Martha's syndrome

                    MARTHA’S  SYNDROME

 A belch from Martha was enough to jolt Suhara from her sleep. Suhara was admitted three weeks back after a fall which had fractured her hip bone and she was slowly recovering from repeated infections after her surgery. Both the ladies had become close by now in between their infections and sorrows.

Suhara looked at Martha quite inquisitively as though asking what was that loud belching about. Martha understood the meaningful look. She giggled and said. “These medicines have converted my stomach into a gas factory.” 

“Don’t feel bad about it. They are for your own good. “Suhara made a weak attempt to pacify Martha who was fed up of all the treatments she was having for quite a period of time. Martha was no better than what she was when she was admitted few months back.

 “All I require is somebody’s hand to scratch my ever itching body” cried Martha as she pointed to the lesions that have grown a bit more in their circumference and have become more inflamed. “Who knows with what I am diseased with? Even the doctor excuses himself before I ask of my own state of affairs.”

It has now been more than a year since the symptoms have shown up on Martha and numerous tests have been carried out but the doctors still seemed to be clueless as to what kind of disease the symptoms were pointing to. She had tried umpteen times to talk with the doctors who examined her each day but all they did was to pacify her with kind words that things will improve soon. Nobody seemed to have an answer. So it surprised Martha when the nurse came and informed her last night that the chief doctor will be coming soon to talk to her in detail about her condition.

 “Now forget all these things about diseases. Go through the newspaper and read out the important news” said Martha as she gulped a glass of water down her throat.

Suhara picked up the well folded daily paper which was provided to them every morning and checked randomly the printed news. “There is nothing unusual. Only the daily scams and controversies”. Suhara then paused for a moment while she dug into the news columns and finally took a piece which was worth telling Martha. “Yes! Here is one item. This year the Nobel Prize for literature goes to an unheard name. I can barely spell his name. God has blessed him”.

 “I don’t believe in any blessings. It is his imagination and power of writing that has fetched him the award”. Martha replied

“Yes. Imagination which God had bestowed upon him” said Suhara, an equivocal supporter of the Almighty

“Yet another man has made a reputation for himself. From now on people will respect and have high regards for him. His words will be quoted and his views will be discussed and debated. Yet he was a little known personality till yesterday”. Martha felt proud for the Nobel awardee.

“Strange are his ways” Suhara exclaimed looking up to the Almighty and at the same time Martha gave another belch as she shifted in the bed and said, “I wish I were him”.

Suhara burst into an orchestrated laughter as she imagined Martha, a lady with undiscovered illness standing there as the winner of the prestigious award in her hospital clothes.

“Has it ever occurred to you that how much more lucky is this guy Nobel than the guy who actually won this award”, Martha asked ignoring Suhara’s fun at her expense.

 Alfred Nobel was dead, buried and gone but Martha considered him to be the luckiest of all than the awardees who won the recognition in his name. He was remembered even after death, talked about with respect long after death has eclipsed him and his name echoes year after year. His name has been etched in history by an award and his name is secure for the rest of future. He is now more famous than when he was alive.

“Isn’t he the fellow who is remembered for inventing the dynamite?” Suhara enquired.

“True!” But the fame and recognition his name now carries is simply not proportional to the name he had when he was alive. There were more greater and wonderful discoverers, inventors and explorers. It was Alfred Nobel’s father Emmanuel Nobel who invented plywood. Do we know anything about him? Though we know and remember many of the great people, it is Mr.Nobel’s name that regularly comes to our tongue more than the others and we speak that name with reverence. Death has frozen him in time and the award has embalmed his name in our memory”.

Suhara could not quite grasp the emotional content of Martha’s words and she went back to the newspaper and changed the page. There on the next page she found one which interested her, a scandal about the supply of unpasteurised milk in the town and she read out the news to Martha.

“Now here is another man who has secured a place in every man’s mind and tongue”, Martha exclaimed to which Suahara wondered who this other man was.

“Louis Pasteur has secured a place for his name in this world forever by the term pasteurisation. It’s another term we use knowingly or unknowingly almost daily. Haven’t Mr.Pasteur done many other greater works and of them how many can we enlist now.

Suhara tried in futile for a moment to enlist his achievements but finally admitted, “I can tell only about his pasteurisation technique”.

