Virinchi woke up one day, and he felt strange. He thought something felt different. Something felt borrowed. His house didn’t feel like his. His toothbrush didn’t feel like his. Even his reflection in the mirror started to feel like an extension. He couldn’t really pinpoint what was wrong, but ever since he started feeling that nothing was actually his, he started feeling a little pain in his abdomen. Whenever he thought “nothing feels mine”, the pain increased. It felt like stabbing in his belly.
He blamed the bad burger he had eaten the day before. It was a weird-ass burger. From the first bite, he knew that he was going to puke or shit a lot. But he continued to eat because what else was he going to do? Ask for his 495 rupees back? The chef would probably have said, “It’s gourmet”, and an acquired taste. Everyone would have thought Virinchi should have shut the fuck up and ordered a normal burger instead of some French-sounding “Le Wat De Fook” burger. But it was done, he had ordered it, so he finished eating it. Each bite felt squishy. The mouth feel was horrible. The texture of the patty with all the sauces was enough to make him nauseous.
But the pain only increased as the days went on. Soon, Virinchi was unable to work. “Can I take a leave? I have a stabbing pain in my stomach, as if something’s trying to pry it open and come out” Virinchi asked his boss, holding his stomach. “Alright, you take the long weekend. You need it. But do tell me if it’s a boy or girl” the manager laughed as Virinchi rolled his eyes. The boss continued to laugh, expecting it would force Virinchi to chuckle a bit. But Virinchi kept staring at him with a rather fed-up face, forcing the boss to stop laughing. Maybe the boss even felt a bit embarrassed. “I’m sorry that was insensitive,” he corrected while trying not to meet Virinchi’s eyes.
Virinchi was walking back home, and suddenly his dad called him. “I’m on the way, dad” he said. “You don’t need to make anything. I have sent some food over to your home” his Dad said in the call. There it was! A severe pain. Virinchi couldn’t speak; he held his stomach and fell to his knees. People on the street looked at him weirdly but continued walking. “Hello?” Dad paused. “Are you there, son?” he continued, but Virinchi was unable to speak; he was gritting his teeth in pain, controlling himself not to shout. Tears were rolling down his face in pain. He wanted to scream for help, but he wasn’t able to open his mouth. “Alright, I can’t hear you call me when you reach home” the call ended. Virinchi started crawling, and now an old man rushed to him and helped him up. “Are you alright, kid?” he asked, making him sit on a bench beside the road. Slowly, the pain started fading away as Virinchi was able to speak again. He thanked the old man but left for home quickly.
Virinchi immediately wanted to check himself out in the mirror. Because, as he said earlier, the pain felt like something was trying to come outside of his body, exactly from his navel. While climbing the stairs, he touched his navel, and he found it weird. He found a small bump on his navel. It pained a little when he pressed the bump. “What the fuck was in that fucking burger!” Virinchi groaned as he entered his apartment.
Right as he went inside, he saw a cover placed on the table. It had three boxes in it. He realized this was the dinner sent by his dad. There it was! Piercing pain in his navel! His hair stood straight, his skin shivered, his throat was stuck, and his jaw was wide open. He crawled to the mirror and pulled his shirt off. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing. Something was moving; his navel was not a button anymore, it was a bump coming outside instead, and it was growing, wiggling out. Then it stopped, and the pain stopped too. He now had a navel that had a small and thin bump outside, and it didn’t make sense.
“Tapeworm” his friend yelled. Virinchi was lying on the bed as his friend was staring at the navel bump. “How sure are you?” Virinchi asked. “I’m not, but I don’t have any other explanation, maybe the worm is trying to come out” Shankar said. Virinchi lifted his head and looked at the bump, and it scared him. “I shouldn’t have eaten that stupid French burger” he mumbled. Uma, Shankar’s wife, barged in, all excited, holding her phone. “Look, I found something,” she showed a photo. The photo suggested that there’s a new kind of parasite that enters the body through the stomach, and then, after it grows, it attempts to exit, killing the human host. “Yo, what the hell is this! The image is AI-generated, I don’t think that parasite exists” Virinchi yelled in anger.
