband and her father?’