Evasion

Disclaimer

All characters mentioned here are my imagination. Any coincidences if detected, must only be thought of as added for dramatic effect.

Prologue

Motorcycles have very good stability and balance, but the rider must be careful. Sometimes, the city administration creates hurdles for bikers that are hard for them to dodge. Then, stability does not help. A bad pot hole in the middle of the road caused this rider to apply breaks much too fast and with too much pressure. The bike skid and the rider lost his balance. The RTO prescribes a leg-guard for all motorbikes and that saved this rider’s life. Everything would have been forgotten, but for the car behind him. The car driver saw what happened and reacted exactly like the bike rider and put the car off the road, only to hit the footpath.

Most people feel they are safe on the road; some others use the footpath. Everything would have been forgotten but for this person walking on the footpath.

Chapter 1

Dr. Prachi Gokhale had been the first to take in the patient at the Civil Hospital’s Emergency and Accident room. An I-card in the wallet had revealed the name of the patient to be Prakash Verma. On admission his condition appeared critical. He was treated for the bleeding wounds and then sent for an X-Ray of the broken leg. Prakash was unconscious and remained so for the rest of the night while his blood samples were checked for blood group just in case a transfusion would become necessary.

Dr. Prachi visited her patients at seven in the morning and was pleased to see Prakash awake. “Good Morning, Doctor!”, Prakash exclaimed as he saw her approaching his bed. “You look much better now, and are wide awake. You met with an accident yestreday evening and were brought in here by the person who crashed his car into your leg. You were knocked out for almost the whole night and have been undergoing some standard tests for checking your vitals and your fractured leg. You are on painkillers and hence are feeling reduced pain, but your leg needs attention and so do some of your stitches.” Prachi was reading out aloud partly from memory and partly from the patients chart alongside the bed.

The couple of constables sitting on the stool nearby heard the conversation and came by the side of the patient. “We need your statement on the incidents of last night.” said one of the constables while the other took out a notebook and a pen. Prakash was not very enthusiastic about all this, but did a good job receiting what all he remembered. In fact, he had only just seen the motorcycle accident when he himself was hit. Prakash’s statement only proved that the motorcyclist was telling the truth. The police were satisfied and left Prakash alone.

“When may I go home?” Prakash asked the nurse for the third time in the morning and he always got the same answer. The nurse had said that he was not yet ready to go and must at least wait for his doctor’s next visit. Dr. Prachi visited him again in the afternoon and showed him the X-Ray of his broken leg. “I am fine, I do not need a plaster!” Prakash had resisted while he was been wheeled into the orthopaedics’s clinic.

Chapter 2

Prachi was irritated by this man’s insolence. This man had a broken leg, and was refusing free treatment without any explanation whatsoever. He tried to walk out of his wheel chair only to realise that he was not good to walk and fell down. Thankfully for Prachi, Prakash had then taken the rest of the process calmly. The doctor asked Prakash to come back after 3 weeks for checkup and then would decide when to take off the plaster. Surprisingly, Prakash thanked the doctor and smiled at Prachi on his way out.

Prakash was left alone on his bed with the plaster. He knew he did not require it. He also knew he had to get out of the hospital soon. Now with the plaster on, it was much more difficult. He could not sneak out without being noticed. Also, he had to go to some doctor to get his plaster cut out. After arousing suspicion from two nurses for trying to get up from the bed, Prakash decided spending one more night at the hospital cannot do much harm.

Chapter 3

Dr. Prachi had to wake up Prakash almost forcefully the next morning as Prakash had been awake in pain and agony for most of the night. The Civil hospital was a busy place. Not only it was impossible to sneak out even in the night, but it was also impossible to sleep in all the commotion that enveloped. He would have much appreciated a fuller sleep at his home. Dr. Prachi continued to question Prakash, “How do you feel today?” She moved ahead with examining the stitches on his body without really hearing what Prakash was murmuring about. She was surprised to see most of the wounds had already dried up. Prachi’s curiosity got better of her and she asked for a clotting test to be performed on Prakash. The wounds were already closing up which could mean an alarmingly high platelets count. That would be a dangerous condition after the injuries were healed, and Prachi just wanted to verify that the count was in the normal range.

Prakash stared open-mouthed at Prachi when she ordered the test. The worst had occurred.

Chapter 4

Dr. Prachi was dumbfounded when she read the reports. In fact, the pathologist had attached a note saying “You may want to redo the tests.” The platelet count was very high, indicating possibility of internal clotting or thrombosis. Also, the white blood cell count was high indicating that Prakash’s immune system was fighting with something. Prachi was not so much worried about the high white blood count as she was about the platelet count. She went to Prakash and drew a small quantity of blood from his fingertip. The clotting took less than ten seconds!

Prakash asked Prachi “Can I leave the hospital now, since my wounds are better?” Prachi immediately replied in the negative and told him that his condition was not as good as it seemed, since he had very high rate of clotting and that may indicate a possible internal clotting. Prakash asked if the stitches could be now removed since he had healed properly. Dr Prachi was too involved with the puzzle to hear him and ordered some more tests to check for Prakash’s general fitness. She would have liked to probe Prakash’s body for indications of internal clotting, but given her infrastructure and the fact that Prakash actually complained of no problems, it was not possible to conduct any expensive tests.

Prakash wanted to run away. Only if his leg was not bound in hard plaster!

