PODCASTER'S TALE

PROLOGUE

It was a time in the middle of the night. Somewhere a chime of a grandfather clock struck to two which indicated it was 2 o’clock at night. A very ordinary looking two-storey house situated in a small lane in Bhopal was, that time, witnessing the torment of a young girl who was in her late 20’s. She was sobbing, sobbing in her sleep. Like any other day, her pillow was getting soaked with her tears, was becoming dry afterwards, was getting soaked with tears again and the cycle was going on. Her puffy eyes, due to days’ tears, were the evidence of her pain.

All of a sudden, that sob turned into dyspnoea. In no time, an woman of late 50’s, who was lying beside her, woke her up from sleep. That incident was not new to the woman as two or three episodes of dyspnoea during sleep occurred every week for previous few months. She quickly gave her a glass of water after switching on the light and kept the inhaler pump beside her pillow. The woman was wide awake as no mother can have a peaceful sleep when her child is in pain. Her daughter was still gasping. Without wasting another moment, she made her daughter have two puffs of the inhaler and then helped her to sit erect by supporting her back to the headboard of the bed.

Meanwhile father of that girl had arrived from the adjacent room. Although, both of the parents were trying to show themselves strong in front of their daughter, but they knew the agony they were going through while seeing their only child in that condition for several months. After almost an hour, situation became better than before. Switching off the light, father went to his room and the mother and the daughter lay down again.

The voice of the pulmonologist, under whose treatment the girl was, was echoing in both the parents’ ears. On the very first day of consultation, the pulmonologist told them very clearly —
           These episodes of dyspnoea occurring almost everyday are nothing but the exacerbation of the bronchial asthma diagnosed in her childhood. And as you have informed me, the long-continued emotional stress whose root lies under those situations she had faced, has triggered the asthma. For now, she is under my treatment but in near future, she may require the help of a psychiatrist.

Father of the girl sat down quietly on the edge of his bed; while the mother, in spite of lying beside her daughter, could not afford to look at her face and shed a drop of tear thinking that those incidents had changed their life, forever.