For Arinjay Jain, the arrival of his daughter in August 2026 was more than the birth of his first child. It reopened a chapter of grief that his family had carried for nearly a decade. Ten years earlier, Arinjay had lost his younger sister, Anushri, who was just 20. Her sudden death after an unexplained deterioration during an illness had left the family shattered. A decade later, when Arinjay and his wife, Naina, welcomed a baby girl, his mother looked at him and said, “Meri beti wapas aa gayi.” For the family, the moment brought tears, memories and a feeling that the love they had lost with Anushri had somehow found a new place in their lives.
A sudden loss that changed the family forever
Speaking to The Times of India, Arinjay recalled how Anushri fell ill with dengue in 2016. She initially felt uneasy, and the family decided to hospitalise her so that she could receive better treatment. However, after several days, her condition did not seem to improve. The family began considering a change of hospital, although doctors advised them to remain patient. Then, one day, Anushri suddenly became extremely unwell. Arinjay said his mother called him and asked him to help shift Anushri to another hospital. While the family was taking her there, her body suddenly turned blue. What happened left everyone shocked. According to Arinjay, there was no apparent fall in her platelet count or another clear explanation that the family could understand at the time.Anushri eventually passed away in December 2016. “She took her last breath in my arms,” Arinjay recalled while describing the loss. Her death left the family unable to understand what had happened. “Meri sister is one of the most important people in my life. We were extremely close,” he said, remembering the bond they shared. Anushri had also been a certified makeup artist. On October 5, 2016, shortly before her death, she had opened a cafe with her best friend, giving the family another reason to remember the dreams she had been building. After her death, Arinjay said, he and his mother were left feeling completely lost.
Travelling became a way to live with grief
The family tried to cope with Anushri’s absence in their own way. Arinjay said he and his mother travelled to different places, partly to distract themselves from the painful memories surrounding her death. Whenever festivals came around, they would look at the tickets available and choose a destination. From the outside, however, their constant travelling was sometimes misunderstood. “Relatives used to taunt us, ‘Inhe to ghoomne se hi fursat nahi,’” Arinjay recalled. But the family knew the reality behind those journeys.Travelling was not about escaping responsibility or simply enjoying holidays. It was one of the ways they were trying to survive the grief of losing someone who had been at the centre of their lives. Over time, another important person became part of that family story. Arinjay married Naina in 2017. Naina eventually became closely involved with his family and also took over the cafe that Anushri had started with her best friend in 2016. For Arinjay, Naina’s presence became particularly meaningful because of the relationship she developed with his mother.He said his wife played an important role in helping the family find happiness again. She understood the family’s grief and developed a bond with his mother that, in many ways, reminded them of the closeness she had once shared with Anushri. Even today, Arinjay said, his mother and Naina visit places that Anushri had once travelled to with her mother.
“Meri beti wapas aa gayi”: A new beginning after 10 years
The years that followed were not always easy. Arinjay said the family went through several complications, including the difficult period of the Covid pandemic. After everything they had experienced, Arinjay and Naina eventually decided that they would not have a child. But life took an unexpected turn. Nearly 10 years after Anushri’s death, Naina conceived. In August 2026, she gave birth to a baby girl. The moment the doctor announced that they had welcomed a daughter, Arinjay said he was left speechless. “When the doctor said, ‘It’s a girl,’ I just went blank,” he recalled. His mother looked at him and said, “Meri beti wapas aa gayi.”The words brought back a decade of memories. The loss that had once left the family without answers suddenly stood alongside a new beginning. Arinjay described his daughter, Naira, as “a beautiful beginning for all of us”. He said her arrival had given the family another opportunity to experience the kind of love they had once shared with Anushri. “She has given our entire family another chance to feel that love again,” he said. For Arinjay, the feeling goes even deeper. “And in the deepest corner of my heart, it feels like my sister has been reborn,” he said.The family does not know what the future holds for Naira, but her arrival has already changed the emotional landscape of their home. For a family that once struggled to understand how to move forward after losing Anushri, her birth has brought back memories of the daughter and sister they lost while also giving them someone new to love. Arinjay’s father, a businessman and industrialist, and his mother, who runs a boutique, are now part of this new chapter alongside Arinjay, Naina and baby Naira. For his mother, the words she spoke on the day Naira was born perhaps captured the family’s emotions better than anything else could: “Meri beti wapas aa gayi.” And after 10 years of grief, those words became, for the family, a way of saying that love had returned to their home.
