In a Parallel Universe

(There exists a world similar to ours in - The Parallel Universe)

There will come a time when you won’t realize that people you know most, you trusted most do not really exist. They were something like your own imagination. I had never thought the world would change so soon and all of a sudden in such a way. I was busy preparing for the post graduate entrance examination. I am a doctor, and I have been suffering from a deadly mental illness. That is the irony of being a doctor – you become the worst patient, and a cure for a doctor is really difficult. But then I have been consuming atypical anti-psychotics and anti-depressants for the past few years to get rid of my fears and illness.

I neglected my health during the days of post-graduate entrance exam preparation, and really didn’t care about the pain I felt in my abdomen. It was slight in the beginning which I thought was due to exercising, but then gradually the intensity increased. And just after I had given the exam, it became unbearable. I took diclofenac injection but it provided no relief.

I wondered of the possible diagnosis, and shivered at the thought of bowel perforation, many cases I had seen and assisted in operation. It was fortunate that I went to the hospital and the surgeon diagnosed it to be a case of acute appendicitis. And unfortunately by the time I was operated, the appendix had ruptured. The mortality rate is higher for a perforated appendix, which causes peritonitis. Earlier before the discovery of antibiotics, the mortality rate of a perforated appendix was almost 100 percent. However in the present era, with improved surgical techniques and antibiotic use, the survival rate has increased tremendously.

I lay on the operation table, and closed my eyes. I asked my Creator if my end was near, then I am coming to Him. I had a choice to fight back or just die. I could avenge myself of my past sins or I could rest in peace and die a loser. I have a hazy experience that maybe they would give me spinal anesthesia, and I wouldn’t lose my consciousness.

The operation was successful. My father was there to attend me all the time. I was put on saline and antibiotics for three days. I had survived. But then after some days, I developed wound infection – an unfortunate complication to the unlucky few. I stayed in the hospital for about a month, cursing the infection, the doctors and myself. If the operation had been delayed by a few more hours, I would have been dead. I don’t know I was lucky or unlucky.

My world seemed to change after I returned from the hospital. I had been like a caged animal. The euphoria of freedom was immeasurable. My parents were overjoyed to see me well again. I had to take care not to indulge in rowdy activities for some months. After that, only my fitness could tell the extent I could go. After some days, my postgraduate entrance exam results were declared. I was surprised to see I had topped the exam. I expected a percentile in the 90s, but getting the top rank was truly unexpected. So I could choose any branch I wanted. I had a great fantasy for research. I opted for a branch which no one would willingly take, because nobody knew the end result in so much uncertainty. And the future prospects were grim. It was strange and those who knew me thought me mad that I was going to take research work. But I didn’t care, I knew my mind. I had always fancied myself as a scientist and researcher. The Universe wanted me to be a researcher. How could I drop my chances? My country was almost in a state of war with the neighbouring countries. There were frequent cease-fire violations. And the powerful nations could end themselves trying to destroy one another. The sour relations could harm the interest of the general public – the most vulnerable of the human species to diplomatic ties.

My parents wanted me to marry. They were getting old, and their health was deteriorating. They wanted to see their grand-children – the sooner the better. I was stuck in between the devil and the deep blue sea. I couldn’t give my time to some random woman I hadn’t seen. The woman I had loved was someone else wife. And this research field was intriguing. So why would I give up my liberty and my love for someone I didn’t know and would take time to adjust? I had dreams of my own and would realize them. I would show my black Lady that she shouldn’t have taken me for granted. I would change the world, and I believe this is the greatest desire that can creep into a man.

My parents’ decision however prevailed, and I got married to a beautiful lady. And I was fortunate that I was not headstrong in my decision to stay a bachelor. Maybe I was lucky like Louis Pasteur was, when he got married to Marie Pasteur. My wife did the household chores, took care of me and all my basic necessities. I shut myself with my research work, working on DNA that could bind the entire human species into one. There would be a mother cell that would control the daughter cells. And then all war, enmity and dissatisfaction between nations or individuals would altogether get eliminated. Ultimate peace would prevail.

I met some of the great scientists who were working on similar research. We knew it was a race, and the one who would be successful first would rule the world. Things were going out well and I could feel I was close to succeeding, when an incident changed my world.

I was told my wife was in the hospital. My wife had developed labour pains, and was rushed to the hospital (Obstetrics emergency) by my parents. My mother called me and told me over the phone that I had become the father of a healthy boy. I was excited and rushed out with my motorbike to the Obstetrics and Gynaecology department, when I collided with a fast driving car and lost consciousness immediately.

I woke up to find myself in the hospital ward. The doctors were looking grim. Seeing me get back to my senses, they said, “You are lucky. Another couple of hours delay would have killed you.” I felt lucky, but was dazed to understand what was going on. Yes, I had met with an accident, but it would be inhuman to leave me alone on the road, when I was in the hospital campus. I was worried about my wife and son’s health. I hadn’t even seen my son’s face. My father was beside my bed. I wanted to ask him about my wife and son. But he looked grim.

So I calmly asked him, about his grandson.

 My father looked surprised. “Son, you have not fully recovered yourself. Take rest, and we can talk later.” I wondered what was going on. I thought my legs, or arms or head must be damaged, but they were all working fine. Then I noticed the cotton roll on my abdomen. I realized my abdomen must have been terribly hurt.

I asked my father, who had brought me to the hospital.

He looked surprised. “You came by yourself. Later we got a stretcher.”

“But I met with a motorcycle accident?”

“Son, you are not in your senses. You came here for appendicitis operation. Take rest, the anesthesia will fade off soon.”

The world had fallen on me. I asked my dad to bring me the operation report. I wanted to see it for myself. It was indeed an operation for a perforated appendicitis. However in the last page in an unfamiliar writing it was scrawled –

We needed the child. You died from acute appendicitis!

In a parallel Universe I was dead!