Chapter 5

“How can a person be in perfect health with such a high platelet count and white blood count?” Prachi asked herself for the tenth time in that day. When she visited Prakash during her evening visit, he pleaded her to discharge him. Dr. Prachi was in no mood to oblige. Instead she ordered some more tests. This time, she did not tell Prakash what they were for. When the results came back, she had to speak with Prakash. “Have your wounds always healed so fast?” Prachi asked Prakash. Prakash did not know what to answer. He just grunted a “yes”. Prachi then asked what Prakash found most difficult to answer “What is your age?” Prakash’s I-card mentioned his birthdate. The question was unnecessary and he told so to Dr. Prachi. “Yes, I know, but your body looks more like it is in its 30s instead of late forties” Prachi replied.

Prakash silently cursed himself for being lazy of late. He should have changed the I-card years earlier. Identity, he knew, was a major problem in the modern world. He had no problems going into an entirely new city and settling in, but now everyone needed proof of residence, or birth, or some kind of certificate that basically was meaningless for him.

“I did not understand.” Prakash replied to Dr. Prachi’s comment about his body, even though he perfectly understood what she was getting at. “I mean, your internal systems are fantastic, your immune system is extremely active and you are almost the fittest individual I have ever seen, and still you have certain blood counts not explainable by the condition of your body. How have you remained so fit over the years? Also, do you have no family? No one has ever visited you in the past few days.” Prachi’s questions were pestering Prakash.

Chapter 6

Dr. Prachi had been speaking with Prakash for about ten minutes when she observed that whereas almost all his wounds had healed perfectly, the one on his forehead, caused by a splinter from the car, was way behind. “That wound on your forehead is not keeping pace with the ones on the rest of your body!” joked Prachi. After a moment’s pause, Prakash answered, “That one may take time. I had a similar wound in my childhood and it took very long to heal.” Prachi frowned at this answer. “But you just said that your wounds heal very fast.” “Yes, they do, except for the ones on my forehead. Don’t worry, I am fine. May I go home now?” Prakash was really only interested in getting discharged. He did not mention that the pain from the wound on his forehead was intolerable. “Okay, but let us first take another X-ray of your leg.”

The result of the X-Ray was the final blow. Prachi could not believe her eyes. The leg was completely healed. It even left the orthopaedics doctor baffled. “I want to know what is the secret of your health, Prakash.” Prachi felt she had no other alternative, and more importantly no reason of holding the patient back. She asked Prakash directly. Prakash quickly assessed that no one was listening to their conversation, and answered, “Nothing. So I can finally go home now?” Prachi was not going to be so easily put off. She continued to question him, “Have you ever been sick?” Prakash had the urge of running away, and now, without the plaster, he could easily do that. However, Prachi’s desperate face held him back. “Okay, I will tell you my secret. Lets go to the cafeteria”

Chapter 7

” I do not age.” Prakash simply said the sentence and let it percolate for some time. “You mean, ever?” Prachi did not know what to ask. “For a very long time. I have an immune system to beat all infections, a very strong healing system to cure my wounds and a very healthy muscle regeneration system to keep me going. Now you know why I was insisting on being discharged.” Prakash was calm and very definite. Prachi thought she was sitting with a mad man, except that what he just said made sense. Part of it, she had already seen in the healing of his wounds. “So how old are you?” Prachi could not help asking this question again. “I really don’t know. I have been around for a very long time, have hibernated for months and seen a lot of changes, learned a lot of languages and have forgotten the count of years. Do not bother yourself too much. Just forget me, and continue your life. It is unlikely that you will see me again.” Prakash began to get up indicating an end of conversation, but Prachi was not satisfied. She kept sitting and her gaze dragged Prakash to sit back on his chair. “But that is impossible. I am a doctor. You cannot make me believe anything of that sort! What proof do you have?” Prachi would not leave him alone. Prakash seemed used to such conversations. He was as calm as he was at the starting. “I have no proof and I am not even asking you to believe me. Thanks a lot for your care. You won’t see me again.” Prakash concluded. Prachi pushed on, “Did you see Mahatma Gandhi?” “Yes”, Prakash answered.

“Shivaji?”

“I knew him very closely.” Prakash did not find the questions unexpected and answered without having to think much hard.

“Have you changed your names many times? What were you during Shivaji’s time?” Prachi just would not stop. Everyone does not get a chance to see a person who claim he knew Shivaji!

“I am sorry, that is previliged information, and please do not ask any more questions.” Prakash had no intention of going back down his memory lane and expose all of his secrets in front of this girl. Prachi was still not done. She quickly asked, “Have you seen Ram-Laxman-Sita?” Prakash did not expect Prachi would jump from Shivaji to the Satya Yuga in a step of one question. He had expected some date close Chandragupta Maurya’s. Prakash was humbled out by that question. “No”, he replied, “they predate me.” “And what about the Mahabharat?” Prachi pressed on.

Prakash now got up from the chair completely and did not look into her eyes. He started walking away from the table. Prachi quickly followed him. “Okay, don’t tell me anything more, but let me at least prescribe you something for you forehead…”

Prakash quickly turned back and asked, “How about some warm oil for my wound on the forehead?”

Spoiler

The story ends here. But if you are not very up to date on the Hindu mythology, you may consider reading this article from Wikipedia. A movie “The Man from Earth,[IMBD link]“  is based on a very similar idea. I had no intentions of stealing anything from the movie, but the idea is surely not owned by the movie’s producers or writers since this is believed by many people in India since ages, as is evident from this link.

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