6.1 Vir
When I came out of Sarla's hospital room, Vhy was waiting for me. I put my arm around him and hugged him tightly. I could smell Pantene shampoo on his hair, the same brand I used, and Chiclets on his breath. When I released him, I saw his eyes were wet and shiny. He was only 17 after all and he had never experienced a death or major illness in our immediate family--thank God. This was probably very hard for him.
"Bete," I said gently. "Don't worry, she's going to be fine."
"Papa," he said. He was the only one who preferred to call me Papa, not Dad. Somehow, I liked it. I had always called my father Papa till the day he died, and he had called his father the same.
"Papa," he said again, and I could see him swallowing hard, as if making a major effort to speak. "There's something we need to talk about."
"Bete, it's late now. Why don't you go home and get some sleep. I'm going to be here until your Jogi-mama and Sundri-mami arrive. They're already on the flight from Delhi. You can come in the morning on your way to college, your mother should be conscious by then. We can talk after you see her."
"No, Papa, it's important. We have to talk right now."
I looked at him curiously. Vhy was the dreamer, the most carefree and happy-go-lucky of my three kids. Viveka was the sensible, motivated one. Mikey was the eccentric, rebellious one. Vhy usually became passionate only about movies. He was a junior Alfred Hitchcock, Steven Spielberg and Wachowski Brothers, all rolled into one. He had seen The Matrix 73 times in less than two months, maybe another two dozen times since then. It was his Bible.
With a tinge of concern, I said, "Bete, what is it? Some problem?"
He looked around. Then, without pointing directly at them, he indicated Mikey and Mrs Mudgal, still seated in the waiting area by the nurse's desk. His voice was low and urgent as if he didn't want his voice to carry down the dead-silent hospital corridor.
"Papa, it's Mikey."
"What about Mikey, bete?"
He hesitated for a moment. "He's changed."
I frowned. "What do you mean, changed?"
"I mean, it's like..." he stopped, then started up again, "it's like he's not Mikey anymore. Not ourMikey. Like he's someone else."
My cellphone vibrated in my pocket. I'd put it on silent to avoid being disturbed while in the hospital, but Ananth had told me he would be calling me after he spoke to another couple of specialists about another minor operation Sarla might need.
I was reached for it, when Vaibhav caught my hand and looked at me with a look of curious desperation. "Papa, listen to me. I'm telling you, Mikey, our Mikey, he's gone. That guy sitting over there, he's someone else. Our Mikey's been Switched."
"Switched," I repeated tonelessly, not sure how to react to this extraordinary accusation. "You mean..."
"I mean, he's been replaced. And a duplicate put in his place. That duplicate."
I looked at Mikey, talking quietly, soberly with Mrs Mudgal. I had seen him calm her down earlier, when she had started to get upset again. He had handled phone calls for me, helped pass on messages to and from the doctors and nurses, got us all snacks and coffee when we needed it...he was behaving so well, I had meant to take him aside later and give him a little hug, to show him how proud I was of how well he was standing up to this crisis.
"Vaibhav, bete, I don't understand what you're trying to say."
He looked frustrated. "It's the computer."
I stared at him blankly. "The computer?" What did a computer have to do with anything?
He went on, growing more agitated as he continued talking in a hoarse whisper, still desperate not to be heard by his own brother. "Yes, Mikey's comp. The other night, I was with--"
He stopped and rubbed his forehead, pinching the skin tightly the way he did when he got upset sometimes. "He was in his room, logged on to some kind of weird internet site. Then he disappeared. Vanished from his chair."
I blinked. "You were sitting in Mikey's room and you were both browsing some internet site, and then he disappeared?"
"No, I wasn't there. He was alone in his room. And he just disappeared. Vanished. Poof. Like in a movie."
"I don't understand. If you weren't with him, if he was alone in his room, how could you see him disappear? Did he tell you this? He must have been pulling your leg, bete."
He looked down for a moment, exasperated. Even as a little boy, Vhy had never blown up or lost his temper right away, he tended to turn his anger inwards. He was doing that now, I could see, struggling with his frustration. I wanted to help him, but didn't know how. The cellphone in my pocket stopped vibrating. Whoever it was, it must have been urgent, or they wouldn't have let it ring that long.
Vhy looked up at me again. "The door was open. Someone looked in and saw him sitting there. Then I looked in and he wasn't there, he was gone. Then I turned my back for a second, just a second, and poof, he was back in his chair again. I'm not making this up, papa. It really happened. Just last night! And today, all this is going on."