“True”, Martha said. “So is it with me. But I can recollect some if I travel down the memory lane of my school days. If I am right, it was he who developed vaccine against anthrax and rabies. He is considered as the father of microbiology. He showered light on fermentation process and introduced various techniques for sterilization. If the pasteurisation technique was known by any other scientific term, Mr.Pasteur might have gone into oblivion like many greats who have found things of great value but are not remembered. Not that we are ungrateful to these great people but it is simply because they couldn’t ensure their name against the face of time. Their names could have been preserved by simply naming whatever they were concerned with”.

Suhara really felt that Mr.Pasteur was indeed lucky to lend his name to that technique and there by carving his name on the wall of common people’s minds.

The monologue of Martha was not over. “It’s the only reason why we still remember great men like Albert Einstein for Einstein’s theory of relativity which we look in awe though it’s for another work of his that he actually won the Nobel Prize.

“As Issac Newton is remembered for newton’s law of gravity”, Suhara finally had something to contribute from her side.

“Exactly, put it simply as law of gravity and the next generation will not associate Newton to his great work. Edison has made a thousand inventions but comparatively his name sprouts less on our tongue. The number of times Edison’s name sprouts on our tongue is inversely proportional to the number of inventions he had made. His name is seldom used. But imagine if the name Edison itself was used as a term to name any of his great inventions and his name would have remained iridescent. Very much like the name of James Watt whose name appears on every electric bulb

“But isn’t the electric bulb really called as the Edison’s bulb?” Suhara wondered.

“Then he is unlucky in having his name lost in the battle of sovereignty to the term bulb. Very much like the case where Roentgen’s own term roentgenogram lost the space to the term x-ray. It will not be much long before their names are pushed of from peoples tongue only to be read in text books for examinations or in general knowledge books”, Martha added and now Suhara was beginning to get the vibe of Martha’s debate. The point was, it’s lucky to have your name left behind and its all the more lucky if the people would use it as an everyday term or language, reminding each other of the particular man though unintentionally. “You lend the name to the product and you are ensuring that you have labelled your name in this world. Your name should be insured as an award like Mr.Nobel’s or it should be synonymous with an act like hitlerian or chaplinesque or the thing itself should be the name like diesel of Rudolf Diesel or bell of Alexander Graham Bell”, Martha equated.

Lucky is the man who gets remembered occasionally like Socrates or Edmund Hillary. Great if it is systematically like Mr.Nobel. Fantastic if its uttered often by our tongue as part of everyday language like Mr. Pasteur’s or Bell’s. The fact is that only a handful gets to be remembered knowingly or unknowingly”.

Suhara was all at praise for the creator as she thought about the great names that changed the world, “God determines whose all names should be left behind to be studied, revered, followed and used”.

“I too wish that I had an opportunity to leave behind my name in this world. Who wants to be one in a million? It should be one out of a million”. The utmost recognition Martha got was that of the best teacher award before her retirement.

“God can do it”, Suhara gave the indications that she was an optimist and anything was possible with her ever trustworthy God .

“That is quite impossible now in this age and situation”, Martha declared. She just said what a practical mind would say and she was not a pessimist. “For that you need to do or find something or else you should be tremendously lucky”.

“Be calm. God is great. One can’t determine the fate. Tomorrow you may become famous. Strange are His ways.” Suhara said reassuringly. Martha was stupefied at Suhara’s consolation and she laughed out, “I haven’t heard of a more ridiculous consolation. You don’t even deserve a consolation prize for consoling”.

But Suhara stood by her statement. “I mean it. Strange are His ways”.

 “You can’t be sure of anything Martha. If God decides to keep your name back on earth, he will”. It now seemed as if Suahra had taken up Martha’s case to the God himself.

The nurse entered the room with the results of the blood tests done few days back and she announced that the chief doctor would be here to meet Martha soon. Considering the number of investigations they have done on her by countless names during the past one year and the number of doctors that have visited her, it certainly had created an anxiety in Martha to know what truly was going on inside her. She knew that they were treating her to their best of abilities without success and now she had a hunch that they might be trying to do something new. Martha didn’t care what they did to her as long as it helped her get out of the hospital bed.

