There's no art to find the mind's construction in the face!

I'm writing a story at the moment.I call it "Of Shakespeare,Swallows And Sin".It's done in "acts" though it isn't a play.Well this is the first act:
(I'll submit the second act once I'm done writing it.Ha ha)

Of Shakespeare,Swallows And Sin




"This above all: to thine own self be true".-Hamlet(Act 1,scene 3)
Act 1:6th June, 2006

Scene 1

6:25 AM

Another Monday morning, another long hard day at work. Another day,with all those raving lunatics at Delhi Institute For The Mentally Challenged. The name’s just a façade for the mental asylum..but damn I’m running late for work. Maybe something interesting will happen today but then again maybe not, who knows..

And with those words Mr.Ramgopal switched off his handheld digital diary and dashed off to work in his luxurious Honda city. Mr.Ramgopal was considered one of the most established psychiatrists in Delhi. He worked at the central asylum infamously called as “Hell Hole” by many of its former inmates. He led a disciplined, stereotyped life,never swerving, never expecting something out of the ordinary. He was prepared for any eventuality. But the morning of 6th June, 2006 was to be different…

The Hell Hole was a large compound, around 60000 square feet in area. It comprised a large cemented outer wall with barbed wire, two watch towers-one in the north east and the other in the south west, and an immense building sprawling over most of the premises. This building was known among the doctors as “The Fortress”. The Fortress housed the insane, the people who constituted a danger to society because they were mentally “challenged” and those who simply suffered from psychological disorders. There was no distinction as such. For the staff at The Fortress, they were all the same-“mad people” in the words of Krishna, head of security.

Dr.Ramgopal drove his car casually through the heavy iron gates and into the campus. He parked his car in the parking lot and entered The Fortress. Despite having worked 8 straight years at the asylum he still had not gotten used to its eerie atmosphere. It was as if the cemented walls held secrets, deadly secrets..as if the barbed wire had latched onto living flesh and developed an insatiable thirst for the damned and diseased confined to those walls..but the busy doctor had no time for such melancholic thoughts. No, he was a busy man with a tight schedule. The darwaan at the main entrance greeted him with the usual “Namaste Saahab”. Naresh, the darwaan had been working at the asylum for the past 10 years and considered it a kind of royal duty to protect the building from intruders. Ramgopal smirked at the thought of intruders entering the asylum..no Naresh’s purpose was rather to help stop the dangerous anarchists inside from ever getting out…







Scene 2

9:00 AM

Dr.Ramgopal walked through the entrance, greeted the receptionist and walked down the corridor, the corridor leading to his chamber. The corridors of the Fortress reminded him of a place from an interior designer’s nightmares. It was so dull, so monochromatic, so very repugnant to a creative perspective, the floors were composed of solid, white marble kept spotlessly clean by the back breaking labour of the maintenance staff. The walls were painted a single shade of white though age had turned it to a more pitiable grey. Nurses carrying steel trays with syringes and vials swept down the corridor, occasionally raising their eyes to nod the great psychiatrist good morning. Ramgopal enjoyed the attention he received here. He was famous, appreciated and established. He had it all.

He walked into his chamber. The room like the rest of the hospital was painted in a singular shade of grey. But Ramgopal had brought a little bit of himself into the forsaken little place. Upon the wooden table was a picture of his wife and 5 year old daughter-his family,his treasure. On the wall, he had put up a picture of his mentor-Dr.Surendran-the man who had taught him everything about psychoanalysis, Freud’s theories, the Oedipus complex, multi personality disorder and the rest of it. Yes, Dr.Surendran was a great man indeed. Ramgopal took his seat, and began to sip the cup of hot Darjeeling tea which had been placed there a few minutes after his arrival.Just as he began to get comfortable, the phone rang, he picked it up. “Dr.Ramgopal, this is Krishna, we’re having problems with a patient here. His name is Prakash Singh. He’s done..well he’s done something extremely disgusting to say the least. I’m bringing him to your chamber. Dr.Nandy and two guards are coming along.”

“Why? What exactly has our friend Mr.Singh done, Krishna?? Anyways , bring him into my chamber and I’ll see what I can do.” Ramgopal put the receiver back,clasped his hands and laid back in his recliner. Prakash Singh was a new patient. He had been admitted last week and Ramgopal had only heard his name. He had never met the man before and for some reason beyond his comprehension he had a feeling in his stomach to rendezvous with Mr.Singh. Ramgopal opened the morning paper, he usually had to read it at work as he was always in a hurry in the morning. He was a believer in astrology and though not a complete fanatic about the thing he certainly thought highly of it’s concepts and principles. He was a Leo and quickly turned to the Daily Fortune section. His fortune read “Be careful what you wish for”. His eyebrows contracted in doubt, he sifted to the headlines and remarked “Strange..”



