Instant Karma

Chapter 4

After spending almost two weeks at Prague, they came back from their bliss to enter the reality of their wedlock. Couple of months went by and things started getting a bit keyed up, while they settled into their connubial entente.

Priya had never been a sleep walker, but suddenly she started waking up from different corners of the house instead of the bed. Someday she would be found asleep in the balcony, on the floor of the study, even once in the bathroom, wet and shivering in the shower stall. There were moments of black outs throughout the day, of which she could not remember anything. Ravi had really been worried for her. They decided to see a psychiatrist.

The psychiatrist suspected Priya to be on drugs, and they had a hard time convincing the doctor that she had never been into drugs. He prescribed few minor anti-depressants.

Initially, Priya showed some signs of improvement, but after a week, the kooky episodes began once again and this time they were stronger and weirder. Priya kept brushing her teeth seventh time in a row and could not seem to stop herself. She would suddenly start crying inconsolably while watching a comedy scene. One evening, while returning home, she was certain that somebody was hiding inside the house and she refused to enter the house.

Ravi had to drag her back to the psychiatrist, and this time the doctor gave her stronger sedatives. She was sleepy most of the day, but her hallucinations worsened. She seemed to have developed a new illusion that Ravi was cheating on her. She claimed that she was returning from the departmental store, when she spotted Ravi with another girl in the Starbucks opposite to the apartment. She was certain that she heard Ravi talking on the phone several times in the middle of the night. The other day, she had returned early from the gym and found Ravi was back early too. But when she entered into the drawing room, she found the same café girl sitting on the couch. When Priya asked him about the girl, he was confused and looked around, as if only Priya could see her, and the girl scoffed rudely. This enraged her so much, that she screamed and ran towards the girl to hit her, but Ravi stopped her and tried to shake her back to senses. Ravi had to push her into the bedroom and lock her up.

Such incidences kept occurring and increased with time. Priya went into screaming rages very frequently. Finally the doctor stated that she was showing clear signs of hypomania and it would not be advisable to keep her at house, especially un-supervised.

With a heavy heart just after a week of their 1st anniversary, Ravi shifted Priya to the Central Psychiatry Hospital ward to be kept under supervision.