The Calcutta Chromosome

Calcutta: August 1995. Murugan is unable to sleep due to the sweltering monsoon heat. He hears loud music from the nearby wedding, which is still going strong. He can also hear the drone of mosquitoes circling the mosquito net.

Murugan begins to drift off. He imagines that the mosquitoes are there for him, that he is on display for them. Everything is becoming a blur; Murugan imagines he is laying in a hospital bed, naked, and exposed to a test-tube full of mosquitoes released by an English doctor. In his fist he holds the coins he has been given; these are the coins he received for his blood. He sees faces, too, looking through the mosquito net, studying him—faces he knew: a gray-haired woman wearing bifocals and a gap-toothed boy circling the bed. There is also an old man with tears in his eyes and a young woman holding hands with her friend.

The English doctor reappears and uses a test-tube to capture a mosquito filled with Murugan’s blood. The doctor shows the test-tube to the others; they too want to examine the test-tube, but in their haste they drop the test-tube on the floor, smashing it to pieces.