Scene 3


9:13 AM
The door of the chamber slammed open as two guards entered, briskly, holding onto another man. Krishna stopped at the door, “Doctor, you’d better be cautious with this one..he’s a rogue…a monster I tell you” “Thank you for the warning Krishna, now if you please ,take your guards and kindly exit my chamber.” “I’m leaving doctor but the guards are staying. Please allow them to..it’s for your own good”. Dr.Ramgopal was visibly irritated but he chose not to engage in an argument with the head of security. He acknowledged Krishna’s warning and turned to face his guest.The guards placed him on the chair directly opposite to the doctor and stood by the door, hands held together, staring at the patient with eagle eyes, waiting for him to make a suspicious move. Dr.Nandy, stood beside Dr.Ramgopal’s chair. Nandy was Ramgopal’s protégé in the same way as Ramgopal was Surendran’s.He was young, much younger than Ramgopal-a mere 23 year old psychiatrist fresh out of medical school, with high aspirations and the vigorous will which defines the modern youth. He had a youthful face with vivacious dark eyes behind ivory spectacles and a charming smile. His black hair was perpetually on end as if he had been electrified the minute he was born. He looked at his mentor, the senior, respected, established doctor and the creature before him-patient number 66-Prakash Singh.

Dr.Ramgopal put his hands together, leaned forward and rested his chin on his folded palms. He stared intently at the man before him. The man was in his mid forties, perhaps a few years younger than himself.He was dark skinned and lean with very little muscle and not an inch of fat.No he seemed to be more like bone and sinew stitched together in a messy sort of way. His eyes were drooping as if he was sleeping but his head moved this way and that as if awake. “Tranquilizer???” Ramgopal asked curtly. “Yes sir, Valium,0.5 mm syringe. I administered it half an hour ago” Nandy replied eagerly. “I see, half an hour,hmm,the effect should wear off any minute now..”.Ramgopal was correct, within the next ten minutes, Prakash Singh was staring wide eyed at the two doctors before him. He had a scarce amount of hair, barely a few tufts of grey and black scattered across the head. His face was lined, he looked haggard, but his eyes, they were light brown and lent an innocent feature to his otherwise inhuman aspect. He was draped in the usual white pajamas and shirt with his number on his shirt pocket right beside his heart. No, he seemed to be just another maniac to Ramgopal. “I see you are awake Mr.Singh so let us begin. What exactly have you been upto?” Ramgopal took a sip from his cup of tea as he asked this question. Singh swerved his head from side to side,but this wasn’t the valium,no this was just his fancy. A guard spoke up, “Sir..I..I ..for the past few days..patient 66 has been keeping rice grains near his window in an effort to attract birds..at first I thought that this was normal behaviour..but this morning..I..I saw a swallow at his window..he ..he grabbed it and and swallowed it whole…” he broke off,because before he could finish his sentence Ramgopal shouted “WHAT?!!” and the hot tea ejected out of his esophagus like water from a fountain. The tea fell on the floor and suddenly Singh jumped out of his chair and fell on his knees, trying to lick the tea off the marble floor beneath their feet. The two guards leapt from their positions, pulled him up and placed him back in his chair. But no that was not the end of it, even as he was forced back into his seat, even as he was restrained he screamed, but it was no ordinary scream. He screamed Shakespeare :

“Why then, can one desire too much of a good thing?
Come, sister, you shall be the priest and marry us.
Give me your hand, Orlando. What do you say, sister?”

Ramgopal was stupefied by what he saw. He didn’t recognize the play. He simply realized it was Shakespeare from the language and the style Singh spoke in.He pointed at the tea and then at the guard who had spoken referring him as “Orlando”. “Wh-what is going on here Shankar?!” .Nandy was shocked but his level of astonishment was definitely less than his mentor’s. There was something he knew.He spoke up, “Sir,this patient,Mr.Singh is a bit of an anomaly. If you will step outside with me, I’ll gladly explain to you what little I know.”And so Nandy and Ramgopal wearily walked out of the famous doctor’s chamber and into the corridors of the asylum but as he left the room, his eyes met Singh’s. There was a ferocious gleam in those eyes. Their hazel luster had been replaced by a crimson tinge and a devilish smile played on those broken, pale lips. No, Ramgopal mused, no this was not just one of the “mad people” at the hell hole and no this was not going to be an ordinary day….