Uma checked the image again and scratched her head. “Seems real to me” Shankar smiled, patting her. “Can we focus on the bump at hand?” Virinchi groaned. “I know someone who can help us” Shankar said. “A doctor?” Virinchi asked, raising his eyebrow. “Absolutely not, it’s a man who can help you beyond a normal doctor” Shankar smirked. “Is he gonna prescribe me sugar pills and say it’ll work in the long term without side effects while this parasite breaks out and kills me?” Virinchi asked. “Nah, he’s a professional” Shankar shook his head. “He will touch the paining area and feel your aural disturbances to figure out what’s wrong in the transcendental plane” Shankar smiled, as Virinchi stared blankly. “Take me to the fucking doctor” he shouted. “Which one?” Uma asked, confused. “The one that actually has a fucking clue” Virinchi got up.
The doctor stared at the weird bump and stared back at Virinchi. “What?” Virinchi asked restlessly. “I don’t have a fucking clue” the doctor said. “I told you he wouldn’t have a fucking clue. Let’s go to the energy doctor” Shankar stood up impatiently. “No, wait” the doctor raised his hand to stop. “I know what this is, but I don’t know how the fuck that can happen” he continued, staring at the navel bump. Uma showed her phone to the doc again and asked, “It’s this parasite, isn’t it?” she asked, chewing gum. “It’s AI-generated” the doctor sighed. “Damn it!” she went back disappointed. “Then what the fuck is this?” Virinchi asked afraid. The doctor collected his thoughts, sat down, and looked at Virinchi lying on the bed, shirtless. “It’s your…” he paused. “It’s your umbilical cord” the doctor stated. Virinchi looked puzzled, his boss’s face appeared in his head in slow motion, laughing like an idiot saying “do tell me if it’s a boy or girl”.
“Did you tell your dad?” Uma asked. Suddenly, the bump in the navel started wiggling again, and it was slowly growing as Virinchi screamed in pain, and the other three looked at it in horror. The bump grew a little more and stopped. “I think you should go to that energy doctor” the doctor mumbled as he fainted.
The trio entered an apartment with a hippie aesthetic, dreamcatchers, and murals on the walls. A man with a hair-bun, so many tattoos on his body, in a sleeveless tunic and harem pants, walked out with a blunt in his hands. “Hi, Mr. Dhanavantri,” Shankar greeted him. Mr. Dhanavantri took a drag, and headed to Virinchi. Before they could even speak, he kneeled and pulled Virinchi’s shirt up. “Hey, what the f-” Virinchi was about to shout. “Interesting” the man said and got up. “What the hell is that?” Virinchi yelled at the man.
Dhanavantri closed his eyes and sat down. “He must be sensing something” Shankar comforted scared Uma. “Nah, I’m just processing the information” Dhanavantri got up. “Okay, thing is, your umbilical cord is growing back”. The trio was just frozen in shock. “This is happening because your metaphysical cord was never severed” he continued. “I beg your pardon?” Virinchi asked. “When we are born, the physical cord is severed, but mentally and spiritually you’re just connected to your birthgivers” the energy doctor said nonchalantly while stubbing his blunt. “You mean my mom?” Virinchi asked. “Doesn’t need to be. Your physical cord was attached to your mom, but the metaphysical one is attached to both of your parents, and sometimes it’s attached to the ones who adopted you, in rare cases it’s attached to your siblings” Dhana explains. “That sounds absolutely creepy and made up!, I’m leaving” Virinchi go up.
