She went to the hospital the next day, to have an abortion. Nikhil accompanied her. The doctor performed a test on the mother to find out if it was okay to continue with it; only to come to a conclusion, that there was no way for an abortion to happen. If the baby were to be aborted, the baby and the mother would die. Latha secretly rejoiced and thanked The Lord for being on her side. Her mother-in-law on the other hand, was extremely upset and angry, with the way things turned out. She hissed curses at Latha everyday, after that. Ignorance was the only solution Latha had, to this problem. She was happy that she finally had something to look forward to – motherhood.
The baby girl was born after five months and was named 'Nitha', you know, like how Indian parents love performing permutation-combination of their names stripped in half, or sometimes even full! (If that wasn't clear – Ni[khil]+ [La]tha = Nitha). The mother-in-law however, simply ignored to attend every little occasion that involved the baby girl. Nikhil learned to love his daughter over time and decided that his little princess deserved all the happiness in the world. He regretted that, he had even thought about killing his daughter, much before she entered this hypocritical, yet beautiful world.
As years passed by, they had another baby, which was lucky enough to enter this world, without anybody planning to take away it's life. And that was because it was a baby boy this time. The mother-in-law beamed with joy when he was first brought home from the hospital. If you're wondering what he was named..then wait for it... It was Likith! He received much more attention than his elder sister and was always the center of discussion at home, for his granny. He was hence, pampered and spoilt for nobody's good. Nitha on the other hand, diverted all her attention towards studies and by now, she had learnt that her granny had no care or love to offer.
As the kids began to grow, school, studies and tuition became the order of the day. Nitha proved to be a very smart kid, always doing well in her tests and exams and being voted the best student of her class, every year. She was even awarded the certificate of all round excellence, when she was in her tenth grade. Likith looked at his elder sister with jealousy, because he was not used to her having all the attention. He was the prince! He couldn't tolerate being the second fiddle, outside of the house. As a result, he turned out to be rebellious in a bad way, always throwing tantrums about the tiniest of issues. The two siblings grew up to have completely opposite characters. Their granny, on the other hand still did not care much about Nitha, while Likith got all the granny-goodies. Nitha knew what she was, and did not think that it was important to prove it to her grandmother. She grew up to become a research scientist at ISRO. Her younger brother was working at a call center; blowing up everything he earned, on parties.
While their lives went on like this, a huge disaster struck the family. Nikhil was diagnosed with cancer. After talking to the doctor, they realized that the treatment would cost a bomb. So they had two choices: gather enough money to spend for the complete treatment, or choose the partial treatment option which didn't guarantee survival. The mother-in-law was really upset. She tried to “find” all possible causes of this imminent ruination of the family. She blamed Latha for having Nitha, because she considered her to be a bad omen for the family. Her superstitious beliefs convinced her that Nitha was the root cause of this unfortunate turn of events.
While they were sitting in the living room, busy figuring out how to raise the amount needed for the treatment, Nikhil came in limping and holding both his hands on his chest. He had difficulty in breathing. He was immediately taken to the hospital by his mother, wife and daughter. The doctors informed that he had had a minor heart attack. Even after the attack, he had breathing problems. The doctor suggested that a very expensive surgery had to be performed for him to get better soon. The family felt like their world was crumbling around them. The mother-in-law was inconsolable. Latha panicked as she walked around the hospital aimlessly, trying to call Likith, who was not even present during the whole episode. He never picked up.
After about half an hour, Nikhil was taken into the operating theater. The mother-in-law tried to ask the nurse what was happening, but was ignored. She assumed that Likith had arranged for the money. She immediately rushed to offer prayers, ironically, to Durga ma's idol placed in a corner of the hospital. (Hate the girl child, but worship the Goddess. Hypocrisy much?) She walked back to the waiting area, thanking God continuously. At the corridor, Latha was hugging her daughter while sobbing loudly; but this sob sounded different, as if it was out of gratefulness. The old lady walked past them, commenting, "Finally, it was my beta Likith, who saved his father. God bless that kid."
Hearing this, Latha stopped weeping, wiped the tears off her face firmly, and walked upto her mother-in-law. She looked her in the eye and said, "You know what? Every minute of my life, I regret that I didn't stand up against you, when you asked me to kill my daughter! The Lord wanted her to be born and that is why, she survived. And guess what? She is the reason your son is alive today!!"
The mother-in-law looked at her with disbelief, her eyes wide open. There was no stopping Latha, that day. She continued with emotional anger, all the years' inbuilt suffering and pain was getting unleashed. "She has paid for the surgery and saved her father, your son, Nikhil, from dying! And she has enough money to pay for the complete treatment!". The mother-in-law stood there, shocked, without having any words to say. Latha went on, "Guess what Likith is doing, right now? He's partying with his friends! I don't even know if he understood what I told him! Nitha has worked so hard and so well, and all she got from you was scornful comments. After all this, if you still think that SHE is the problem, then even God can't save you!!"
Nitha had attended a conference a week before, where she had taken part in a quiz competition. The results were announced the day after her dad was diagnosed with cancer, and so, she had completely forgotten to check the results. After her father was admitted, she received a call informing her that she had won the competition with a reward of Rs 5 lakh, and a high paying job at that organization.
The mother-in-law had no words, but only tears in her eyes. She hugged her grand daughter for the first time in her life, crying on her arms. She apologized for all the things she had said and done for all those years. Nitha never had any hard feelings towards her grandmother, so she condoned all her wrong-doings and heartfully embraced her granny. Latha was glad that her mother-in-law finally understood what it felt like, to have a girl child. She thought that the realization was easy, only because her own son's life was at stake. Nitha, cheerfully wiped the tears from her grand mother's face and said, "All's well that ends well, huh?"
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