The Calcutta Chromosome

Calcutta: August 1995. Urmila and Murugan are still on the hospital grounds and are discussing whether there is a connection between the message Murugan received and the bits of paper that the fish were wrapped in. Murugan argues there is a connection. He points out that Cunningham was the main obstacle to Ross getting access to the lab and completing his research, so Cunningham had to go. Sure enough, after his side trip to Madras and his psychotic break, Cunningham suddenly retired and moved back to England. More importantly, according to Murugan, someone wants Murugan to make this connection.

Urmila is doubtful, however, pointing out that it was she who found the papers. Murugan then asks her how she came upon these papers. Urmila begins to tell him about the events that morning: about the phone call to her family, the need to get some fish, and the unknown fish-seller who suddenly showed up to her door with fish wrapped in Xerox copies of papers from 1898. As Urmila re-tells the incident, uncertainty creeps into her voice.

For Murugan, it is clear that someone is trying to get them to make a connection, to help them get to the end of the story.