I tried not to sigh visibly. I didn't know how to deal with this...whatever it was. I tried to be as patient as possible. "Who someone?"
He stared at me incomprehendingly.
"Vhy, you said Someone looked in and saw him sitting there. I'm asking you, who someone?"
He looked away again, this time I thought I saw a flash of what looked like embarrassment cross his face. What was he embarrassed about? The fact that he was talking gibberish when his mother was in a serious condition in the ICU? I had never known Vaibhav to behave like this before, but he was definitely not himself!
"It doesn't matter who, papa," he said. "The point is, Mikey was Switched somehow. I know it sounds crazy, but it's true. I saw it happen. He vanished, then ten minutes later, he was back. But like the way he is now, changed completely. Not the real Mikey. I told Viveka about it, but she didn't believe me. Now, it's happened to her too. The maid told me Viveka was in Mikey's room when Maa went to speak to her, just before the attack took place. Viveka must have been using Mikey's comp for some reason, and the same thing that happened to Mikey happened to her too. She's not the real Viveka anymore. She's been Switched too."
I stared at him. Long and hard. I hadn't seen Vhy so intense and anxious since the night he'd had a high fever before his ICSE Maths finals, a year and a half ago.
"Vaibhav," I said, puzzled. "What are you talking about? What is this whole story for? Why are you telling me all these things? And now? This is the place, or the time? Come, on bete, get a hold of yourself. Your mother needs us to pull together, to stay in control. I'm depending on you, and you're telling me all these stories!"
He sighed with typical adolescent exasperation. I wondered for a moment--just a fleeting moment--if he was on drugs or something. But I dismissed the thought instantly: I knew my children too well. Still, something was definitely wrong with Vaibhav, and the only other thing I could think of was that the sudden shock of what had happened had affected him somehow. Maybe...just maybe...I shouldn't have given him so much freedom, allowed him to watch so many movies without restriction.
"Papa," he said with a tone of desperation. "You've got to believe me. Both Mikey and Viveka have been Switched. They're not our Mikey and Viveka anymore. That's why Maa was attacked. By the other Viveka."
I was trying to think of what to say in response to that when, to my relief, I saw the lift at the far end of the corridor open and Ananth emerged. He was looking at his cellphone, and then he looked up as he came down the corridor and when he saw me, he shut his cellphone.
He was frowning when he came up."Vir, I was calling you just now, but there was no answer."
"Sorry, Ananth, Vaibhav just needed to talk to me for a moment," I said apologetically, trying not to sound irritated with Vhy.
Ananth nodded at Vaibhav perfunctorily. "Hello, Vaibhav." He looked at me, "Vir, I have to go home and get some sleep. Major surgery tomorrow and it can't be postponed. I've checked with Dr Patel again. He's keeping a constant watch on her, so there's nothing to worry about. I need you to just chat with him for a moment to discuss the plastic surgery I suggested earlier. If you do it within the first 72 hours, it's best. That way, there'll be virtually no visible scars."
I nodded. "Sure. You're going up again? Then I'll come with you."
I looked at Vhy. "Vaibhav, bete. We're all tired. I need to speak to Dr Patel about your Maa having another minor operation. Take my suggestion, go home, eat something--I told the maid to keep dinner ready. And get a good night's sleep. You're tired. It'll do you good. Sleep well. And we'll talk in the morning, okay?"
He looked at me with an expression that was part-puppy dog who had been kicked, and part-Forrest Gump. He seemed about to say something, then glanced at his tau, standing next to us, waiting impatiently, and just nodded. I thought of saying something else to him, but I couldn't think of anything. His extraordinary story had left me completely wordless.
Then, he just turned and walked away, not in the direction of the lift which would take him downstairs to the hospital lobby, but the other direction. He walked past the waiting room, and I saw Mikey look up and call out to him. But Vaibhav just walked past, ignoring Mikey completely, and went through the door marked Exit. He was taking the staircase. And we were on the 14th floor.
"Vir?" Ananth said. "Can we go now? Patel's waiting for you before he goes on his rounds."
I thought of going after Vaibhav, of sitting down with him and trying to figure out what was troubling him so much that he had to make up such elaborate stories. Was it the classic attention-seeking device? Or perhaps it wasn't an attempt to get attention at all, perhaps he had seen something unusual, but his overactive movie-filled imagination had interpreted it as much more than what it was.
But I couldn't deal with it right now. There were more important things to be done. And I still had to figure out what to do about Viveka--Where was she? What had happened to her? Why had she attacked her mother? I was worried sick about her. I was still trying to come to terms with what had happened, struggling to deal with it one thing at a time. I just didn't have the mental space to deal with Vhy's bizarre story.