The chief doctor came in with his usual comforting smile and behind him rallied a few assistants of his with stethoscopes and notes. He wished Martha and Suhara a warm good morning and both the ladies too wished him back. “Did you sleep well yesterday?” the doctor asked with much concern to which Martha replied, “Not quite. Did you get my results?”

The doctor stood quiet for a brief period of time as though rehearsing as how to deliver what he had to say and then he began in a very soft tone, “Well, let me first tell you how famous and important you are going to be from now on. Get ready by noon. A group of researchers are coming over here to talk to you and perhaps take some of your pictures and ask you some questions. You are going to be well known from now on”.

Martha could not quite grasp what the doctor was talking about and sat there on her bed plaintively. Suahara felt as though some heavenly intervention had happened after the discussion she and Martha had some time ago. The doctor noted the expressionless face of his patient and said to her. “I am talking about your status Martha. From now on your name will be discussed, debated and studied upon”.

“What is all this about?” Even Suhara was getting miffed up over such confused statements. “Are you saying that she is going to be famous?”

“Yes! In a way,” said the doctor without much happiness although Suhara’s face erupted with a smile that showed her joy deep inside.

 “This is all unbelievable. Why me? How do you think it can all happen? I think you have got it all wrong”, Martha objected to the suggestion that she was on her way to fame.

“It’s because through you a great contribution have been made to the field of medicine. You have shed light on an important aspect which from now on will benefit thousands upon thousands of people. Practitioners and researchers of medicine will remember you and your name will be found on all medically related texts and journals besides dailies and weeklies.

The puzzlement for Martha was still not over because there was no logic in her being suddenly famous. “I can’t believe it is all happening. Am I dreaming? “How can all these things happen? Please explain to me these things so that I can wake up to reality from this stupor state though it is nice to be there always. For once I could taste what I always wanted to. How a new celebrity feels for the first time when fortune comes jingling at the door step. Please doctor, explain to me what’s going on”.

 “Well, it’s all about a new syndrome that has raised the concern and curiosity of this world and we have named this syndrome as Martha’s syndrome”. Seeing the puzzlement which was evident on their faces the doctor began to explain in detail. “Let me put it this way. Your incurable vexed disease is due to a faulty gene. All that could be done was to replace this bad gene with a normal good gene which was introduced by us from outside. To carry the good gene to its site we required a vehicle. A virus is considered to be the best carrier and so we chose one that is safe to humans after eradicating all its lethal aspects. But strangely things have gone astray. The virus appears to have thrown of its bridle and has acquired a new character evolving thus into an entirely new variety of virus which is now on a rampage showing new manifestations. The field of genetic therapy is a minefield of uncertainties and probabilities and we have accidentally stepped on one”.

“So what does a new virus in a human being mean?” Suhara wanted the ultimate answer instead of all the mechanisms a virus can do.

“Maybe its irrecoverable or irreversible but we are studying the character of this new virus by the symptoms it shows and if our predictions are right, this virus will lead us to unfolding the mysteries of many things in virology and genetics”, explained the doctor. “Our conclusion is that this virus can be tamed for human benefits but we are not certain about the time period it will take to do that”.

“So the story says?” The fright in Martha’s eyes was visible to all.

“I’am sorry that I had to tell all of this to you. It’s because you have no relatives and a stage has come to let you know so that you can be prepared”, said the doctor in all concern.

“Prepared?” that sent a caution through Martha.

“Have to be prepared for the effects of Martha’s syndrome”. It was a small warning from the vastly experienced doctor in a hushed tone.

“It simply means?” Suhara asked with concern in her eyes.

“It means it will take us time to bring the new virus strain under control. Till then we have to keep observing the virus and study it as it progresses as long as Martha is there”. The doctor had nothing to more to hide. It was not in his plan to reveal so much to the old patient but he did. Now it was better to tell her the final eventuality so that she could be well prepared to face it. “She is terminally sick. But whatever happens will be beneficial to the world. She is going to leave behind her name for generations to come “.

Martha seemed to be quick in absorbing the shock. She had already withstood many such shocks in her life. She had nothing to live for. Now she was going to be useful to the entire humanity. Maybe it was God’s strange way of answering her wish. She now had a confident face and her voice was more strong as she said, “Yes, I am going to be well known from now as I wished. Everyone is going to talk me. I am going to leave my name behind. Indeed Suhara, indeed, strange are his ways”.