Seema is locked in the bathroom at her home. Her 2-year-old son, Ved is crying relentlessly from outside the bathroom. Tears stream down his cheeks as he screams his mother’s name begging her to come out. It is only noon-time. Her husband is at office seemingly unaware of the ensuing situation.
Ved has always been sprightly from toddler age. Climbing tables, jumping beds, playing with kitchen sets. Basically, like any other kid on the block. His boundless energy always kept the mother on her toes. The air of unpredictability hangs around the kid like the monsoon weather. His tantrums had already turned the once silent and sensitive mother into an impatient human.
Today at dawn, Ved woke up with a startle. He seemed irritated and would neither brush his teeth nor drink his milk. He slumped on the sofa and chewed his thumb, while stoically maintaining silence. Parents coerced him to complete his morning activities, but he refused to budge. Father left for office. After a while, Seema sat close to him and cajoled him to brush his teeth, to which at first, he resisted and then finally relented. Mother sensed grumpiness but chose to take it casually.
Breakfast time, Ved refused to eat anything. He was engrossed in cartoons. This was a regular feature and lunch would be early. Post cooking meals, Seema decided to have a quick bath and then feed Ved. She saw that he was rivetted to the TV. After completing her ablutions, she tried to open the door. The door wouldn’t open. She thought she had locked it, so she tried to open the inside latch. It only took a second for her to realize. To her bewilderment, she found the door locked from outside. For a second, she went numb. She could not think clearly, wondering if the door was jammed or if it was locked. As seconds turned into minutes, it dawned upon her that she had been locked in.
Ved was irritated today and did not want to be bothered by anyone. To make matters worse parents were pestering him to finish the morning chores. He wanted to be left alone. Once father left, he half willingly listened to his mother and agreed to have milk. He understood the mother would be going for bath. Bit later, he quietly got up and went to the bathroom door. He waited for his mother to come out, she did not. Nonchalantly, he latched the door and went back to watching TV. After sometime, he heard his mother banging on the door and wandered near the bathroom.
Seema evaluated the situation. She was locked in, her 2-year-old son was outside, barely able to comprehend the circumstances. Her phone was in the hall and no way to contact her husband. Her shouts would not reach the neighbour, due to the distanced apartments. She could not contact the outside world. It was only noon time and Ved’s lunch would be due in the next 30 minutes. Her husband would be home only at dinner time. She chillingly realised there was no one around to help her out from this situation.
Seema had to think fast. By now, Ved was feeling restless, banging on the door and screaming out his vocals. He wouldn’t be comforted so easily. She spoke to him in a calm voice. He had locked her in the bathroom and he needed to open the latch for her come out. At first, the kid seemed to stop crying and intently listened to his mother. She thought, she had got through him. But alas, after few seconds, he was back to thumping the door. The mother was crestfallen. She repeated this 9 – 10 times. Each time the kid seemed to respond and then abruptly continue with his peevishness. Seema had almost given up.
She was now looking for a parallel escape. The bathroom window was tiny and she could barely squeeze out. Add to it the grills were put on the windows as a security measure. She was losing her patience and the tormented kid was not making it any easier. She was perspiring and feeling ever so claustrophobic. It occurred to her that they might be stuck in this situation till midnight.
Ved’s banging had reduced in intensity, probably realizing that mother is unable to come out. His crying resonated a high-pitched tone and seemed in terrible distress. His mother was trying to talk to him. However, he could not understand, neither not know what to do or where to go. It had been almost one hour, since Seema was locked in.
Seema continued talking to her kid. She talked to him tenderly to open the door, so that she can give him something to eat. Without eating he would not be able to watch his cartoons et al. She tried every page in her parenting book to convince the kid to open the door. Alas, but to no avail. She reinspected her escape route.
Seema stepped on the commode and reached out to the window. She carefully checked out the grills. They seemed tad rusted. With all her might she tried to push out the grills, it would not budge. Dejection writ large on her face. As she sat contemplating the next course of actions, her eyes fell on the hammer lying at the corner of the bathroom. Her husband had used to drive the nails in the wall last night and must have kept it in the corner. She took hold of the hammer and hit the grills with all her might. The grills barely budged. She repeatedly thwacked the grills as hard as she could. After an eternity, finally, the old rusted grills felt the thuds and the nails dislocated from their comfort zone.