Scene 4

10:17 AM

The two doctors stepped outside Ramgopal’s chamber and into the corridor. “Enlighten me,Shankar” “Well Sir,I don’t know much about umm Mr.Singh except that he was just transferred from Kerala’s Psychiatric Hospital a week ago. Since he’s arrived, he’s been doing strange things.” “I can see that Nandy! He just gulped a swallow, licked tea off my floor and started reciting Shakespearean gibberish!” “Sir, the swallow he gulped this morning, I found out from Krishna that this has not been the first such case. Ever since his admission, he’s been luring birds especially swallows to his room somehow and then he’s gulped them whole or bitten their heads off..his entire room is full of feathers,talons…and other entrails” Ramgopal was disgusted. What he had just heard,made him wish that he had skipped the two biscuits he had had with the tea. They had just made an upward journey to his palate and the feeling was very unpleasant indeed. But he controlled his shock. Practioners of psychiatry must be accustomed to as little show of emotion and astonishment as possible. It was an unwritten rule. He put on a grave expression and asked Nandy as they strolled down the empty corridor “But what about that that speech..it was Shakespeare..I’m sure of it..but why. it doesn’t make sense…unless he..he suffers from mpd.Is that the case Nandy?” “Sir,we are not sure about that yet. I’ve considered that as a possibility but we haven’t had the opportunity to run extensive tests on him yet. After this morning’s incident Krishna saw it fit to bring him to your notice immediately, I couldn’t disagree seeing that he had slaughtered swallows prior to this and so brought him here.” “I see,well he is still a patient here at the asylum and I will do everything I can to cure him of his disease!”Ramgopal said with the air of one proceeding to fight a great war for fame, glory and all that is good in the world. “And I will help you to my fullest ability” Nandy beamed. He would work with his idol, his hero, his mentor in what would certainly be a most difficult case..


Scene 5:

12:25 PM

Dr.Ramgopal re-entered his chamber, he bade the two guards leave the room. Their faces were clouded with doubt but it was their job to obey orders. They did just that. Nandy had gone for lunch. Ramgopal would have gone too but after hearing of his patient’s exploits, the thoughts of chicken biryani did not arouse much of an appetite indeed it rather augmented the nausea.

Ramgopal took his seat and looked at his patient. Singh had calmed down, he had bowed his face downwards and looking intently at what seemed to be a cockroach under his chair. “So Mr.Singh is there something about you that you would like to tell me?” No respone. “Come on Mr.Singh, there must be something that you would like to share-any hobbies, food preferences, anything?” Singh simply smirked; the doctor already knew his “food preferences” but no other response. “Mr.Singh my job here is to help you, to make you understand that you’re sick and to cure you”. No response. “Oh I see, perhaps I am not dealing with Mr.Singh, so there is another of “you”. MPD, just as I thought.” At this Singh finally responded, he leapt out of his chair another time, with such animal like speed that it caught Ramgopal with complete surprise. He banged his fists on the mahogany table, twisted his face to the right and spoke or rather hissed the words out. His eyes were hazel again, but the smile playing on those lips, that fiendish smile remained. “I am not a man with two personalities my foolish friend, I am simply me, I hope you understand that doctor!” With that he fell back to his seat and folded his arms together. Ramgopal took a few minutes to recover. He stared at this man,he said he did not have multiple personalities, he spoke so sanely right now, what was going on? But before he could analyze his own thoughts, Singh strode up to the window and just as before with a thick Yorkshire accent and powerful expressions he cried:

"Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date".

Ramgopal pressed the buzzer and two attendants entered. “Take him to his room” Ramgopal said shortly. The attendants took Singh away who was still raving about the beauty of the summer afternoon or something totally beyond his understanding. Ramgopal opened the drawer and took out a strip of paracetamol for his headache. He swallowed the tablet, grasped his burning forehead with one hand and took out his speakerphone with the other. “6th June, 2006.I’ve just talked to Mr.Prakash Singh aka patient number 66.I believe it is a case of multi personality disorder yet something ..some part of me..perhaps instinct tells me that it is not so. No, this man is perfectly sane and at the same time completely out of control…”