My Baby Girl

A beautiful baby girl was born to Radhika. The labour room attendants were extremely busy. Twenty one children were born in the hospital on that day. The doctors and nurses were heavily overworked.

Radhika held the baby girl in her arms and caressed her soft hair. She whispered sweet nothings into her little ears. She breast fed her every two hours. The little baby would let out a little whimper and Radhika would attend to her in a jiffy. She changed her diapers and snuggled her close to herself to warm her, on this cold December night. On the third day, just before Radhika was to be discharged from hospital and sent home, she heard a commotion in the corridor of the ward. A woman was shouting, and some others were trying to quieten her.

A few minutes later, a team of doctors walked into Radhika’s room. They looked tense. The senior doctor said, “Radhika, we need to do a DNA test for your baby girl and you. We need to take the samples.” Radhika was a little unnerved, “Why? What is it for?” “Err; it seems there has been a mix up. A lady has alleged that the baby girl that she had given birth to has been given to you and your baby has been given to her!”

The words fell on her ears like a bombshell. She fainted. When she came back to consciousness, she could not speak a word. The DNA tests confirmed that the babies had indeed been exchanged. The doctor took the baby girl away and brought the other baby girl to her. Radhika held the new baby in her arms and cried endlessly. How much love she had showered upon the other child! All of a sudden she was told that the child did not belong to her! In a minute the child was whisked away from her arms. What a sea change her emotions had undergone. She did not love that child any more. Gone were the attachment and the affection. The realization took only an instant!

This happening sets us thinking. We too, need to realize the truth about our worldly relationships. Our parents and our children are surely a part of our flesh and blood but we need to realize that the attachment is only up to the flesh and blood. Sooner or later children grow up and lead their lives independent of their parents. This is the way of the world. Each one of us came into this world alone and shall go alone too. Undue attachments tie us down. The sooner one realizes that we just need to do our duty and not get unduly entangled with emotions; the sooner one is able to free oneself from worldly attachments.