Life-Changing Decision

Keshav & Malkarni were a Married Couple. Parents had arranged their marriage. After the engagement, they felt, they were meant to be together & fell in love with their souls. So they got married happily. It was Arrange cum Love Marriage for them.

Keshav was working in the Investigation Department. Malkarani had completed her graduation in Law & was looking for a Job. They were both looking for Career growth. She wanted to Practise Law. The couple were mutually supportive of each other's goals & understood their expectations. So they had a common idea to postpone giving birth to a child. They considered if a baby is born, the commitment towards it will be more than the commitment towards the Career. But the delay was not for many years. They thought they could involve in it after the age of 30. Till that, they wanted a normal life & to enjoy being together. They showed selfless love to each other.

Everything was progressing favourably as per their plans. They felt that God had given life with plenty of happiness & abundance.

The couple had got married at the age of 25. They were leading a peaceful life. Even before the age of 28, Malkarni heard people talking about the delay in Childbirth. The problem began by the Family Members, Relatives & Peer Pressure. She ignored those talks & She dint put her mind into it. Just to be sure that her decision should not be changed. A period came when their happiness started to degrade. Her career was going well. She started to solve cases by herself. Keshav was also involved in his profession & was eagerly waiting for a promotion in his job.

One day, when Malkarni was in her office, she felt giddy & vomited. She went to the doctor for a check-up. After checking her, she congratulated her that she is going to be a mother soon. To her disbelief, she was pregnant. She then remembered the time they spent last month in a Vacation happily & it was the outcome of it. She informed her husband.

Though a few years early as per their plan, they accepted as a joy god had gifted them. They both were involved deeply in Pregnancy & Health Checkups. On hearing this news, their family, friends all were happy & super excited. The criticizers were dumbstruck as they lost a topic for gossip talk.

They had many visions of how their baby was going to be, thinking about whether it will be a boy or a girl, the name choices, searched for online toys, baby products. Started studying about pregnancy books. Malkarni was too immersed in it. She was going to get the best gifts in her life. Becoming a mom for a first child was a very precious thing to her. They were getting ready to welcome their little prince or princess. Their life was going to the next stage.

Keshav took care of her wife well. Though she was frequently vomiting, feeling tired, she had the will power to be healthful. Malkarni was advised to take rest for the first three months to be protective. They followed the instructions given by the doctor. After the first month, she was having severe Stomach Pain at midnight. Keshav took her to the hospital immediately. Unfortunately, she had a miscarriage. When she heard the news, it came as a bolt from a thunderstorm. She couldn't bear this pain. She was wailing all the time. She wasn't able to come out from that crisis. They were depressed. The doctor also informed that this happens to most of the people. It was quite normal. They can still give birth to a child. They should go ahead & try for it & need not worry about this. Advised her to improve her health with healthy foods. These words dint console her. She lost her hope in everything. Her life was broken.

Malkarni had dreams of babies every day. Some of them were Hugging, Pampering, Nourishing, Feeding and Kissing a baby. Her face was full of smiles when she was dreaming of these. But the minute, she awake, it all turns out to be the darkness.

After a year, She was Pregnant again. When she confirmed it with the test, her happiness knew no bounds. This time they were very careful. They went to check-ups regularly. Her mother & in-laws came to her house & showed their love and affection. She had the fear that nothing should happen like the last time. She had a baby shower function. Everything went well. During the time of delivery, she got cramps. So Keshav took her to the hospital. She had contractions. After so many screams & shouts, she delivered a boy baby. But doctors couldn't hear any tears from the baby. They put it upside down & patted. Then it cried loudly. The baby was alive. All were happy. Malkarni looked at the baby & rested due to tiredness. Malkarni was delighted. They called the baby as Muna.

But after 2 months, Muna had a high fever. When taken to the hospital, Muna was kept in the ICU. Malkarni was crying. She wanted her child back. Bad luck, Doctors informed them that Muna had passed away. On hearing this, she fainted. Later, She took the baby for one last time, kissed on his forehead. Then Muna was taken away from her.

Whenever she watched a baby somewhere, she went near, took the baby & kissed it. She loved to hold the babies in her hands. The pain was stabbing her heart. She felt guilty for their plan of delaying childbirth. She thought that God had punished them. Sometimes, she tore the wallpapers of babies. She was frustrated & mentally disturbed. Though Keshav tried to make her resilient, it was not easy.

Two years passed she dint have any symptoms of getting pregnant. They felt their lives were incomplete without Muna. They missed him badly. She thought that this was the time to take a firm decision, "Shall I wait for our child or raise a baby from Orphanage?". She had this in her mind for the past many years. She didn't dare to tell this to Keshav. She said she wanted to talk with him something important. They went to the lakeside. Watched birds. Sat on the bench. After a long pause, she boldly asked the same question that she had in her mind.

Keshav's reply changed their life beautifully. As a reader, what do you think that Keshav had decided? Which of these could have made their life good - Awaiting or Raising or Any other possibility could it be?