Revenge Of Identical Twin

Prologue: The famous humanoid PK was born once again. This time its mission was to locate his twin brother Jadoo who got lost in this big country.

Chennai

The last thing my dad Srinivasan told me before he left for the heavenly abode was that I have a twin brother. He mentioned a diary book where he said the doctor’s name and address were mentioned. I am twenty-three years of age and my name is Panchwati Krishna, PK in short. Imagine the shock I got! My mother passed away giving birth to me as I was told and then my dad revealed about the twin. No relative of mine ever mentioned this fact and when I asked my relatives about this twin they too got a shock. Now it was up to me to search my twin brother. I waited for two weeks till all the rituals got over and thought over the new revelation. I did read up on google a bit and learnt that there are identical twins and fraternal twins. Perhaps the doctor would inform which category were, we twins.

The telephone number provided in my dad’s diary was more than twenty-three years old and did not help much. So, I had set out on a Monday to search out the clinic. It was early April and Chennai city was already hot and humid. My bath before breakfast was not of much help. I called for an Uber and set out for the address given in Mylapore.

Mylapore was one of the ancient parts of the city of Chennai. It is said that the famous poet Thiruvalluvar was born here. He had written the Thirukural now made famous by our PM who has quoted from the Kural (in short in recent times). The charming place also boasts of an ancient temple Kapaleeswarar and the church established by St Thomas. Nowadays the Mylapore Kutcheri(recitals) during the Marghazi (mid- December to Mid- January) draws kutcheri buffs from all over the world. The place Ashoknagar, where I live, was a good 40 minutes to one-hour drive during traffic. I had learnt all this about Mylapore while browsing the net as is my want.

I reached the spot and found a newly built multi-storeyed building, a commercial complex it has become now. The watchman at the building didn’t know of any clinic by the name of Gowri Nursing Home. I knocked at a neighbouring house as it looked to be one of the oldest building (I guessed so by the Madras tiles on the roof) nearby and received by a senior citizen in her sixties. She confirmed that such a clinic was in existence but a few years ago the doctor had left the place as she had become old and sold the place to the builder who owns the place now. Maybe the reception at the building might help. I went back to the place and found the office of the builder on the ground floor. As I narrated the story the builder was astonished and readily fished out the contact number and the address of Dr Vasantha who owned the clinic. He further added he has spoken to Vasantha just a few days ago and I could visit her as she was quite a pleasant person and perhaps would be happy to meet me. Her place was MCM Nagar close by at a distance of 5 kilometres and I reached her place in fifteen minutes. While on taxi, I called her and she readily agreed to meet me. I didn’t tell my story while on the taxi.

Dr Vasantha easily remembered my dad and also mother Pushpa. It was one of those difficult cases she had dealt with and more so when she discovered there were two of us growing in the womb. To add to Dr Vasantha’s challenges, there was the case of another woman Prema which also proved challenging. To cut the story short my mother gave birth to identical twins and died. While Prema got a stillborn baby. My dad decided to offer Prema my brother and it was done so without any paperwork. Not because of any illegality involved but Vasantha felt that Prema would not survive had she known that her baby had died at birth as she had recently lost her husband too during her pregnancy. Dr Vasantha said she would give me the address but it was better if a meeting could be arranged with Prema at her very house. I agreed and Vasantha called up Prema immediately who agreed to drop in immediately after lunch. Vasantha was kind enough to offer me lunch.

As soon as Prema saw me she let out a scream and asked me, “Jadoos, what are you doing here?” Vasantha moved next to her, held her hand and asked her to sit down and offered a glass of cool water. She repeated the story she had told me in the morning. Prema broke down as she heard the entire story. I too was in tears and so did Vasantha. I called out to “Prema, amma, I said now you have two sons and please thank almighty for this kindness” and went and sat next to her and gently put my hand around her shoulders.

Prema, I estimated must be in her mid-forties. A fragile-looking woman with a few strands of grey hairs. What stood out was her kindly slightly grey eyes. She caressed my hair and called my name Krishna a few times.

When I told her that I needed to meet Jadoos, she said Jadoos works for a lawyer in Kolkatta after obtaining his law degree. However, for the past two weeks, there has been no news. Her repeated calls to him and her two letters had received no response. She has been having sleepless nights on that count and feared for Jadoo. Now I have come looking for Jadoo. “It was all god’s play,” she remarked. She gave me the mobile and the office address of Jadoo. I said I would take the next available flight and keep her informed. I thanked Vasantha and hugged Prema heartily and took leave of them.

Kolkatta, here I come.

I managed to book a ticket for the five PM evening Indigo flight and just had enough time to reach home, pack my bag for a couple of days and reach the airport. The flight landed at Kolkatta two and a half hours later. I just took a taxi directly to the lawyers’ office thinking they would work late.

It was my first visit to Kolkatta, the city I had read only, in the book “the city of joy.” What I read in the book was impressive in that the city had a large heart for especially the poor. As we moved along in the evening peak traffic, I could see that the city was teeming with people. The city looked bleak in that evening and there were dark clouds hanging everywhere. There was a dust storm, every indication of the evening rain. The weather report predicted summer showers. I was tingling with anticipation and felt a fear in my guts.

