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Shantanu S. Bhattacharyya Unreal
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Akshath and I went to the same school and lived in the same neighborhood. Yet we were not really very close. We could be best described as close acquaintance of each other. I had almost forgotten about him, till about six months back we met again on facebook. The guy had changed a lot. This shy guy from my mohalla was now the head of an advertising firm in New Jersey, drove a BMW and carried a slight belly. Stranger was the part that did not change about him - his girlfriend and now wife Monisha. At high school Monisha had dated every eligible guy in her class and senior batch. Guys like me and Akshath clearly didn't qualify. I never even tried. Akshath's first try was worth a "get lost". And yet, Akshath never gave up. But Monisha marrying Akshath ?? No way !! And yet I was looking at their pics on facebook and they looked just perfect.
After a month or so, I took his number from a common friend and decided to give him a surprise call on his birthday. He was so elated. We spoke for about an hour discussing everything from our childhood pranks to school to job and of'course Monisha. A few years back, such excitement on talking to a friend whom I described as 'close aquaintance' might have appeared silly even to me. But if you are somebody who has stayed away from your family and country for so many years, then you definitely know what a phone call to an old friend is worth ! Monisha was out shopping. So I couldn't talk to her. It sounded a bit weird to find her shopping all alone at 11 PM in the night. But if she was anything like the way I knew her, she was quite capable of it.
Months passed by and I got busy with my daily life. We used to call each other about once or twice a week but over time the frequency dropped. I once called up his home and Monisha picked up.
Monisha - Hi Shantanu! How have you been
Me - Pretty cool. Glad to hear your voice after so long. What are you upto nowadays ?
Monisha - Nothing really. Doing my MBA. Lets see after that (giggle)
Me - Nice nice. Where is Akshath ? The dud has forgotten me in your love. Never calls !
Monisha - Ohh! Nothing like that. He has gone somewhere. He will be ..
And then there was a momentary silence before I could hear some scuffle. It appeared that Monisha was struggling with someone. There were muffled cries of "...Get away from me.." and "Noooo you are not. I am not a fool...... Dont touch me ! " Before I could make sense of the situation Akshath was on the line
Akshath - Hi Buddy ! I was thinking of calling you.
Me - Oh, Hi Akshath. I thought you were not at home. Monisha said ..
Akshath - Oh she was lying. Actually she is pretty upset with me as you can make out. Hahhaaaha, you know usual marital stuff. Hey I am a bit busy right now. Can I call you back later ?
Akshath never waited for my reply. Neither did he ever call me back. Why did Monisha say Akshath was away ? And I may not be married but that certainly didn't look like 'usual marital stuff'. And Akshath fighting ? Since when ? I should have let these questions bother me a lot more. But I let it pass.... till it all came back yesterday. It began with a phone call from Karthik.
Karthik - Hi Shan! Do you think you can drive over to Jersey by tonight. Its urgent. We need to post bail for Monisha.
Me - What! Monisha is in police custody ? What has she done ?
Karthik - Well it is complicated. She has been arrested on charges of attempted murder.
Me - This is nuts ! Whom did she try to kill ? And where is Akshath ? He must be so freaked out.
Karthik - Akshath is unconscious. He is in the hospital. But out of danger. And now you know whom Monisha tried to kill.
I was at a loss of words. Nothing was making sense at all. I just packed some essentials, took out sufficient cash and drove as fast as I could to Jersey city. How could Monisha do this ? There has to be an explanation. This cannot be real !
(1 AM,Magistrate's office, Jersey City)
Me - Can you tell me one good reason why we are sitting here to post bail for someone who tried to kill her husband, specially when that husband is our good friend.
Karthik - You don't know anything Shan. Akshath never told anybody. Monisha is sick.
Me - I bet she is. Who else tries to stab her husband with a broken mirror ?
Karthik - You are not listening to me. Are you ? Monisha is a patient. (raised voice) Monisha is delusional. Ever heard of Capgras Syndrome ??
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From Wikipedia,
The Capgras delusion (or Capgras syndrome) is a disorder in which a person holds a delusion that a friend, spouse, parent or other close family member, has been replaced by an identical-looking impostor. The Capgras delusion is classed as a delusional misidentification syndrome, a class of delusional beliefs that involves the misidentification of people, places or objects. It can occur in acute, transient, or chronic forms....
....The Capgras delusion is named after Joseph Capgras (1873-1950), a French psychiatrist who first described the disorder in 1923 in his paper co-authored by Reboul-Lachaux, on the case of a French woman who complained that corresponding "doubles" had taken the places of her husband and other people she knew...
....Some of the first clues to the possible causes of the Capgras delusion were suggested by the study of brain-injured patients who had developed prosopagnosia. In this condition, patients are unable to recognize faces consciously, despite being able to recognize other types of visual objects. However, a 1984 study by Bauer showed that even though conscious face recognition was impaired, patients with the condition showed autonomic arousal (measured by a galvanic skin response measure) to familiar faces suggesting that there are two pathways to face recognition - one conscious and one unconscious
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I heard in stunned silence as Monisha's psychiatrist detailed her condition to the Magistrate. Monisha was convinced that Akshath was a body double of her husband. Her condition had progressively worsened from signs of mistrust to outright violent outbursts towards him. Akshath loved his wife way too much to see her in any trouble. He learnt to act as a stranger in his own house while taking care of everything Monisha needed.
Life would have continued as such if not for another miserable twist of fate.As ironic as it could get, Monisha's next subject of mistrust was her own face in the mirror. It became so unbearable for to watch that face that she smashed her bedroom mirror to pieces and when Akshath rushed in to calm her down, Monisha, in an act of self defense, slashed a mirror piece across his waist.
I write blogs to entertain people. I write to entertain myself. This one is to get some mental peace. I dont know which image haunts me the most - Monisha staring blankly at us when she was ordered for psychiatric evaluation or Akshath weeping inconsolably when I met him at the hospital. We tend to take the normalcy of our lives too much for granted. And certainly we cant feel thankful all the time for every breath we inhale. But when the chips are really down and everything seems to be going wrong in life, think about Akshath and Monisha. Sometimes the ability to distinguish real from unreal can become reason enough to be grateful.
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