While there are unfounded doubts in the minds of Indians about receiving the COVID-19 vaccine, there are no two thoughts when it comes to watching Drishyam 2 . In this hugely successful sequel, the iconic scene is the exhumation of the skeleton from under the floor of the police station. As the skull and the appendicular bones pop from the pit, the audience would feel a shudder through their body. My sons reflexively closed their eyes. Irrespective of one’s age and courage, the sight of a skeleton is undoubtedly ghastly and unpleasant.
Typically, the human skull and the long bones have been symbolic markers of death and danger since time immemorial. One would have watched the symbol of a skull with crossed bones in electric boxes to represent serious danger. The human fear for skulls has been effectively tapped by shamans and practitioners of black magic and their armamentarium is never complete without the skull placed in front of them on the floor. The femur or the tibia bone is dexterously waved through the air by the oracles while mumbling esoteric chants to ward off evil spirits. In the uncivilised barbaric days, the leaders of tribes and small kingdoms used to adorn their thrones with skulls of their victims as a mark of their prowess and bravery.
But for a doctor, skeletons are one of the first-level gurus to learn the art and science of medicine. The 206 bones are intricately linked by joints, ligaments and muscles and form the basic framework of the human body. It won’t be an exaggeration to say that without the articulated skeleton, we are nothing. Once a student joins the medical school, the first stepping stone is to learn the basic anatomy of the human body and the skeleton. But the three-dimensional orientation of the bones and joints cannot be learnt through textbook pictures alone. Hence, we need to get the bones in hand, either natural or artificial.
Commercially produced plastered-skeleton models are prohibitively expensive. At this juncture comes the huge role played by the attendants of the anatomy lab, who prepare the cadavers and anatomy specimens. Through guidance from our seniors, we gingerly approach those wiry, carefree souls to provide us the “real” human bones. After a gentle bargain, the price is fixed at a few thousand rupees. Through a delicately structured network involving the workers of burial grounds, they would collect bones and deliver it to us in a gunny bag. But the pricey catch is never complete. We will be extremely elated if we get all the major individual bones and the representative ones for the ribs and vertebra. Only the lucky and blessed few may get the rare ones like the Atlas bone, and the unique carpal and foot bones.
As a responsible son to account for the money spent, I brought the gunny bag and gleefully showed it to my unwary parents, only to see my mother swoon at the grisly sight. Then it was an unwritten rule that my prized collection should be kept in a corner of my cupboard and should be brought out only during defined hours. However, my friends in the hostel did not face such rules of ordinary mortals. The bones will be strewn all over their room along with the books and dresses, and they become part and parcel of their daily lives. Apart from imparting knowledge, the bones also doubled up in various capacities as a paper weight (sacrum), back scratcher (tibia), support for water heater (femur), ash tray (skull top) and so on.
I love the skeletons for not only being the source of support to the human body, the scaffold of our mobility, the producer of our blood and the key architect of our immunity and the vital calcium ions. I love them unabashedly because they are one of the best representatives of the neutrality and impartiality among the humans. Except for minor differences, the male and the female skeletons look alike. Brushing off a few differences, the bones of Africans, Americans, Mongolians and all the races are the same. The beautiful and the ugly, the dark and the fair, the thin and the obese, the rich and the poor, the upper and lower castes, the religious of the different religions and the atheists — all have the same, similar-looking skeleton. So, the next time you look at a bone, one need not shudder. We can marvel with reverence at the sagely, productive, non-discriminatory and amazing structure of the human body.
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