Short Story:
The form
Sunila NANAYAKKARA
They were stopping at every halt. At some halts they waited for
passengers: the conductor spelt out a string of place names. Some names
he pronounced one half or one-third. The driver chewed the betel he kept
in one jaw.
 It
looked like a big round lump. Passengers waited looking at the duo or
staring at their watches. Nelum checked the time. There was only half an
hour more. She was sure that she was going to be late again.
Two girls and a few boys came running and got onto the steps of the
footboard. The bus started with a jerk. The men and women holding the
top bar swayed forward and then backward, and some space was created.
Was it a ploy of the driver to make room for more passengers to be taken
at the next halt?
Nelum hated travelling on this route. But once a year, when a new
batch of students entered the university and the intensive course in
English started, she joined the team of teachers working on it. Even
though the bus ride to and from the University was tiring and
time-consuming, she undertook the work for the sheer pleasure of
teaching these students.
The students were an extraordinary lot. In most of the classes, the
normal or the bell-shaped curve appears when scores are plotted in a
graph. In these classes the distribution becomes skewed. Skewed to the
right.
The students were high achievers. In whichever district they studied
for the Advanced Level exam they had scored the highest. When they got
admission to the university, the level of motivation to master the
language in which they were going to pursue studies was high.
A teacher had to be a mere facilitator and a guide. How could any
teacher turn down a request to interact with a group of students of such
calibre.
She got off the bus and took the shortcut stepping carefully on the
broken tiles and concrete of a demolished building and entered an old
building. Big trees cast their eerie shade on it. Even if it was a warm
morning, she felt chilly when she started walking down its corridor.
Some windows were open.
She had a compelling feeling to glance inside. There were rows of
beds. One some were what looked like bundles covered with white sheets.
Nelum wondered what those bundles were. A peculiar odour reached her
nostrils. One day she asked a worker what they were. He smiled and said
‘bodies’.
She proceeded from the area of the icy-cold, shadowy, dark glen that
housed the prostrate stony forms, climbed a few steps and entered
another building with rooms on either side of the corridor.
On each door was a board. It gave the name of the medical
professional and the department of which she or he was the head. Now
this was a totally different world. An aura of academic excellence
pervaded. It made her recover from the dark reverie she underwent
seconds ago.
Emerging from the building, she crossed a narrow road. The square,
around which the departments of the medical fields were housed, was
crowded. The youngsters stood in groups engaged in deep conversation.
Their bright, cheerful faces portrayed youthful exuberance as well as
their positive outlook on the difficult years ahead.
“Men and women who were strong enough to visualize their deaths, and
decide what should happen to their mortal remains! Who were these
people? Were they affluent ones? Or those who died on the wayside? Or
were they victims of accidents?” Every day when passing this building
such questions raised their heads gnawing at her heart.
One day she met Achini, one of her nieces, a second year student.
Nelum made us of the opportunity.
“How did your college get all those bodies?”
“Auntie, some people like to donate their bodies. Of course they have
to express their willingness and grant their permission to do so.”
“So they did that while they were alive?”
“Oh! yes”
“Is there a procedure to do that?”
“Firstly they have to fill a form and sign it.” ”Why does the college
need so many bodies?”
“The students have to dissect and learn about the human body. A group
of students is given a body for the purpose. They are called Body
Groups!” And then Achini added with a smile. “Sanjaya and I are in the
same Body Group.”
“Is that so!” Nelum exclaimed giving the girl an affectionate smile.
Her sister had told Nelum that Achini had fallen in love with a
batchmate. She added “Now Auntie, some people express their willingness
to donate their kidneys too. Of course you would have heard about
donation of eyes.”
“Yes, I have heard about that.”
To have a plan of being useful to society, to help the younger
generation to advance their knowledge especially knowledge to cure
ailing fellow beings – what a wonderful thought! Nelum pondered. She
remembered what her grandmother had said. “I’m waiting till death put an
end to my life. I’m tired of living.”
She spoke about the difficulty of having and aged body. Listening to
her Nelum felt how bravely she was preparing for the end. She was
marking time till death knocked at the door to end the aches and pains
and cast the body away. Now she realized the difference. People could
decide to bring solace to others.
The cold and lifeless forms, turned, twisted and dissected impart
knowledge, no living human being alive could provide. Through breathing
and other bodily functions have stopped in toto, they contribute in
making the theoretical lessons, the students had listened to or watched
on a screen make real.
Her thoughts turned to the living days of these non-living beings.
What type of men and women had they been? Whether they belonged to
affluent families or not, they would have wanted to contribute in their
own way to the advancement of knowledge in the medical field and
realized it depends partly on a constant supply of cadavers which could
be a problem in a period of rising life expectancy rate.
“Now a person could be of service to others as much as in death as
when alive. The advances in medical science have paved the way.
The vital organs, if healthy and functioning well, could resuscitate
an ailing human being to give a new lease of life.” The longer Nelum
dwelt on these thoughts, her admiration towards the students and their
‘gurus’ increased. She considered it was sheer luck that has brought her
here, to be part of this community, at least for a short period.
Nelum entered the class. A cheerful “Good morning Miss” greeted her.
She looked at the eager faces of the thirty young women and men.
“Today we have something interesting to do. The debate on Euthanasia.
The teams are ready, I hope.”
It was a pleasure to listen to them. The teams had collected
arguments for and against. They cited examples to prove their points.
What a lot they knew about the subject, even prior to starting their
medical studies!
When the class was over and Nelum was walking to the bus halt, she
met her niece. “Achini could you get me a form that you were talking
about? Tomorrow I can get it from you.”
“Auntie, but...”
“No Achini, I have decided to do it.” |