"Okay," I said to Ananth. "Let's go talk to Dr Patel."
"Bete," I said gently. "Don't worry, she's going to be fine."
"Papa," he said. He was the only one who preferred to call me Papa, not Dad. Somehow, I liked it. I had always called my father Papa till the day he died, and he had called his father the same.
"Papa," he said again, and I could see him swallowing hard, as if making a major effort to speak. "There's something we need to talk about."
"Bete, it's late now. Why don't you go home and get some sleep. I'm going to be here until your Jogi-mama and Sundri-mami arrive. They're already on the flight from Delhi. You can come in the morning on your way to college, your mother should be conscious by then. We can talk after you see her."
"No, Papa, it's important. We have to talk right now."
I looked at him curiously. Vhy was the dreamer, the most carefree and happy-go-lucky of my three kids. Viveka was the sensible, motivated one. Mikey was the eccentric, rebellious one. Vhy usually became passionate only about movies. He was a junior Alfred Hitchcock, Steven Spielberg and Wachowski Brothers, all rolled into one. He had seen The Matrix 73 times in less than two months, maybe another two dozen times since then. It was his Bible.
With a tinge of concern, I said, "Bete, what is it? Some problem?"
He looked around. Then, without pointing directly at them, he indicated Mikey and Mrs Mudgal, still seated in the waiting area by the nurse's desk. His voice was low and urgent as if he didn't want his voice to carry down the dead-silent hospital corridor.
"Papa, it's Mikey."
"What about Mikey, bete?"
He hesitated for a moment. "He's changed."
I frowned. "What do you mean, changed?"
"I mean, it's like..." he stopped, then started up again, "it's like he's not Mikey anymore. Not ourMikey. Like he's someone else."
My cellphone vibrated in my pocket. I'd put it on silent to avoid being disturbed while in the hospital, but Ananth had told me he would be calling me after he spoke to another couple of specialists about another minor operation Sarla might need.
I was reached for it, when Vaibhav caught my hand and looked at me with a look of curious desperation. "Papa, listen to me. I'm telling you, Mikey, our Mikey, he's gone. That guy sitting over there, he's someone else. Our Mikey's been Switched."
"Switched," I repeated tonelessly, not sure how to react to this extraordinary accusation. "You mean..."
"I mean, he's been replaced. And a duplicate put in his place. That duplicate."
I looked at Mikey, talking quietly, soberly with Mrs Mudgal. I had seen him calm her down earlier, when she had started to get upset again. He had handled phone calls for me, helped pass on messages to and from the doctors and nurses, got us all snacks and coffee when we needed it...he was behaving so well, I had meant to take him aside later and give him a little hug, to show him how proud I was of how well he was standing up to this crisis.
"Vaibhav, bete, I don't understand what you're trying to say."
He looked frustrated. "It's the computer."
I stared at him blankly. "The computer?" What did a computer have to do with anything?
He went on, growing more agitated as he continued talking in a hoarse whisper, still desperate not to be heard by his own brother. "Yes, Mikey's comp. The other night, I was with--"
He stopped and rubbed his forehead, pinching the skin tightly the way he did when he got upset sometimes. "He was in his room, logged on to some kind of weird internet site. Then he disappeared. Vanished from his chair."
I blinked. "You were sitting in Mikey's room and you were both browsing some internet site, and then he disappeared?"
"No, I wasn't there. He was alone in his room. And he just disappeared. Vanished. Poof. Like in a movie."
"I don't understand. If you weren't with him, if he was alone in his room, how could you see him disappear? Did he tell you this? He must have been pulling your leg, bete."
He looked down for a moment, exasperated. Even as a little boy, Vhy had never blown up or lost his temper right away, he tended to turn his anger inwards. He was doing that now, I could see, struggling with his frustration. I wanted to help him, but didn't know how. The cellphone in my pocket stopped vibrating. Whoever it was, it must have been urgent, or they wouldn't have let it ring that long.
Vhy looked up at me again. "The door was open. Someone looked in and saw him sitting there. Then I looked in and he wasn't there, he was gone. Then I turned my back for a second, just a second, and poof, he was back in his chair again. I'm not making this up, papa. It really happened. Just last night! And today, all this is going on."
I tried not to sigh visibly. I didn't know how to deal with this...whatever it was. I tried to be as patient as possible. "Who someone?"
He stared at me incomprehendingly.
"Vhy, you said Someone looked in and saw him sitting there. I'm asking you, who someone?"
