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Musings of a maniac
"How dare you disobey me , miserable girl !!", the sound resounded in the psychiatric ward of the medical facility ,"I am the mayor of the city , always remember that ," he said as he pounced to hit the girl in the ward and had to be overpowered to stop his violent behaviour .Dr Lata had seen many such episodes of maniacal violence in her ten and a half years career as the incharge of the psychiatric ward of Qualcare Hospital ;and had seen cases going from bad to worst as patients didn't respond to the best treatments offered and the kin of the patients leaving them and never enquiring about their well being , improvement or recovery .The patients were also lost in their own world of delusions without any need of their kith or kin .
He was silent as usual ,an unusual silence that sometimes gave her kind of eerie chill ,in midst of chaos of the mentally ill minds .He had just once uttered one word Gopi ,the name which everyone knew him by, and after that no word anyone heard from him .He seemed to watch everything yet so distant from everything ,ate little and often seemed like he was mentally in some other world oblivious to all happenings around him .Lata often tried to get him to speak and share something about him , since the day he was found by the police being battered by a mob for stealing food from a cart .Police handed him to an NGO which got him admitted to the psychiatric ward of the hospital .He tried ending his life , by slitting his wrists and even drinking rat poison once ,but destiny saved him every time as though his time was still left . That day ,Lata saw him looking out of the window like a lost soul among distracting noises of eccentric minds at work ;as she was taking the rounds of the patients wards .
She left for her home tired from the work ,she soon fell asleep to be woken up at 4AM by the Ring of her phone ,it was the nurse on night duty on the other end ,sounding hysteric as she informed her ,"Doctor, Gopi has tried to commit suicide by jumping from the third floor of the building .He is in critical condition in ICU ."She said and hung up and she sprung up from the bed immediately dressing up to leave for the hospital ,as she reached there she headed straight to the ICU to enquire about his condition ,and met the nurse on the way ,who informed that he is bit stable now but his limbs are fractured and there was profuse bleeding from the fractured skull ,but everything was under control .He was under sedation in the ICU , she headed towards her office in the psychiatric ward and asked the nurse to search his belongings if she finds something to know about the cause of the desperate act towards the untimely end .Nurse searched but came after a while with a diary which seemed blank .Lata took the diary from her and looked at it closely and turned it's pages ,some markings were visible ,she asked for a candle and as she lit it underneath the pages ,the writing became visible .The heading read"Musings of a maniac ."
"Hi ,To anyone who is reading this ,I am Gopichand who once had a flourishing business,but now a maniac ,who was pushed into a river by his loved son and daughter-in-law, but destiny saved me and I woke up on the river bank and someone took pity on me and admitted to a hospital..after getting discharged I starte begging on the streets ,to be caught stealing food one day , during lockdown .I was beaten by the mob ,I wished I would die ,but saved by some policemen ,to be sent to a psychiatric ward....I want my life to end ,it has no meaning for me or anyone...I am empty inside like a shell lying on the beach ,waiting to be engulfed by the vast sea of eternity..... If I die bury me or cremate me anywhere ,but don't inform anyone for whom am dead a long ago ...I am writing this in invisible ink made from lemon juice I extracted from the lemons given during lunchtime, I sneaked them with me in the room...I wanted everyone to think I was just scribbling with an inkless pen ....I know someone will surely read this...especially Dr Lata who is really a kind hearted and intelligent doctor...While living I couldn't gather the courage to report the acts of my near ones to the authorities and see them suffering ..I will half of my property to a charitable trust after me..for the poor ,destitutes and maniacs like me ..and other half to my son...I don't want him to suffer like I did.My address is.... and details of my property is as under....."
After reading the contents of the diary Lata was in tears ,and filled
with remorse at her own helplessness in finding out the truth about Gopi in time .She enquired about his health and was told he is showing improvement and will recover hopefully .She informed the authorities about the whole story who set out for his house ,so that the people who made him suffer so much could be made to see the kind hearted soul they betrayed....to knock at the closed doors of their cruel mindset .
© Neetu
He was silent as usual ,an unusual silence that sometimes gave her kind of eerie chill ,in midst of chaos of the mentally ill minds .He had just once uttered one word Gopi ,the name which everyone knew him by, and after that no word anyone heard from him .He seemed to watch everything yet so distant from everything ,ate little and often seemed like he was mentally in some other world oblivious to all happenings around him .Lata often tried to get him to speak and share something about him , since the day he was found by the police being battered by a mob for stealing food from a cart .Police handed him to an NGO which got him admitted to the psychiatric ward of the hospital .He tried ending his life , by slitting his wrists and even drinking rat poison once ,but destiny saved him every time as though his time was still left . That day ,Lata saw him looking out of the window like a lost soul among distracting noises of eccentric minds at work ;as she was taking the rounds of the patients wards .
She left for her home tired from the work ,she soon fell asleep to be woken up at 4AM by the Ring of her phone ,it was the nurse on night duty on the other end ,sounding hysteric as she informed her ,"Doctor, Gopi has tried to commit suicide by jumping from the third floor of the building .He is in critical condition in ICU ."She said and hung up and she sprung up from the bed immediately dressing up to leave for the hospital ,as she reached there she headed straight to the ICU to enquire about his condition ,and met the nurse on the way ,who informed that he is bit stable now but his limbs are fractured and there was profuse bleeding from the fractured skull ,but everything was under control .He was under sedation in the ICU , she headed towards her office in the psychiatric ward and asked the nurse to search his belongings if she finds something to know about the cause of the desperate act towards the untimely end .Nurse searched but came after a while with a diary which seemed blank .Lata took the diary from her and looked at it closely and turned it's pages ,some markings were visible ,she asked for a candle and as she lit it underneath the pages ,the writing became visible .The heading read"Musings of a maniac ."
"Hi ,To anyone who is reading this ,I am Gopichand who once had a flourishing business,but now a maniac ,who was pushed into a river by his loved son and daughter-in-law, but destiny saved me and I woke up on the river bank and someone took pity on me and admitted to a hospital..after getting discharged I starte begging on the streets ,to be caught stealing food one day , during lockdown .I was beaten by the mob ,I wished I would die ,but saved by some policemen ,to be sent to a psychiatric ward....I want my life to end ,it has no meaning for me or anyone...I am empty inside like a shell lying on the beach ,waiting to be engulfed by the vast sea of eternity..... If I die bury me or cremate me anywhere ,but don't inform anyone for whom am dead a long ago ...I am writing this in invisible ink made from lemon juice I extracted from the lemons given during lunchtime, I sneaked them with me in the room...I wanted everyone to think I was just scribbling with an inkless pen ....I know someone will surely read this...especially Dr Lata who is really a kind hearted and intelligent doctor...While living I couldn't gather the courage to report the acts of my near ones to the authorities and see them suffering ..I will half of my property to a charitable trust after me..for the poor ,destitutes and maniacs like me ..and other half to my son...I don't want him to suffer like I did.My address is.... and details of my property is as under....."
After reading the contents of the diary Lata was in tears ,and filled
with remorse at her own helplessness in finding out the truth about Gopi in time .She enquired about his health and was told he is showing improvement and will recover hopefully .She informed the authorities about the whole story who set out for his house ,so that the people who made him suffer so much could be made to see the kind hearted soul they betrayed....to knock at the closed doors of their cruel mindset .
© Neetu
