(G)HOST

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Santhosh Narayan gazed at the young lady in the couch.

She really is a damsel indeed. Her wide and beautiful eyes, her rose coloured neck, structured arms and attractive features suggested that she was not only a beauty but also a lady of smartness and intellect.

She was under a spell of hypnosis and as a psychiatrist he was to dig into her subconscious mind to know

About the problem that was perturbing her.

Yesterday she came to his clinic with her parents and two friends. She looked bewildered and refused to answer any of his questions.

Her friend Madhumitha explained the events that led to her present state of shock.

“ Doctor, Last week, me, Sumitra and Vindhya went to Goa. There….”

“ pardon me, who is Sumitra and who is Vindhya?”

“ Oh sorry! Your patient in the couch is Sumitra. I am Madhumitha and this girl sitting next to me is Vindhya. We are students of Dayanand Saagar college, Bangalore doing second year of visual communications degree course.”

“ that’s fine. Please proceed.”

“ We three went to Goa for a vacation of 10 days and we stayed in Taj Exotica. We planned to visit all important tourist spots in Goa, Daaman and Diu. We are fond of historical structures and monuments.

For the first two days, we enjoyed the beaches and from the third day onwards we visited buildings and monuments of historical and architectural splendour. A day before our return journey in the morning we planned to visit an abandoned Church in a garden, which resembled a small forest. We got to know about it from internet.  

We hesitated at first because it is located in an isolated area and no tourist guide was aware of that church. But we were enthused by the fact that the church is an architectural marvel of Gothic structure.

We wanted to have adventure and decided to go ahead. 

But the night before the scheduled visit, Me and Vindhya suffered from fever and decided to cancel the visit. Sumitra initially agreed with us.

But in the morning, she told us that she cannot spend a whole day in the hotel room watching TV or mobile. “ You both relax and take rest. The hotel management has arranged for a doctor and he will be treating both of you soon. I have made all arrangements for your diet-based food and snacks. I will be back most probably by 5 p.m. in the evening. I’ll take a video of the entire visit and tonight we’ll have the fun of watching the adventure.” Without even waiting for our response, she vanished.

In the evening she did not return at 5 p.m. our mobile calls were not responded. We were very anxious and worried. At around 10 in the night, she suddenly entered our room. She hugged us both and was crying.  

From that day onwards, she is uttering only one sentence. “ Nothing is there".

Santhosh assured them not to worry and asked them to bring Sumitra to his clinic next day. He knows that it is a case of shock leading to fear psychosis. He decided to hypnotise her to find the exact reason for the shock.

Santhosh was talking to Sumitra in a soothing and kind voice.t

“ Sumitra! You are in this lonely beautiful church! You are here. Tell me what do you see!”

“ Yes! The church is beautiful! The walls are tall and high. There are many glass panes. Beautiful colours! The arches from inside look like steep pointed arrows all around. In the roof the vault is like a big rib. It is beautiful but by looking at it some fear somehow creeps into my mind. But you know I…. I…. am…not afraid.”

“ Yes Sumitra” Santhosh told in the same tones “ You are not afraid and you are a brave girl. Tell me what else you are seeing”

“ I see flying buttresses at many places. They are beautiful. They are different. But…. I…think…I am afraid.”

“ No Sumitra! You are not. You are a brave girl! You love adventure! See! There is nothing to fear! These are pieces of architectural marvel! What else do you see?”

“ I see four people. One looks like a Priest and the others look like nuns. They are coming near me. The Priest blesses me and they take me behind the Altar. There is a long corridor. I walk with them. We go into a small room. There is a big table. The Priest and others sit in the chairs. The Priest asks me to sit.”

“Are you afraid?” Santhosh asked.

“No! I feel happy! But their looks! Jesus! I think I am afraid!”

“ No! Sumitra! Everything is fine and you are happy! You are not afraid. Tell me brave girl! What else do you see!”

Sumitra was silent for a while. “ They give me some drink! It is sweet and thick! It is fine! Delicious”

Sumitra again became silent.

