The Calcutta Chromosome by Amitav Ghosh

Author:Amitav Ghosh [Ghosh, Amitav]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi, pdf
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

squirm and move, undulating slowly across the glassy

surface. Then all at once there was a flurry of movement and

they began to disintegrate: it was then that he saw

Laveran’s rods appear, hundreds of them, tiny cylindrical

things, with their pointed, penetrating heads piercing the

bloody miasma.

The sweat began to drip off Farley’s forehead now, as he

watched the horned creatures burrowing, writhing, wriggling

in frantic search. His breath grew laboured; his head began

to spin. He sat up, gasping, the sight of these wilful,

struggling creatures still vivid in his eyes. His gaze strayed

to the window, and discovered a row of faces lined up

against the glass, watching him, as he squirmed in his seat,

mopping his brow. His eyes locked with Mangala’s; she was

standing in front of all the others, staring at him, smiling to

herself. Clutched in her hand, in full view, was the body of

the decapitated bird, the blood still oozing from its macabre

wound.

‘Tell him,’ the woman said with a mocking smile, ‘tell him

that what he sees is the creature’s member entering the body

of its mate, doing what men and women must do…’

And here, at this point of revelation, which shows that

Farley had already arrived at the conclusion that was to

make his erstwhile team-mate famous, the narrative ends. For

now, unable to contain himself any longer, Farley flung the

slides at the woman and stalked quickly out of the

laboratory.

But before franking the letter for the post, next morning,

Farley added a few scribbled lines in the margin: ‘In haste:

much that I feared has been confirmed in these last hours.

Shortly before matins, there was a knock on my door: it was

Cunningham’s young assistant. He told me—oh so many

things—I shall write of them all to you in time. Suffice it to

say for the present, that everything is other than what it

appears to be, a phantom of itself. The young man has

promised to reveal everything to me if I would but

accompany him to his birthplace. Fortunately the place of

which he spoke is not far from the location of my clinic. We

are to leave tomorrow: I shall write again and in greater

detail, dear friend, once I know more…’

But Elijah Farley never reached Barich: he disappeared

during the journey, never to be seen again. The police

discovered that he had indeed boarded the train at Sealdah,

as scheduled, but had disembarked before his destination—

at a remote, rarely used station called Renupur, in severe

monsoon weather. A guard was said to have reported later

that a young man had been seen carrying his luggage.

Abruptly Ava began to beep: Rest indecipherable, unable

to continue…

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