All along my journey in the taxi and at the airport I tried calling my twin brother and the lawyer. The phones were unreachable. It was 8:30 pm when I reached the lawyer’s office at Esplanade area by which time showers had stopped. The sudden humidity hit me when I got out of the airconditioned taxi. The chowkidar was shocked to see me and stuttered to inform me that the office had closed. I asked for the address of the lawyer and he handed over a card with trembling hands. Fear was written all over his face and I had no clue as to the reason and did not think much about it. I took a taxi to the lawyer’s residence. I pressed the calling bell.

I saw an old man in his early sixties who had opened the door. He collapsed the moment he saw me holding his hand to the heart. I called for an ambulance which came in ten minutes as a hospital was nearby. By the time we reached the hospital the doctor had declared him dead due to cardiac arrest.

I asked the hospital to call for the police as I told them I had come to meet the lawyer since my brother was working with him and there was no news of my brother for the past two weeks.

When the sub-inspector Mr Ghosh came to see me at the hospital, I was tired and totally dazed. It has been one hell of an eventful day. He took me to the police station and I requested him to order for some food. Then I told my story. It had begun raining again. I knew that this was going to be a night without an end befitting the novel by the same name written by Alistair Maclean, a school time favourite.

When dinner came in the form of famous Kolkatta rolls, I hungrily ravished the dinner followed by tea. I lit up a cigarette and offered one to the Sub-Inspector. That is when he began to tell me another story.

Two weeks earlier there was a drowning accident involving the lawyer and his assistant in a lake. The lawyer had escaped and his assistant had drowned. He pulled out the paper and read that the assistant’s name was Jadoo. I screamed and screamed. The world was spinning around me and everything went dark.

I woke up when the soft light of the dawn hit my eyes. I could not believe what was happening in my life. I did not know where I was. I could not think about what I would tell my new mother?

A cup of tea got served to me by the constable and he said I am still at the police station as I dropped off unconscious. He told me the sub-inspector would come around by eight in the morning and decide further course of action. As I gathered myself too many questions came to my mind. Why was the courtesy of not informing Jadoo’s mother not done by anyone or the lawyer?

The sub-inspector had brought with him a cutting of English newspaper which had a brief report of the accident. It essentially said that the lawyer and his assistant had hired the pedal boat when the assistant had drowned. How exactly the accident had happened could not be understood as the lawyer was in a stupor. The police it said would investigate the case.

I asked with a bit of anger why Jadoo’s relatives had not been informed? The inspector said that Jadoo’s mobile could not be traced out while the body could be fished out the next day of the accident. Only the wallet was found in the back pocket. From the lawyer’s office, some telegram was sent out to the home address of Jadoo but no response was received. The police had checked out Jadoo’s hostel room and could not find any contact number further. The SI added, when he spoke to the lawyer after a couple of days after the lawyer had recovered from the initial shock, he had said that while boating Jadoo had inadvertently stood up to take a picture and the balance of the boat got tilted. Jadoo fell from the boat and got drowned and the lawyer could not help as he did not know to swim himself. I could hardly believe all this story. The SI reaffirmed that there was really nothing more to be done as the lawyer was a man of repute and there was no eye witness to this unfortunate incident. He offered to take me to the lake if I was interested.

The lake was large but the water looked dark and murky. The boathouse manager more or less repeated the same story. As they keep track of the timing and the paddle boat had not returned in time, they sent another and found the lawyer in a state of stupor unable to speak anything coherently. As it was dark by that time, the next day they arranged for some divers and fished out the body.

As we returned to the police station the SI handed me Jadoo’s wallet. The address in the Aadhar card was the one they had sent out the telegram. I was puzzled as to why Prema did not receive the telegram. I later realized that Prema had shifted recently and the address had not been updated. I gathered my wits and dialled Dr Vasantha and informed her of the sad incident. I told her that I would spend a few more days and collect all Jadoo’s belongings and return. I also requested to break the news to Prema.

The SI told me that there are a few formalities to be done and the case can be closed and I can take away Jadoo’s belongings. He arranged for my stay at a nearby hotel. That night I dreamt of the drowning incident and Jadoo was screaming for help. I woke up from this nightmare thinking if there was any reason for the lawyer to have pushed my brother into the water.

The next day, I narrated the dream to the SI and requested an inspection of the house just one time. I told him I was his twin brother and the dream was very real. He said he will accompany me to the lawyer’s residence but it was not legitimate to search the premise. I didn’t know what I was looking for even. But my intuition told me that there was something more to the drowning incident than has been reported. I rummaged through the lawyer’s study in his house. I found an unopened envelope from the Registrar of Property. It contained a registered property deal assigning the ownership of a multi-storey house valued at 100 million rupees to the lawyer. I showed it to the inspector who recalled that the man (ex-senior bureaucrat) who had assigned the ownership of his property to the lawyer had died recently and there was some controversy to the property as there were several claimants. The lawyer had no blood relations to the bureaucrat whatsoever.

Upon enquiring at the lawyer’s office, we learnt none knew of the property deal but a junior lawyer mentioned that Jadoo and the lawyer had gone to meet the bureaucrat before his death. Was it the lawyer’s hand that had pushed my brother to his death for he knew something unsavoury about the deal? A thought went through my mind. As if he could read my mind, SI remarked that we have nothing to prove, but anyway you have had your revenge. Over dinner, the SI and I had concluded that the case was over in so far as Jadoo was concerned.

As I flew back to Chennai, I took a cab straight away to Prema’s house.

“Amma, I said, henceforth I will be both Jadoo and PK to you.” We both hugged each other and wept.