He looked away again, this time I thought I saw a flash of what looked like embarrassment cross his face. What was he embarrassed about? The fact that he was talking gibberish when his mother was in a serious condition in the ICU? I had never known Vaibhav to behave like this before, but he was definitely not himself!
"It doesn't matter who, papa," he said. "The point is, Mikey was Switched somehow. I know it sounds crazy, but it's true. I saw it happen. He vanished, then ten minutes later, he was back. But like the way he is now, changed completely. Not the real Mikey. I told Viveka about it, but she didn't believe me. Now, it's happened to her too. The maid told me Viveka was in Mikey's room when Maa went to speak to her, just before the attack took place. Viveka must have been using Mikey's comp for some reason, and the same thing that happened to Mikey happened to her too. She's not the real Viveka anymore. She's been Switched too."
I stared at him. Long and hard. I hadn't seen Vhy so intense and anxious since the night he'd had a high fever before his ICSE Maths finals, a year and a half ago.
"Vaibhav," I said, puzzled. "What are you talking about? What is this whole story for? Why are you telling me all these things? And now? This is the place, or the time? Come, on bete, get a hold of yourself. Your mother needs us to pull together, to stay in control. I'm depending on you, and you're telling me all these stories!"
He sighed with typical adolescent exasperation. I wondered for a moment--just a fleeting moment--if he was on drugs or something. But I dismissed the thought instantly: I knew my children too well. Still, something was definitely wrong with Vaibhav, and the only other thing I could think of was that the sudden shock of what had happened had affected him somehow. Maybe...just maybe...I shouldn't have given him so much freedom, allowed him to watch so many movies without restriction.
"Papa," he said with a tone of desperation. "You've got to believe me. Both Mikey and Viveka have been Switched. They're not our Mikey and Viveka anymore. That's why Maa was attacked. By the other Viveka."
I was trying to think of what to say in response to that when, to my relief, I saw the lift at the far end of the corridor open and Ananth emerged. He was looking at his cellphone, and then he looked up as he came down the corridor and when he saw me, he shut his cellphone.
He was frowning when he came up."Vir, I was calling you just now, but there was no answer."
"Sorry, Ananth, Vaibhav just needed to talk to me for a moment," I said apologetically, trying not to sound irritated with Vhy.
Ananth nodded at Vaibhav perfunctorily. "Hello, Vaibhav." He looked at me, "Vir, I have to go home and get some sleep. Major surgery tomorrow and it can't be postponed. I've checked with Dr Patel again. He's keeping a constant watch on her, so there's nothing to worry about. I need you to just chat with him for a moment to discuss the plastic surgery I suggested earlier. If you do it within the first 72 hours, it's best. That way, there'll be virtually no visible scars."
I nodded. "Sure. You're going up again? Then I'll come with you."
I looked at Vhy. "Vaibhav, bete. We're all tired. I need to speak to Dr Patel about your Maa having another minor operation. Take my suggestion, go home, eat something--I told the maid to keep dinner ready. And get a good night's sleep. You're tired. It'll do you good. Sleep well. And we'll talk in the morning, okay?"
He looked at me with an expression that was part-puppy dog who had been kicked, and part-Forrest Gump. He seemed about to say something, then glanced at his tau, standing next to us, waiting impatiently, and just nodded. I thought of saying something else to him, but I couldn't think of anything. His extraordinary story had left me completely wordless.
Then, he just turned and walked away, not in the direction of the lift which would take him downstairs to the hospital lobby, but the other direction. He walked past the waiting room, and I saw Mikey look up and call out to him. But Vaibhav just walked past, ignoring Mikey completely, and went through the door marked Exit. He was taking the staircase. And we were on the 14th floor.
"Vir?" Ananth said. "Can we go now? Patel's waiting for you before he goes on his rounds."
I thought of going after Vaibhav, of sitting down with him and trying to figure out what was troubling him so much that he had to make up such elaborate stories. Was it the classic attention-seeking device? Or perhaps it wasn't an attempt to get attention at all, perhaps he had seen something unusual, but his overactive movie-filled imagination had interpreted it as much more than what it was.
But I couldn't deal with it right now. There were more important things to be done. And I still had to figure out what to do about Viveka--Where was she? What had happened to her? Why had she attacked her mother? I was worried sick about her. I was still trying to come to terms with what had happened, struggling to deal with it one thing at a time. I just didn't have the mental space to deal with Vhy's bizarre story.
"Okay," I said to Ananth. "Let's go talk to Dr Patel."
posted by Ashok K. Banker at 12.10.05
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