Platonic Imprint
Ranadhir Mukhopadhyay
Platonic Imprint describes a lonely love. Rapid and perfect recovery from a near-fatal injury in the lower spine of a beautiful young daughter in New York led the entire family in Bangalore into a quagmire of questions, distrust, and infidelity before pure and unflinching love offered the answer. The daughter’s ‘mission-truth’ later traces the fact surprisingly to a remote village in rural Bengal. Does the story also open an area of research on how a single event could impact two people emotionally in such a different manner?
SIX
‘Does that mean I have parents different than whom I know?’
Hearing a new voice in the room, in a flash, all looked towards the door. Tiya was there in her wheelchair with a sister helping her.
Sister was apologetic as Tiya insisted to come here seeing the parents getting delayed by a long discussion.
‘You all were so engrossed in discussion that none of you noticed me coming in. I am sorry for barging in, but…’
‘It’s okay, my child’ Doctor moved toward Tiya and tried to comfort a disturbed Tiya. Ahana followed.
‘Well, since you have placed the question I must provide an answer. But you will have to promise me one thing
‘Yes Doctor, tell me what?’- Tiya could hardly speak
‘You should remain calm even after listening to me. The reason being nothing could be done now which happened more than two decades ago.’
Taking a deep breath Tiya could only utter- ‘Ok, I shall’, but one could see both parents and the child- all were disturbed and ruffled with the question, and awaiting eagerly to know the answer.
‘My child’ -the septuagenarian doctor said- ‘the answer to your question that whether you have parents different than whom you have been knowing all these years- is a big NO. Your parents remain yours’
One could see the billion-dollar relief on the face of Siddhartha, Ahana and Tiya. Siddhartha and Ahana slowly closed their eyes and were visibly on the verge of breaking down. Ahana placed all the weight of her face on her left shoulder and could somehow manage the situation.
‘But then what’s that mutation story all about? Tiya asked again
‘Yes, there is a glitch here. Do not take my word as finality as yet, and I need to substantiate my findings with further research.’
‘And what is that?’ a feeble Tiya continued grilling
‘It seems quite possible that a seventh person besides your two parents and four grandparents might have played a role in mutating genes of yours to make your unexplained quick recovery possible. You all must be thankful to that seventh person.’
‘How that is possible doctor?’
‘For the exact answer to this question, you must wait till my research gets over’.
‘Yes, I agree, still what’s your guess?’
The doctor was amused with the barrage of questions, ‘We do not guess, young lady’
‘I am sorry doctor, I never meant that way.’ Tiya paused for a while ‘but how that the mutation could occur in my case.’
‘Not sure, because it hardly happens. But since it has happened in your case we must find out the exact way it happened. Theoretically, it could happen by intense thinking of any known person by your parents or platonic influence of another person during conceiving, or coming in contact with a strong attractive personality, or image transfer of a person in the subconscious state, or there may be few others ways we are yet to comprehend.’
A whole length of silence covered the room. All were thinking in their way based on the hints given by the doctor. Highly encouraged by the quick recovery, a few hours back Tiya was feeling like a star re-birth amidst the expanse of the universe, but now she appeared unsure.
Three days after this deliberation, Tiya was released by the hospital. An ambulance dropped her at the guest house where her parents were staying. Cleta, Manisha and Alpesh also came along.
The doctor has given Tiya permission to travel to India only after a week and to see Dr. Parasnath at NIMHANS in Bangalore (National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro-Sciences), in case anything goes wrong. Dr. Wisconsin discussed this with Dr. Parasnath, who has kindly agreed to advise Tiya when needed.
Tiya has been allotted a room separate from her parents in the guest house, with 24×7 nursing support. A junior doctor is to visit her every evening to enquire about her progress.
The following week remained one of the most uncomfortable weeks in the life of Ahana and Siddhartha. Neither Ahana, Siddhartha nor Tiya could look at each other’s eyes, or connect to each other’s thought processes. Although now it is known that that mutation in the gene has only helped Tiya tremendously, the question remains who was that seventh person- a man or a woman, related to them or a stranger?
On the third day after her release from the hospital, Tiya called both mom and dad and raised the issue. She told, ‘although it matters to you both, none of you might be as interested to know the bottom of the truth, as I would be. This development has already impacted me and may continue to impact me in future too. Given this situation, I would request you to tell me the truth. It will help me to at least thank that person.’
Tiya was panting and gasping for breath.
‘See, I do not know. I cannot think of anybody who came close to me before or after marriage and who could influence my gene structure.’ Ahana told slowly.
‘Same is with me. When you came to this world, I was busy with my research and doing a post-doc. And I cannot figure out anybody coming so close to me to interfere with my gene structure.’ Siddhartha sounded quite convincing.
‘But there is a seventh person. Who that could be? Please do not mind, but I need to ask this question to both of you- did you have a boyfriend or girlfriend before or after marriage?’
‘Tiya, you are crossing the limit’ Siddhartha got annoyed.
‘I am sorry… I do not even intend to do that, but just think of me. I need to know who that person is who blessed me with her/his strength.’
‘Siddhartha, I think her question is just. We must think cool and try to remember the person(s) with whom we got acquainted most, say four years before and after marriage. That means our search period could be between 1988 and 1996.’ Ahana sounded more analytical
‘Thank you, mom, for taking it sportingly.’ Tiya appreciates Ahana’s clarity of thought.
‘For me,’ recollecting those days Ahana uttered slowly, thinking every detail, ‘in 1988, I was in college in Delhi. I do not remember having any boyfriend, forget about having an affair. I have no brother of my own, and the proposal of marriage from your father was the first match for me. And after marriage, thanks to Siddhartha’s very limited friend circle, I came to know only a few people- Prof. Rogers and Prof. Rebecca in University, and two other Indian couples- Alpesh-Manisha and Sameer-Aditi. I do not think I had any liking for or affair with any of them. Simply because none of them was more handsome than your father.’ Ahana gave an appreciative look to Siddhartha.
The discussion did not go further, as neither Siddhartha nor Ahana could throw any additional light. The mystery remains.
(…to be continued)
About the Author :
Dr. Ranadhir Mukhopadhyay is a Marine Geoscientist. He had retired from NIO, Goa as a Deputy Director. He now lives at Goa.