So we’ve been focusing on numbers lately. Three days ago it was threes (as in deaths), then came 11s, followed by 88. Today we go to twos, specifically twins. And tomorrow we’ll look at four of a kind.
This one is definitely a cluster phenomena, if not exactly a synchronicity. But what are the chances?
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KODINJI, India (Reuters Life!) – Walk around Kodinji village and you’ll think that you have double vision.
The village is home to as many as 230 sets of twins. Nobody knows why there are so many twins in the village of 15,000 people, although one local doctor suspects it might be due to the water.
In fact with about 35-45 twins per live birth, this village in North Kerala, India, has four times more twins than normal. Not surprisingly, the village has been dubbed “the twin village.”
The latest official estimates by the Kodinji’s Twins and Kins Association (TAKA), which conducted door-to-door surveys at the start of the year, found that there were 204 sets of twins.
Based on births since the survey was conducted, there are probably now around 230 sets of twins in the village, locals said. That number is set to rise as there are five women pregnant with twins.
“It’s an amazing phenomenon to see a medical marvel occurring in such a localized place where the people are not exposed to any kinds of harmful drugs or harmful chemicals. It’s a virgin village,” said Dr Sribiju, a researcher.
Pathummakutty and Kunhipathutty, 65, are the oldest surviving twins in the village. The youngest are Rifa Ayesha and Ritha Ayesha, born on June 10. Their proud parents already see a slight difference between them as one lies fast asleep, while the other kicks away with a mischievous grin on her face.
Being a twin is not always easy. Pathummakutty, who like many in the village have a single name, recalls how her family struggled financially when she was a child. But she also remember good times such as laughter after yet another mix up with her twin sister.
It is not uncommon to run into an identical twin while walking down the hilly roads of Kodinji and there are many tales of teachers getting mixed up between twin students.
At the local school, 15-year-old Salmabi said teachers often confused her for her twin sister and she was once reprimanded for something that her twin did.
“It happens all the time,” the students pipe in a chorus.
Scientists are still trying to uncover the mystery of why there are so many twins in the village.
“Based on scientific facts, we feel something in the environment is causing this. It could be something in the water,” said a local doctor, M.K. Sribiju.
“All the world over the cause of twins is mainly because of drugs. Everywhere in the Western world, people are exposed to fertility drugs, their food habits, they consume more dairy products. Everywhere the age of marriage is increasing. There are late marriages predisposed to occurrence of twins,” he said.
However in Kodinji, most marriages are between people aged 18 to 20 years old.
“All the factors leading to the occurrence of twinning world wide, we cannot see it here. There is something unknown that is causing this phenomenon,” he said.
The locals also believe it has to do with the water. Kodinji is surrounded by water in the fields and during the monsoon season it becomes inaccessible from heavy rains.
As scientists try to find the reason for the large numbers of twins in the village, the parents are busy trying to tell their children apart. It doesn’t help that many of the twins have similar names and often wear similar clothes.
While parents light-heartedly point out that their twins even seem to fall sick together, not all traits are shared. Identical twins Anu and Abhi prefer different film stars and one of the boys likes to play cricket, while the other prefers kicking a soccer ball.
With all the attention being showered on the twins of Kodinji, Ajmer, a 12-year-old school boy, feels like the odd one out in a village where being a twin is trendy.
just FYI – this is a news article lead-in on the boys i mention above –
October 12, 2003: Egyptian Conjoined Twins Separated in Dallas, Texas
Two-year-olds Mohamed and Ahmed Ibrahim, formerly joined at the crown of their heads, were separated in a 34-hour operation at Children's Medical Center Dallas on October 12, 2003. The boys did not share a brain, but the surgery was complicated by the large number of blood vessels that the twins shared, including the sagittal sinus, the main vessel that drains blood away from the brain.
my all time favorite of his is also SIXTH – absolutely love it and have watched it more times than i can remember – never tire of it – now, i can't even TOUCH the deal about BUSH above – cause it would take way too much energy for me right now but, as usual, rob has done it more than justice!!!
in any event, i watched totally mesmerized the other night a documentary film of two conjoined little boys who were surgically separated – conjoined at the tops of their skulls – beautiful children – can you imagine their spirits! the surgery was successful – don't remember the year it was done but the film followed them for a while to show their progress once separated – cannot help but wonder of their inner worlds –
I agree with you on your sentiments about the allegory, but I found The Village ultimately somewhat unbelievable – like Bush, I guess, who told a German newspaper in '06 that the high point of his presidency was catching a 7.5 pound perch in his lake.
An odd choice for high point, but also BS. The world's record freshwater perch is 4 pounds, 3 oz. He either doubled the world record and didn't report it, exaggerated as he was very capable of doing, or doesn't know the difference between a perch and a large mouth bass.
Rob
My favourite M Night film is "The Village" (slightly over "Sixth Sense") because it was a brilliant allegory about life in Bush's America. A lot of people didn't "get it" but it made sense…how the use of fear kept the younger generation in line and not questioning things they were taught.
My favorite M Night movie is still The Sixth Sense. I also liked Signs. The Lady in the Water had a terrific premise, but I honestly just didn't get it, not in the way that I "got" his other movies.
There's an interesting bio about him (and the title escapes me!)that includes some fascinating insights into what he went through to get Lady made.
I love M. Night's movie The Lady of the Water. It is a great movie about synchonicity and schizophrenia too, if you look at it in my way.
https://appliedschizophrenics.blogspot.com/
To me, it seems that all twins – fraternal, identical, but esp conjoined twins, have deeply karmic relationships.
hi trish – no, melanie and rebecca are not identical – although when they were infants, it was very difficult to tell them apart – and then after a few months, melanie came to be the clone of her mother and rebecca the clone of their father – truly – as if neither of them had but one parent – one of things i remember most about their infancy is that they always both slept in the same bed – and no matter how they were put to bed independently of each other, they always always within minutes turned toward each other and touched – and continued finding/touching/clutching each other through the nights – when they became toddlers they continued to want to sleep in the same bed – amazing watching them grow together –
Sansego – I agree. M Night should grab this story and run! Jenean – are your gradndaughters identical?? Can you tell them apart?
I wouldn't want to be a female anywhere in India. Or China. But to be a female in this village? No, thanks! Maybe it's karmic?
It's a bit freaky isn't it. I wouldn't like to be a young girl in the village.
oh, my goodness – i came across this the other day and NEARLY SENT IT TO YOU!!! i was fascinated by it – especially cause i have twin granddaughters – my grandmother gave birth to twins – long history of them in my family – in any event, decided not to forward as i was sure you all had it SOMEWHERE coming soon! great great post!
This is a very interesting and intriguing theme. It brings to mind "The God Of Small Things", by Arundhati Roi, Booker Prize winner, Indian writer (born and raised in Kerala). The book's main protagonists are twins.
This sounds like a great potential M. Night Shyamalan movie! Maybe he can think of an intriguing theory for why such a place has a high incident of twins.