UBC Day 14 - Depression - 12

This story is continued from Tough times - 11

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Priya’s world seemed to have crashed. The tears that she strongly held back when her father went through accident, when Nitin didn’t turn up at the airport, when she found the apartment empty, now came flowing down.

She remembered the time when she realized that she had missed her periods, and found out that she was pregnant. Nitin and Priya were living together for about a year. She had landed on bed with tears in her eyes. She thought of abortion, but Nitin consoled her. He stopped her from doing so, he said that they’ll get married as soon as possible.

Keeping that as a plan, she went to India for a holiday, thinking that he would join her and they will together announce her wedding. That’s why she hadn’t told anything to her parents or to Deepti.

In the coming weeks, grief engulfed Priya as though she had nothing to live for. Her performance at work deteriorated, her social circle disappeared. She denied all invitations to meet friends and missed office every now and then. She visited her gynecologist  who advised her against abortion and asked her to stay healthy.

It was about two months later; notice came from her landlords, for the end of her tenure. She realized she could no longer afford a place like that. She called Sushant to help.

When he came down to see her, he was shocked at her appearance. He cajoled her to tell him the entire story, after which he took an appointment with a Counselor  He also encouraged Priya to tell everything to her mother.

Her mother was surprisingly supportive. She said she understood, and asked her that she could come back home if she wanted. However, keeping in mind the society, Priya chose to stay back.

However, even at the end of two months, she was unable to find a place. She had decided to move into a hostel, when Sushant requested her to come and live with him as flatmates while she found a decent place.

Under her counsellor’s supervision and Sushant’s support, Priya nurtured her health back to normal; however she was still weak to be seven months pregnant. Things were still difficult at work. She had received several warnings during her depression and it was too much of a task to keep up with pressure with her present health.

When she walked in her boss’s office to ask for a maternity leave from next month, he sort of warned her once again that at the end of this leave, she could lose her job. It irritated Priya to the extent that she resigned at that very moment, gave a major part of her saving as compensation for discontinuing without notice and bought a ticket back home to be just in time for her friend’s wedding. 

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What next is in store for Priya? Is life as a single mother going to be easy? Read more on Day 15.