Meanwhile, Ved paced the hallways. He rankled. The kid started thinking out loud. His mother was in the bathroom. He was feeling hungry and wanted to eat. He could hear loud banging noises coming from the bathroom. Amid sheer confusion, he ran helter-skelter across the house, sobbing uncontrollably.
The grills were displaced. Seema’s perseverance had paid off. The escape had only just begun. She climbed near the window and wriggled her way out of it. One look and it sent shivers down her spine. Their apartment was situated on the 3rd floor. Seema carefully held on to the external bathroom pipe and lowered herself on the ledge. A slip here and she would spiral 40ft to the ground. Her legs began trembling almost instantaneously as soon as she landed on the ledge. Next, she had to jump on to the adjoining ledge, 1 metre apart. From thereon, about a metre apart was the veranda which joins her apartment’s main entrance.
Though the distance seemed small, Seema had to take giant leaps to reach the next ledge. The climatic rains made matters even worse. The ledge was filled with green algae, which made it slippery. Just as she was to about to leap on to the next ledge, Seema bailed out of the leap, as her foot slipped. Luckily, she held on to the PVC pipes for dear life. She was perspiring heavily. 1 hour ago, she could have not have fathomed of being in this situation.
Pandemonium engulfed Ved. He put his ears to the bathroom door and tried to call out to his mother. But he heard no noise, neither his mother was responding to Ved’s frantic cries. Thinking that his mother might have slept off, he banged the door with his tiny hands a few times. No response. Fearing the worst, his cries intensified.
Seema was shaking all over. She would have to take the biggest risk of her life and somehow manage to get to the next ledge. The ledge seemed much farther than it actually was. Ved’s crying face flashed across her. She wondered what the poor boy mush be doing, now all alone in the house. She had to get this right. With intense focus and determination, she eyed where she needed to land on the ledge. She took a deep breath and launched herself.
As soon as she landed on the ledge, she slipped and almost lost her balance. Tantalizingly, she held on to a few growing shrubs, only strong enough to take her weight for just a few seconds. By which time, she regained her balance and steadied herself. She now only had to cross over to the veranda. Accidentally, she looked below and instantly regretted it. The sheer height had her head spinning. She lost her confidence immediately. Seema cursed herself for looking down at the ground. She motivated herself saying she only needed to this one more time and she could get to Ved.
With tiger’s prowess, she leaped once again towards the walls of the veranda. She only just managed to hold to the edge. Using every single ounce of energy, Seema clambered over the veranda wall and back to safety. She had bruised her hands and legs during the process. Shivers coursed through her. She sat on the floor and cried. Her near death experience overwhelmed her. She took few moments to compose.
Seema approached the neighbour’s apartment and took the duplicate key from them. She silently thanked herself for keeping a duplicate key with the neighbour’s, against her husband’s wishes. She quickly opened the front door of her apartment. Ved was not in the hallway. She rushed into the room. Ved had slumped near the bathroom door and slept in a fetal position. The whole ordeal lasted for 2 hours, by which time Ved had exhausted himself to sleep in hunger.
Seema hugged Ved tightly without trying to wake him up. Ved purred in his sleep, opened his eyes slightly, held his mother face and went back to sleep. Seema was relieved beyond belief. She kissed him all over as if she had seen him after 1 year. Tears flowing down her cheeks in sheer joy and respite. She immediately called her husband and explained him the situation. He was aghast on hearing the entire episode and promised to bring a lock to fasten the bathroom door latch. End of day, he had forgotten to bring the lock.
Next day in the afternoon, Seema saw to it that Ved was fast asleep. Usually, she knew it would be at least a couple of hours before he would wake up. She decided to quickly wash the heap of clothes. As she was engrossed in washing, she suddenly heard the door close and lock subsequently. There was utter chaos in her eyes. She quickly rushed to the door, only to find the door was not locked. Ved was sleeping blissfully. A heavenly relief spread across her. An ironic smile escaped her as she reproached herself. Seema would get the lock herself.