Santhosh wited for a few minutes. He again talked to Sumitra in a most kind and soothing voice “ Sumitra! The brave and intelligent girl! You are very fine! You are very happy! You see! Everything is fine! Okay! Tell me what you see!”

“ Oh! I am before my hotel. I walk into our room. Vindhya and Madhumitha are there! Oh! My friends! I hug them”.

Santhosh was contemplating for a while. He looked puzzled. He again talked to Sumitra.

“ Sumitra dear! Did you walk out of the church? Did you walk to your hotel?”

“ Church? Which church? Nothing is there. Nothing is there. Don’t you understand? Nothing is there.”

Sumitra started shouting.

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Doctor Santhosh was sitting in his Chair. 

 Sumitra was brought out of her hypnotic spell and was allowed to sleep after administering a sleeping dosage.

Santhosh looked at the parents of Sumitra. “ Did she have any such problem in her childhood?”

“No doctor!” her mother replied.” She is a happy and brave girl. We never had any problems”

“ Ok. I think that she went to the church alone. There she had some illusions. We can cure this shock by counselling and convincing that what she has seen is an imagination. But for doing so I believe that I must visit that church once to have first hand information. Once I come back, I can take her there with her friends to reenact the scene. It will be easy to convince at the spot where the illusion overtook her. Tomorrow I am going to Goa. All of you go home. Keep her on tranquilisers for ten days. Meet me after my return.”

Doctor Santhosh walked out of his clinic.

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Next day Doctor Santhosh took a flight to Goa and stayed at the same resort Taj Exotica. He studied about Churches of Gothic Architecture in internet to update himself about the veracity of the version of Sumitra about the church she visited.

He inquired the local public about the church which Sumitra visited but no body could provide any information.

Next day morning he went into the garden as per guidelines given by Sumitra. It was almost like a forest.

No body was there in that garden. He walked nearly for half an hour. Suddenly he saw a big church .

It looked beautiful and frightening too.

Sigmund Freud the father of Psychiatry is a genius. He opened the flood gates of reasoning which gave enormous courage to humanity to face imaginary fears with bravery and with facts. Doctor Santhosh is a hardcore believer of psychiatry and reasoning. He once again decided to go into the church and convince himself about the facts about the church.

Santhosh walked into the church.

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In the front page of” one news was published today.

“ FAMOUS HOSPITAL SANTHOSH PSYCHOTHERAPY CLINIC CLOSED

Our correspondent Rajeev Menon reports from Bannerghatta, Bangalore that Doctor Santhosh Narayan well-known psychiatrist in Bangalore, who was awarded Padmashree by President of India in the year 2012 for his exemplary professional service to the society, is at present suffering from a psychic problem and hence the hospital is temporarily closed. It is learnt from reliable sources he visited Goa ten days ago. From the day of his return from Goa, his behaviour is abnormal. He seems to be uttering only one sentence repeatedly “Nothing is there”

His family members informed our correspondent that he is undergoing psychotherapy from Doctor Cherian and that Doctor Cherian assured them that Doctor Santhosh has received a psychological shock and can be cured by counselling .

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Doctor Cherian went through the case history of Doctor Santhosh.

He was convinced that the case of Miss Sumitra is the root cause for the psychological problem faced by Doctor Santhosh. He thought that If he can contact Miss Sumitra the process will be easy.

He tried to contact over cell phone Sumitra, Madhumitha and Vidya. They turned out to be wrong numbers.  

He tried the cell numbers of Sumitra’s parents. Strangely, they also turned out to be wrong numbers.

He took his car and drove to the address furnished by Sumitra. There was no such addressee and no such residence.

He made a phone call to the principal of Dayanand Saagar College and inquired about Sumitra, Madhumita and Vidya second year students of B.A (visual communications).

The principal politely told that there are no students with these names in their college.

Doctor Cherian went inside his clinic and looked at his patient Doctor Santhosh sitting in his bed.

“Nothing is there. Nothing is there!” Santhosh was shouting.

Doctor Cherian came out and sat on his chair.

“ Yes! Nothing is there” he told himself.

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