“What would your mom think?” Dhana asks leaving Virinchi. “What would I know?” Virinchi responds. Dhana nods understandingly and asks, “What about your dad?” And immediately the cord starts wiggling, and Virinchi shouts in pain. “So, your metaphysical umbilical cord is attached to your dad” Dhana says as the cord wiggles more. “STOP IT”. Dhana shrugs apologetically. “I think it happens whenever we mention his…” Shankar paused, staring at Virinchi. “DON’T SPELL IT”. “Let’s call him birthgiver” Dhana suggested. “But his dad didn’t birth him” Uma corrected as Virinchi wiggled in pain in the background. “True, his dad just was emotional support to his mom” Shankar added. Uma kept wiggling in pain, holding his belly. “But we don’t know if his dad was actually emotionally supportive, right?” Uma asked Shankar. Unable to control his pain, Virinchi threw his helmet at them. They immediately realized they were continuously mentioning his dad. “Let’s call him provider” Dhana suggested, and everyone nodded in agreement.
“Alright, so do I..” Virinchi gasps and continues, “Do I have to like do some ritual, break some coconuts, and this will go away?” he asks hopefully. “Not even close. You’d have to do something painful” Dhana says. “Holyshit, are you gonna make me walk on burning coal?” Virinchi stared at his feet. “Something worse” Dhana lit his blunt again as the trio gulped in fear.
Virinchi’s dad opens the door and smiles, welcoming the trio in. He goes in to bring water. “I think it’ll break him, dude, I can’t do it” Virinchi mumbles. Uma holds his hand tight. “Look, buddy, you’re not a man-baby! I know your dad still takes care of you. I’m envious of that, but that shouldn’t go to the extent where he doesn’t give you any wiggle room for autonomy” she tells him. “Let’s not talk about wiggling” Shankar suggests. “No, you’re right, but how do I tell my dad that he’s being too nice and I want him to not be nice and leave me alone when he’s actually being nice to me. Of course, I have my interests, wishes, and desires. I’m glad he still takes time to cook me a meal, send it home, and be considerate, but it feels like when you love a game, but you are watching its gameplay video as someone else plays it, even WHEN YOU KNOW YOU HAVE THE GPU TO PLAY IT AT THE HIGHEST POSSIBLE FRAME RATE! WHEN DO I GET TO PLAY?” he gasps, looking at his dad standing with a glass of water. “Dad?” he shouts in regret.
Suddenly, the glass of water falls, and the provider falls to his knees in pain, holding his belly. The trio stared at each other. “Am I late?” Dhana peeked inside, looking at the fallen dad. “Right on time” Shankar nodded. “Thanks for pulling the cord out, now I think the other end of the cord has started to pain” looking at the fallen dad.
Dhana unbuttons the provider’s shirt as he was lying on the couch. The belly button of the dad is deeper and almost looks like a void of hole. “Interesting” Dhana says. “What’s interesting about this interstellar blackhole on my dad’s abdomen? Are you going to suggest we take a spaceship and travel into his metaphysical wormhole or something?” Virinchi asks, frustrated. “Absolutely” Dhana says as Virinchi is confused. Dhana pulls out a small folded paper in his shirt pocket and blows the red powder on Virinchi’s face. “What the-” Virinchi falls unconscious. He opens his eyes to find himself falling into a black void. He doesn’t feel the wind; he doesn’t feel the pressure, but the gravity keeps pulling him. He can see a light at the end of the tunnel. “Fuck I’m dead” he thought. He closed his eyes to face the inevitable.
