Anu woke up and kept her eyes closed for some more time, it was quite early she knew. This was the best part of the day when the house was quiet and there was only the hum of the air conditioning and the gentle snoring of Ragav, her husband next to her. She thought of the day ahead, nothing very special to do she decided. Just another ordinary, routine boring day. There was a meeting in one of the ladies’ organizations she belonged to at 10.00 A.M. I may not go she thought since it is only some cookery thing. Maybe I will visit my aunt Shanta who lives alone and then do some essential shopping, she told herself. She could hear her dogs barking excitedly outside. With a sigh, she opened her eyes and got out of bed. After the morning chores, she went out into the garden and enjoyed the undivided attention of both the doggies, while breathing in the fresh air of the monsoon morning. It was still dark, she made herself a cup of tea and settled down with her morning papers before going for her yoga stretches upstairs. They were one of the lucky families who still had the privilege of owning a nice old house in the better part of Chennai.

It was while she was having a leisurely shower that her nightmare started. She was soaping herself gently and “Oh my god!’ Is that a lump ?”, she felt in her right breast. She felt around it again and again and without thinking, she just wrapped a towel around herself and rushed out of the bath into the bedroom calling out for Ragav. He was peering into his laptop as usual and was quite shocked to see Anu coming dripping soapy water all round her and crying. When he at last managed to hear her problem. he had a look at it and tried to pacify her. Nothing registered, and they rushed to the family doctor. Well, without going into details, the world changed for them. It was one specialist after another, and it was decided that she went into surgery and the results would be known after the biopsy.

The BIG C in my family, thought Anu. Who would have thought that I would get it? She remembered that sometime back, her old school friend mentioned one of their classmates who was suffering with cancer. What was the girl’s name again? At last it came to her. Vedha. Yes, it was Vedha. At that time she had not taken much interest in that. But now she decided that she nust get her number and call her. If she also started with the breast, she might be able to share her experiences with her. Suddenly now, this vague person had become very important in her life. While her siblings and friends called on her, her mind was on Vedha and whenever she had time, she called up some of her old friends and tried to get Vesha’s number. Anu’s son flew down from Delhi where he had just taken up a job. But nothing consoled her.

The surgery was over two days later and the waiting period was terrible. The whole family was in agony seeing her trauma. “What did I do to deserve this?”, she thought and there was a constant prayer on everybody’s heart….that it should not have spread much. Anyway, forty-eight hours later, came the good news. It was just a benign lump and no carcinoma detected anywhere. Thank God! was everyone’s reaction. Life slowly went back to normal.

Three weeks later, Anu woke up one early morning and went out to the balcony. It was raining and she savoured the smeel of wet earth. Never again, she thought, I will think of a day as JUST ANOTHER ORDINARY DAY! What we take for granted so easily, are actually the happiest days of our lives, she thought. Her cellphone was ringing. She picked it up. “Hi, I heard that you were trying to contact me. I am Vedha. Some friend called and asked me to call you. I actually don’t recall your name”, the voice said. Anu was quiet for a moment, then said “Sorry. I think you got a wrong number” and disconnected.

This story has been contributed by Mrs. Prema Venkat from Chennai, India. If you enjoyed reading this story then do not forget to comment on it.