The Pregnancy Test

It’s quite early in the morning. The sun is barely up. The streets are empty. The only movement on the streets is newspaper boys arranging newspapers, an occasional person jogging and a vehicle that speeds through the empty road like a rocket. While the city sleeps, Prestige Medical Shop stays open 24/7. They do not have a lot of customers this early in the morning yet Mr. Praveen, the owner of the shop, ensures that they’re open to their customers at ‘any ungodly hour.’ That’s their slogan but it never really caught on with the people. The neighborhood only went there because it was the only medical shop in the area. But I like to go there often because I like Mr. Praveen. He’s a 70-year-old man who used to work in the bank. His children are abroad. He has spent his entire life’s savings on this shop, so it is all he has.  Interacting with all those customers is what keeps him going. I like to talk to him sometimes. He tells me about his grandchildren who have recently learnt to say “Dadaji.” He’s the kind of person with whom you can easily talk to. I have never seen him get angry at anyone. Perhaps all those years working in the bank has made him quite tolerant. His wife’s name is Nanda but everyone calls her Nandaji. She doesn’t talk much, but I am okay with that. Mr. Praveen always tries to get her to talk to other people but fails.  We never really got along anyway. Maybe it was because of that one time I accidentally spilled some chocolate milk on her.

I was in a hurry and quite honestly, I’ve barely even woken up. If somebody asks me the time right now my probable reply will be “Yes.” However, this is important, and I need to focus. I go inside the medical shop and there I see Nandaji taking a nap. I quietly walk towards the shelf where the pregnancy test kits are kept.

“Which one is it?” I text her.
“Pick any!!! It doesn’t really matter just pick one and hurry back home!!! I’m getting restless.” She replied.

I’ve never had to search for a pregnancy kit before. I’ve bought sanitary napkins for my girlfriend but that too she had given me proper instructions as to which one she wants. Pregnancy kit is a new thing and something not everyone is used to casually buy. Especially if that someone is me, a 19-year-old student. I pick the one that says PreggySure mainly because who names their pregnancy kit Preggysure?  It sounds like something kids would use while playing Ghar-Ghar and they want to take things to the next level in their make-believe world. I pick up the kit and I’m ready to sneak out. I’m almost at the door, past the cash register when an 80-year-old man enters the store with a small tetra pack of milk after his daily jog. Turns out that 80-year-old man is our neighbour, Vikrant Uncle who likes to jog every morning. He sees me and shouts, “Arre beta, why are you playing limbo this early in the morning in this store?” I swear I’ve never ever had the urge to hit an elderly man before this and it wasn’t even because he blew my cover, but it was for that limbo comment. I begin to panic and quickly start thinking of excuses and preparing myself for the oncoming storm.

Nandaji wakes up. She is confused. She looks at me crouching on the ground. She sees something in my hand. I don’t think she figured out what it was because she wasn’t wearing her glasses, but she was certain that it was something from the store. She takes some time to register what is actually happening and grabs me while shouting “Call the police! Call the police!” I swear I’ve never seen anyone this alarmed over a possible misunderstanding before. “Why what happened? Is it illegal to play limbo in this store?” asked Vikrant Uncle. This man might be fit in his 80s but he has a brain that’s the size of a pea. “What’s that in his hand? And why hasn’t he paid for it? Can’t you see he’s clearly trying to steal from this shop!” That sounds totally bizarre in any situation. But I guess she’s already biased because she hates me. She wasn’t wrong though. And, I would’ve come back and returned the money. But, I had to rush home and had no time to explain so I begin to beg her to let me. At that moment, my phone buzzes. She’s calling me obviously. I hastily cut the call from my pocket itself. One problem at a time. Just then, Mr. Praveen walks in to take over the shift.

“What is happening over here, Nanda?” he asks.
“This boy tried to steal from our store. Call the police right away!” she shouts as she continues to hastily grab me while I try to release myself from her clutches.

The old man calms the angry woman down with little to no effort. He then asks me what happened and I try to explain the situation to him. He decides to let me go only because he knows me personally and told me it’s okay if I come back later and pay. As I leave the store, he calls me back to take a look at what I had taken. The moment he sees the pregnancy kit, the calm and happy man I knew transformed into an angry concerned father. I get another call. I cut it again.

“Call your parents right now,” he says to me.
“You don’t have to do this, I really need to hurry home, she’s waiting for me,” I tell him.
“I don’t care, call them right now or else I am calling the police.” He says.

I have no other choice left. I call them up. While we wait for them, Mr. Praveen tells me, “Trust me, I am doing this for you. You will thank me later.” I choose not to say anything else as it’ll only worsen the situation. After 10 minutes, my parents arrive. Mr. Praveen explains the situation to them. They are furious and within good reason. My dad is shouting at me while my mom hits me. They kept talking about how I can be so irresponsible and more importantly this is not my age to indulge in any of these things. I quietly listen to all of it because right now getting this pregnancy kit to her is my number one priority.

After 20 minutes they cool down a little bit. Mr. Praveen talks to them. “You need to take proper measures if you want to contain the situation. We don’t even know if the girl is pregnant or not.” “If she is, and I hope to God she isn’t, I will make sure that I make your life hell. You’ll be ruining your life and more importantly the girl’s life!” My Dad says to me. It’s nice to see such a progressive behaviour from him. Has he been in such a situation too? What if I was the scare? I quickly snap out of it and sprint home. While I’m running, I get another call. I pick it up and tell her I’m on my way.

“This is your fault too, Kumar sahib, you pamper him a lot. If you hadn’t let his girlfriend come over, let alone allowed them to sleep together, none of this would’ve happened.” Said Mr. Praveen. “What? What sleepover? There’s no one at home right now except for Choti.” my Dad said and that’s when it hit him.  The pregnancy test wasn’t for me, it was for my younger sister. Daddy’s little princess was no longer little anymore.