Love.

Every night he would hug her and sleep." Love you bangaram" He said as he gently kissed her forehead and put her to sleep. (By the way bangaram means gold in telugu) . For all the 9 years that he had known her, she was charming and beautiful and mostly someone who could stand up on her feet and voice herself without any fear. He's in daze right now, confused to the core. As he begins to fall asleep he can only think of her. That girl, His first love (quite literally) too chubby for rest of the world but pretty perfect to him, a seemingly extroverted person who he did not quite expect to fall for the introvert he was, a few weeks later she had proposed him, he was up in the air only until she declared that she wasn't really in love with him. They didn't break up though, they worked on it. He remembers how anxious she was, how she hurt him sometimes. She slowly made her way through, she was in love. He subtly smiles as he gets reminded of how she thought it was so impressive when he said " If we aren't in love, think this is an arranged marriage, I'll make you fall in love" and he did! He wasn't becoming someone else for her, he was becoming more of himself. He started opening up to her about his past and mistakes and everything, she did too, about the biggest heartbreak that she had had, about how people were so annoying sometimes. They were so much in love. To love someone like him was the biggest gift for her. He wasn't the most perfect man on earth, he had a great nose though! She loved him because he was him, and he was hers. College was fun for him, not much fun for her, they graduated and took different routes. He went on to take up a job until he finds enough resources to start his own business while she went off to delhi to chase her dreams. She wanted to work for people. She was striving for that, he was so proud of her. Sometimes he would show up in Delhi and surprise her, they'd go out for a lunch date and he'd be off again. It was so difficult for them to stay away. It was for the first time in years that they stayed away from each other for so long. They were persistent about their dreams and about each other. She made it! Chase was over and a new chapter was about to start but before that, he made sure he made a strong statement to all the men she would come across "Hey wait, she mine". And how'd he do that ? They got engaged before she went off to the hills for her training. They were in love. Madly. Not a day went by without speaking, a word or an hour long conversation, it had to be there. After a few months of training, they got married. " How blissful it was" He thinks as he recounts all of it. The day he got married was one of the best days in his life. Three years ago it was made official, he remembers clearly how beautiful it was when they for the first time made love to each other, when they bought their first home and the times spent with his family with his love as the new addition. It wasn't all happy, there were stressful days, ups and downs, roller coaster work phases. Amidst all this They loved each other. Still, madly.

After two years of being married on a Sunday evening they had decided that it was finally the time for babies. And after a month or so she came to him with a glowing face, "emandi, look! " (Emandi is analogous to "Suniye")He's recounting all of this as he is falling deeper in sleep. She showed him pregnancy tests, they were pregnant. How could something be so perfect! For the last 9 months, he's taken great care of her, feeding her spending shit loads of time with her. It felt like college again just that they were older and wiser and that there was a baby in her stomach. He would wrap his arms around her stomach and tell the baby how much he would love him/her but also how much more he loves the mother. It was great. Months flashed by. Her baby bump grew bigger. They used to look at the mirror. Him standing behind her gently placing his hand on her stomach and kissing her cheek. They were proud of how great they looked together. Days went on and finally yesterday her water broke. He rushed her to the hospital. He assured her that everything would be fine. She promised that she'll fight this and come back with their baby. He remembers her shouting at once "emandi! " He jolts out of his sleep . He searches for her "Bangaram? ".. He searches impatiently, only to realise, she's gone forever. She left her promise unfulfilled. She fought to give the baby but she, she had left him forever .

Maternal Mortality: Maternal Mortality is defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) as "the death of a woman while pregnant or within 42 days of termination of pregnancy, irrespective of the duration and site of the pregnancy, from any cause related to or aggravated by the pregnancy or its management but not from accidental or incidental causes." Leaving the definition behind, it seems reasonable for MMR to be high amongst low to middle income households but do you know why it's so prevalent without any social distinctions these days? Anaemia and Obesity can be some of the prime reasons for Pregnancy Complications. Good news is, these can be worked upon Postpartum bleeding can be put in check by usage of oxytocin injections. Post pregnancy infections and eclampsia can also be treated by medical professionals. Remember "medical professionals". Unwanted pregnancies and unsafe abortions can be other reasons. Unsafe abortions sometimes are said to happen through ingesting turpentine and bleach. There's this entire market operating in Philippines where unsafe abortions are carried out in sessions. There's still so much we can do here. Usage of contraception to avoid unwanted pregnancy, Sex education to young adolescents who mostly fall prey to such situations. If there's nothing we can do to help directly, let's research and spread awareness :)