Chapter 15 — After

Epilogue: What RemainsFrom Dr. Meera Vashisht's report to the Pahari Foundation and the National Child Rights Commission.Submitted September 2022. Classified: Sensitive. Distribution restricted.In the six months following the Sunderkhal intervention, the following has been established:The compound in the Sunderkhal well water — designated SVA-1 in the preliminary pharmacological literature — has been confirmed as a previously unknown alkaloid of biological origin, produced by a strain of bacteria specific to the deep aquifer system beneath the village. The bacteria appear to have been present in this aquifer for centuries. The mechanism by which SVA-1 produces its effects on human physiology is not yet understood. Research is ongoing.The seventeen children removed from Sunderkhal show gradual recovery of normal physiological reflexes following cessation of SVA-1 exposure. The blink reflex has fully recovered in fifteen of the seventeen. Tear production has returned to normal range in twelve. Heart rate has normalized in all seventeen.The cognitive and developmental effects are more complex. Several children show improving engagement and emotional range. Several others remain significantly withdrawn. No child has yet been matched with a living family member, though searches continue. The youngest apparent child — a boy named Gopal — has bone age indicators suggesting biological exposure to SVA-1 for approximately fifteen to twenty years. He appears seven years old. He may be between twenty-two and twenty-seven years old.The legal and ethical questions raised by this case have not been resolved and are not likely to be resolved quickly. There is no framework in Indian law for an individual whose biological age and developmental age diverge by two decades due to environmental contamination.The adult residents of Sunderkhal — twelve individuals plus the woman identified as Kamla Devi — are in medical care. Kamla Devi's original identity has not been established. Her bone age indicators suggest exposure to SVA-1 for forty to fifty years. She appeared, when brought in, to be approximately sixty years old. She may be between eighty and ninety.She does not speak about the past. She eats little. She sits at the window of her room and looks at the mountains.I have spoken with her twice. In our second conversation, I asked her whether she was glad to be out of the village. She looked at me for a long time.She said: "The children needed someone to bring the water. Someone always has to bring the water. I don't know who will do it now."I told her no one would do it now. The well was sealed. The compound was being studied. No one would drink it again.She turned back to the window."There will be another village," she said. "There will always be another village."I do not know if she is right. I do not know how many such aquifers exist, or how many villages sit above them, or how many Kamla Devis have served their purpose and been replaced over however many centuries this has been happening.I know that twenty-three sets of remains were recovered from the slope below the eastern terrace. I know that Rajan Sood's remains were not among them, and that his case remains open, and that I have not stopped thinking about where he is.I know that Paro has been placed with a foster family in Dehradun. She is learning, slowly, to cry. She cries at small things — a song, a kind word, the specific quality of afternoon light. Her foster mother told me Paro wept for an hour the first time she saw rain.I know that I have my blink reflex back. I know that I have been tested monthly and the compound is clearing from my system. I know that by every measure available to Dr. Bora and the Delhi specialists, I am recovering fully.I know that I still sometimes go several minutes without blinking, and that I only notice when someone points it out.I know this frightens me.I know the fright is the right response.* * *The Sunderkhal investigation resulted in the registration of 23 unidentified deaths.No individual has been charged. Kamla Devi was deemed unfit to stand trial on grounds of medical incapacity.The village was demolished in August 2022 as part of the containment protocol.The aquifer remains sealed.Rajan Sood has not been found.Research into SVA-1 continues at three institutions.Paro — age legally listed as 'undetermined' — turned seventeen last spring.Or she has always been seventeen.Or she has never been seventeen.She is learning to tell the difference between what she remembers and what she was told to remember.She says it is the hardest thing she has ever done.She says she will keep doing it.— THE END —