Gal Today

My face this nice Sunday morning looked quite different.

I noticed this difference when I was brushing my teeth. There really was something strange though I could not pinpoint what it was. I stared at myself. ‘Hell, what is wrong with this beautiful young lady?’ My bobbed hair was black and thick, my eyes were brownish green and my lips were tender red… My structure was just too good… enough to drive any ordinary boy out of his senses; enough to make people wonder, “To hell with dowry and issues like that. I just want Nitya.”

I laughed merrily. I was so proud of my body that for a brief moment I’d forgotten completely about that “something strange” feeling.

Not long after this chain of thoughts, my dear readers, had I stumbled upon a great stunning fact that the “something” I’ve so far been talking about, was not simply strange. It was devastatingly strange.

‘Hell! I am a boy!!!!!!!!!!!! Er… I was a boy last night.’

I pinched myself and performed a somersault to get out of this horrid dream. But the dream just stayed. I madly looked at my image in the mirror once again. It was not at all attractive then. ‘Oh God! Look at my chest!!! Hay what’s going on?’

Being an avid follower of science, I just could not believe what had happened to me. Might be I was wrong! Might be I had always been a girl! But forgot everything because of some strange disease. Might be my thought processes had undergone some hypnotic brainwashing that made me feel that I used to be a boy.

‘What is my name? Nitya?’

I wanted to check it out right away. I wanted to ask my mother, “Mom, Have I always been a gal?” but discarded the idea as it seemed just as silly if not more, as this situation itself. The burning problem of the moment was how to sneak out of Nirmal’s room without being caught by Nirmal’s mother. Pardon this ”third person usage” my dear readers… I might not be Nirmal contrary to the belief I had had for the past twenty-four years.

I am pretty sure that my intelligent readers would already have guessed why I wanted to avoid Mom… Imagine yourself in a situation where you find a twenty four year old stranger gal coming out from your twenty four year old son’s bedroom at seven in the morning rubbing her sleepy eyes.

So I used the “rajamargham”, which is more aptly defined as The-Window-Balcony-Sunshade-Parapet Wall-Garden-Backdoor-Road way.

Once I was out of Nirmal’s house, I went to the nearest park. It is ok in Bangalore at least, for a girl to walk clad fully in a guy’s attire. So no one paid any attention. I wanted to think about the whole thing. I had never had any belief in those areas, which are reportedly outside the reach of the gigantic arms of Science. I had always been a “Logician”. But now I was totally at a loss. My mind still didn’t want to believe “supernaturality”. Something should explain this I thought.

I wanted to figure out whether Nirmal was a character of flesh and blood or was he merely a figment of my imagination? And I wanted to find out whether Nitya had existed before or not.

The best way to clear any such doubts, my readers will agree, is to meet the parents. So I went to Nirmal’s house once again, made sure my appearance was not very detestable and pressed the calling bell.

My mother opened the door. “Hey, when did you go out? You woke up pretty early for a Sunday. Where have you been?” she asked me casually. I was shocked. I did not know what to say. I just stared at her crazily. This should be a wild dream I thought. Nothing else could explain that situation. I just went in and saw him there in front of the refrigerator. “Hi Nitya, what’s up? Jogging again?” he asked casually. He sounded very familiar. But I just could not remember him. My mother called from the dining room, “Come on.. Let’s finish the breakfast. I’ve got to go to the airport today. Papa’s flight lands in about an hour.”

Nirmal! Yes it was him. I could recognize myself. God, It was me myself walking in front of me at that moment. I felt as if I was being dragged into the unknown universe of metascience. ‘He is my brother?’

I badly wanted to talk to someone. ‘What about my friends?’ I wanted to talk to Bhaskar, my best buddy since college. I dialed his number. “Hello,” said a sweet voice. I said I wanted to talk to Bhaskar. She was puzzled, “Bhaskar? Ey Nitya.. pagal hogayi hai kya? Koun Bhaskar?”

I put down the receiver. If I had known the telephone number of X-files, FBI, I would have definitely told them about my strange story.

Meanwhile I kept observing Nirmal. He behaved exactly in the same way I had behaved until that morning. ‘God! It is me.. Someone help me please!!!’

The calling bell rang just then. Nirmal attended it. “Nitya, it is Venu.” He shouted from the door. ‘Venu? Oh my God! By any chance is he my boyfriend? Shucks!’ I went to the main door slowly. There he was with a bouquet in his hand.

I wanted to wake up.. I wanted badly to wake up from my dream and find out that it was just a dream. But I didn’t know how to do that. What a wretched dream, I thought. “Hi Nitya, are you ready?” Venu asked me.

“Er? What for?” I asked him hesitatingly. He was surprised, “We are going to Mysore, aren’t we?”

“Look Venu,” I said in a low tone, “This may all seem a little weird for you… But I think I need to do some kind of soul searching alone. Sorry for disappointing you. Can I call you tomorrow? Please?”

He stared at me for a minute without speaking anything. I could clearly see disappointment on his face. “This is for you” he handed over the bouquet to me and said, “Will wait for your call tomorrow.” And then he was gone.

“Why did you do that?” Nirmal was puzzled. I wanted to get things straight then. I minced no words. “See, tell me frankly.. Who am I?”

He came near to me.. and felt my forehead. “Are you all right?” I wanted to cry.. I just wanted to hug him and cry. I was totally lost. As soon as this thought entered my mind, I found out that I had behaved just like a normal girl until that moment.

I didn’t answer him. I just ran upstairs. Went to my room and found out that I actually had a room there. I could see my pictures all over the room… Nitya 5 years old, Nitya 7 seven years old, Nitya 15 years old holding a cup in her hand.. and Nitya twenty two years old laughing merrily with Venu besides her.

Nirmal entered the room. “Nitya, what’s going on?” He was very concerned. I knew he would be. ‘But who is Nitya? The only twin sister of Nirmal died in her infancy.’

I decided to tell him everything. And this proved to be quite difficult because I had to say something to someone who in my opinion was I until the day before!

He listened to my crap patiently for half an hour at the end of which my father! came into the room and said Hi to both of us.

“How have you been?” he asked. I nodded and just started examining the marble floor. Nirmal didn’t say anything. He was shocked I think. Might have thought that his sister had gone crazy.

“Met Bhaskar in the airport today, Nirmal,” My father continued, “He was going to Delhi. Said would be back in a fortnight.” I didn’t pay attention to those words.. Nirmal should answer that.

“Hey Nirmal, why are you silent?” My father was concerned. I looked up. He was staring at me. “Don’t know father, Nirmal is silent today.” I managed to speak a couple of words. “What?” father looked crazily at me.

I turned towards Nirmal. He was not there! Where had he gone? “Are you all right Nirmal?” My father asked ME.

I looked around. It was Nirmal’s room. Where had all those Nitya’s photos gone? I ran to the bathroom and checked my appearance.

Nirmal?

‘What happened to Nitya?’

“He’s been behaving quite funnily since morning.” My mother told my father, “may be he watched too much television last night.”

I was sweating. I was scared to the bone. Who? What? Why? And How?

Was it a dream? How could it be? It was real. I didn’t wake up from sleep.. I was living in a real world. To this day, my dear readers, I haven’t been able to find out answers to those questions… and I tell you… It was real. But I don’t know how to prove it. Nitya came into existence… spent some brief moments with me and then she was gone. After sharing everything for nine months we entered this world together. She developed some complications and had to leave this world after two months. I have always missed my twin sister, dear readers and this brief appearance of her had only increased my grief. But I am sure she’ll come back once again and I am just waiting for that second appearance of her.

THE END.