Ashesh mulls over the problem. A thought that's been trying to push its way to the forefront of his mind finally finds an opening. Involuntary trembling. Isn’t that a symptom of Parkinson's? He begins to turn the pages of the book again with a heavier hand. His mind has jumped ahead to an extreme thought. Parkinson's would be the end of his painting. Or not. He is thinking of the time when they were all at his place and the conversation had turned to Benode Behari Mukherjee's blindness. How could he have painted after he went blind? They had all asked themselves which impairment scared them the most. Ashesh had said Parkinson's. Sharada had laughed at his fear. ‘Thirakwan Khan Sahib's hands trembled constantly in his last years,’ she said. ‘But when they touched the tabla, they became agile and produced the most complex rhythms. Without breath there can be no music. Kumar Gandharva was severely short of it with just one lung. But he used it to evolve his powerful, original style of singing. Gangubai Hangal lost her original voice. She trained her new gruff voice and continued to sing.’

Ashesh looks up Parkinson's. ‘A disease of the nervous system also known as paralysis agitans. The condition is rare in people under the age of fifty.’ H’m. Rare doesn’t mean unheard of. ‘It is more common in men than in women.’ There you are. ‘The first symptoms include tremors in the hands, arms and legs.’ As I thought. ‘In the later stages the muscles of the body begin to stiffen.’ So even twiddling my thumbs will be impossible. ‘Tremors are generally worse while the patient is resting.’ There! ‘They tend, however, to disappear during sleep.’ What?

Ashesh reads the last line over and over again. He leans back in his chair, takes a clean, folded handkerchief out of his pyjama pocket and wipes his sweaty forehead. He picks the fat health volume off his knees and sets it down on the floor. Putting his hands behind his head, he hums Sant Tukaram's abhang.

Bliss upon bliss

Bliss ripples on the deep pond of bliss

He hums it in the traditional tune. Jijabhau's tune.