Hassan, popularly called Chhote Guddu, recalls how a young girl used to throw her window open every morning just as he passed by her house, on his way to school. One Diwali, she called out to him, asking him to meet her at seven in the evening, when her parents wouldn’t be home. A few hours later she called out to him again, when he happened to walk past, informing him about a change in time. When he finally reached her place at 7 pm, she looked confused. She had already given him a box of sweets and a love letter an hour earlier. Hassan knew at once. He went back to his neighbourhood where his twin, Rehan, better known as Bade Guddu, was flaunting a love letter and distributing sweets. The brothers went over to the girl’s house to clarify. She saw them both. And Hassan never saw her again. Mohammadpur Umri, a small village in Uttar Pradesh near the Bamrauli Air Force base in Allahabad, is full of stories of mistaken identity. The village, with a population of roughly 700, boasts of over 35 pairs of twins. The world average, according to a 2006 World Health Organisation report and a 2013 US National Library of Medicine study is 9 to 12 per 1,000 births. Umri’s twin population average clocks up to 60 per 1,000. “We are the oldest pair,” Hassan says, while his children giggle over stories of his younger days. Rehan, who lives nearby, walks up to us after a while. The infant mortality rate has improved, Rehan says, because of a fall in the number of home deliveries and a gradual increase in savings and wealth. But Umri doesn’t have any viable explanation for the twin phenomenon. “Scientists came and collected our saliva and blood samples, soil and water samples too. They sampled the cattle because even bovines here tend to give birth to twins. But the scientists never got back,” says Farhat, a 22-year-old, whose twin, Nighar, was married off a few years ago. “When they don’t know, how are we supposed to?” Many from neighbouring villages believe that Umri is haunted. Many believe radiation from the airbase nearby causes the zygote to split into two. But Umri residents rubbish such claims. “There are airbases everywhere in the world but there are no such cases. The only thing we can say for sure is that these are blessings from god,” Noorista, Farhat’s mother, says. A team of scientists from the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), Hyderabad, which visited Umri 15 years ago, could never complete its study for unspecified reasons. GR Chandak, group leader at the CCMB, who led the team in 2002, said, “We collected samples from Umri. We also conducted a sociological survey with the help of The Indian Society for Social Research. We had set out to study the genetic basis of the phenomenon of twinning.” But the study never got completed because of several “complications”, says Chandak. “The village did not have electricity and other basic amenities, and its residents were resentful about no one coming to improve their living conditions. Many twins had married and left the village. Many had died at birth,” he says. Umri residents got access to electricity only a few years ago. A primary and middle school came up around the same time. “But there are no medicine shops or hospitals. The nearest hospital is around five kilometres away. We also need piped water supply,” Mohammad Umar, the pradhan of the village, says. In such a bleak scenario, Amit and Vipin, the 22-year-old brothers who play in the Allahabad Cricket League, feel that sports “is one of the last priorities of our governments.” There is genuine dismay over the future of their cricketing dreams — their parents are vegetable vendors who try to make ends meet. But the brothers try to make light of the situation by talking about the comedy of errors which ensues in most of their matches. Five years ago, they say, in a match against Fatehpur, Amit, was bowled out on 33. When it was Vipin’s turn to bat (he usually bowls), Amit went out to bat again instead. “It was a summer’s day. We were wearing similar vests and we looked exactly the same. No one ever knew and we ended up winning the match,” says Vipin with a laugh.
