Rolling down the stairs in not pretty

I couldn't think of a better title for this post. As I play back the images mentally from last Wednesday, all that comes to mind is the shock post-event.

Let's begin from the beginning. My grand-pa and LG's maternal great-grandfather has taken seriously ill. He is in his early 90's; bedridden and barely mobile. With most of the family flying down to be with him, LG and I planned a sudden trip to visit him. Gone are the days when I packed in a jiffy and left on a couple of hour's notice unaccompanied giving little thought about the mode of transport. One of the ways how a child's entry changes your life. With incessant rainfall every night, bus travel was ruled out as my previous experiences have shown the shutters in private don't necessarily sheath the passengers. Booking a train ticket was not so much fun but I'm sure Lalu would disagree. With the brilliantly designed Tatkal quota system, no wonder the railway coffers have been overflowing. To cut a story short, LG and I got on a train one Thursday. How foolish to have assumed that trains these days do run on time. It was not so much of an ordeal to cart a 21-month-old toddler across the railway platform at 9:00 p.m. when the trin finally pulls lazily into the platform at 11:00 p.m. LG was not quite ready to get down on his feet in a strange place so he placed himself comfortably on my shoulders. Mistaking a special coach for 2nd A/c, one ws made to run down the platform with baggage on one hand and a toddler on shoulder. Not a pretty sight. Train travel as it is gives me the jitters. I'm so accident-prone on railway stations that I can't believe I made it unscathed this time. For the record, most visits to the railway station so far meant an injury with falling off the train four times, missing a chappal underneath once, and some more minor ones.

So, we reach the designated destination and all's not well afterward. Toddler tantrums at their peak make me reconsider my date of return. Days go by without having any meal but for milk. Come Wednesday and the mother of all incidents happen.

I'm sitting at the foot of the steps while LG climbs up the stair. Now, I've always lived in the first floor ever since LG was born and stairs are not new to him. But I never take a chance with the grill always pulled not allowing access or I'm close behind keeping a watch. He was not totally unaccompanied this time. However, this time I had this strange intuition it wasn't going to be alright. One thing led to another and before I knew he was rolling down a flight of 6-7 stairs. I was shocked beyond words. With my dad by my side, we were helpless as we saw him tumble down two steps more before we could lift him and rush him inside. He was bleeding profusely and the next thing I see, I'm covered in blood and so is dad. LG's mouth was blood-red. I removed a ice pack quickly as Dad placed him under running water. Within seconds, bleeding stopped. He was crying like mad out of pain. In the process, he had his front teeth chipped, lips cut deeply on the outer lip and inner jaws. The saving grace was he didn't vomit and didn't go unconscious. With bumps on his head, I took him to the Paed a few hours later after he settled down a bit. I called up his Paed at Pune and he prescribed a dose of paracetamol to control fever. The local doc prescribed Ibugesic which is usually given to kids who fall down. As always, it's the mother to be blamed for anything related to a kid. And, this one was no exception. If only someone would come forward to even try handling someone as hyper as LG by themselves for a day. I'm not complaining; I've hardly been away from him for more than an hour and half at a stretch since his birth. And, I can actually count the number of occasions when I've left him and gone to do chores. So. people please cut some slant. I am as much concerned for LG as any mother would be for her child.

Almost a week later, he has recovered but his deitary habits haven't. It hurts to eat.