A pat opened his eyes, it’s his father. Virinchi is suddenly a baby, and his father looks at him with tearful eyes. “I’m not going to be him, I’ll be different” he kissed the boy’s forehead. Suddenly, the baby is dropped. Virinchi, as a baby, is now falling into the void again. He opens his eyes to find himself as a different person. He’s in a small individual house, and the room is lit with a candle. He looked into the mirror to see himself as a 10-year-old. He looks a bit like himself, but somehow different. “Vishnu, where are you?” a man screams. “Vishnu?” Virinchi mumbled. “My dad… I’m my dad. Then that’s..” and he turned towards the door to see a brute-like man enter the room. “It’s grandpa!” he thought. “Why do you even need a new shirt? Can’t you wash your stupid uniform every day as soon as you come from school? Do you think you’re a lord to have a wardrobe full of uniforms for each day?”. Virinchi can feel his feet shivering. He started shaking his head, mumbling “no”. “And what about the fucking food? You eat like a pig! In my days, we’d eat one meal. You need 3 meals a day? What are you, a princess? Stupid little shit, go buy some eggplants, the curry is finished”. The brute extended his hand, giving the kid 5 paise. “Give him 25 paise, they won’t even give him 100gms for 5 paise” a woman said from behind. Virinchi turned to see his grandma. “Go manage somehow, I only have 5 paise, bargain, beg or whatever I don’t care I want you to be here in 15 minutes with 250gms of eggplants, hurry now” the man shouted as Vrinchi head out like a bot.
He stepped out, and suddenly he fell into the void, bringing him back to the room. He got up gasping for breath. Dhana was holding his head, and he opened his eyes too. “Diabolocial” Dhana expressed. Vishnu (dad) sat right in silence, and Virinchi was staring at the floor too. “The void in your belly… that happens when you don’t have anyone to connect to. Nobody nurtured you, cared for you, or protected you. Your metaphorical cord doesn’t exist. It’s a void. You’re overcompensating for your lack of cord with your son. You-” Before Dhana could finish, Vishnu raised his hand to shut him up.
Dhana got up, looking at Shankar and Uma, and he gestured for them to leave. The three left the room, as Vishnu and his son Virinchi were left in the room. “I didn’t realize I was suffocating you” Vishnu said faintly. “And I didn’t realize grandpa was a douchebag” Virinchi said. “Hey, watch your tone, he’s your grandpa” Vishnu frowned. “My respectful douchebag of a grandpa” Vishnu chuckled. “I’m speechless” Vishnu said. “I thought I’d be different. But I didn’t think I’d take away your agency, inevitably” tears rolled down his face. “You’re not your dad” Virinchi assured his dad. “I’m not telling you to leave me alone, but let me fly, let me fall, you’ve done your part, you did good. Now it’s my turn to play, you should handle me the controller”. Vishnu nods, smiling.
Uma peeks inside “Sorry for the interruption, but give you the agency so you could choose to eat a Le Wat De fook burger? YOU LITERALLY ATE IT BECAUSE YOU COULDN’T SAY NO!” she yelled as Shankar pulled her away. “Babe, you’re right, he’s an idiot, but he has to be an idiot on his own accord, you know what I’m saying?” Shankar was explaining to Uma, as Vishnu and Virinchi listened to that and laughed. “I can’t say you immediately need to push me off the nest or something like that, but you know, gradually-” Virinchi was explaining as “Leave” Vishnu cuts him in the middle. “Excuse me?” Virinchi startled. “If you leave now, you’ll have time to cook for yourself and sleep” Vishnu smiles. Virinchi stares at him from top to bottom. “What if I choose not to?” Virinchi contested. “Be an idiot in your own accord” Vishnu shrugged. Virinchi hugged Vishnu as Vishnu just stood awkwardly. “Yeah, we don’t… I don’t think we should hug” Vishnu breaks the hug, pointing to their bellies. But to their surprise, the belly button’s back. Dhana peeks again “severance, finished, you’re now cordless, let’s go buy me that shitty burger, sounds fun” he says as they all laugh.
All of them sit at the table, the waiter comes to their table, and everyone looks at Virinchi. Virinchi looks at his dad as Vishnu nods encouragingly. Virinchi turns toward the waiter with utter confidence. “Le Wat De Fook” he utters. Each bite feels his, each crunch still feels squishy, and he knows he’d probably puke, or maybe shit a lot. But he feels that this is his shitty burger. The next morning, he woke up and felt like himself. His toothbrush felt his, his fridge… oh, it’s empty. He forgot to bring the milk. But it’s alright. He will learn.
Chitrapatam 
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