A
baby is a little dose of heaven
-Anonymous
How would you like it if you have a body double? A
duplicate? A look-alike? Well, as an individual you may or may not feel very
happy to see your twin. However, as a parent, twins are double the
happiness…double the love..double the mischief and even double the trouble.
Just imagine if you are surrounded by twins on all sides..two Rajinikanths..two
Sachins..two Priyanka Chopras..two Ronaldos..two Obamas..two Power stars..for
the love of god! It’s overwhelming but also confusing, ain’t it? Will you
believe me if I say there is a place in our very own motherland which is
infested with twins. Yeah! That’s exactly what we are going to Sherlock this
week.
Kodinhi, a village on the far south of the Indian
peninsula is a wonderland to the scientists, doctors and researchers of the
world. Located in the Malappuram district of Kerala, Kodinhi is the home of
over 2000 people. A majority of the population is the Sunni Muslims who follow
the Shafi school of thought (Sunni Muslims are the largest clan of the Muslims
who are even considered as the most orthodox of the lot.) And, the best part
comes here. Kodinhi is the abode of over 220 sets of twins. Oh I m serious!
Look at the following photo.
Mindboggling?? Well, Bharath maatha was not quite known
for twins till this miracle town began to surface over the last three
generations. The village came into limelight after a local survey was carried
out by the village officials. The statistics revealed that over 204 sets of
twins resided in this mystery town. That’s not all! There are a couple of sets
of triplets as well. The oldest twin who sprouted in the village of Kodinhi was
in 1949. Adding to the mystery is the fact that the number of twins have been
increasing over the recent years. In the last five years over 60 pairs of twins
have been born. The village holds the record of 45 twins for every 1000 births.
It may seem relatively low to us as a lay man, but then on the worldly scale of
twin births, it’s remarkably high. Let me put it across with a statistical
proof. On the global scale the rate of twin births is 6 out of every 1000
births. Now do you get the drastic scale lift?
When we try to look above all the excitement of
witnessing this heartwarming picture of innumerable twins, the science behind
this is still shrouded in mystery. There has been no proper theory or study as
to why this happens in Kodinhi alone. However, a number of dimensions to this
issue have surfaced over the years. The women from Kodinhi who are married
outside the village also seem to be giving birth to the twins. So, is it the
fertility of the women of Kodinhi that is causing this phenomenon? Well, it is
still a question mark. Global increase in the rate of twins is recently
becoming higher because of artificial insemination techniques. However, in a
remote village as Kodinhi these advancements in technology haven’t penetrated
as yet. Twins are generally born to older women due to their changing
physiological cycles, whereas in Kodinhi, twins are born to women as young as 18-20
years. The other general explanation for twin birth is the height of women.
Women with an average height of 5’3’’ have a high frequency of twin birth.
However, the Kodinhi women are barely 5’.
On the flipside, a group of people are trying to verify
the habits of the villagers. That is from the food they eat to their daily
chores. There has been no marked difference in their lifestyle as well. The
Kodinhi phenomenon is not entitled to this tiny village alone. This side of the
issue was dug into because the phenomenon of twins has been observed in a town
Igbo-Ora in Nigeria. A research studied carried out in this town has attributed
the cause twins to the eating habits of the women. A chemical found in the
women of Igbo-Ora and the peelings of a widely consumed tuber has been related
to the cause of high twin birth rate. In honour of the mystery village of
Kodinhi, the first twin association in India : The Twins and Kins Association headed
by Mr. Puallani Bhaskaran was started to bring wider attention to the problems
associated with twins in matters of health, educations etc.
For better or worse, it is necessary that the Kodinhi
code of twins has to be cracked. Whether we need a John Nash to crack the code
or Charles Darwin himself doesn’t really matter. The genetic, biological, hereditary, molecular
or climatic factors..whatever may it..it leaves all the scientists scratching
their heads over this extraordinary happening.
If you want to take a look for yourself, just take your
car and drive 35 km south of Calicut and 30 km west of Mallapuram. And there
you will witness this remarkable feat.
Blessing of Allah..or enigma of human evolution..I just
hope somebody can give an explanation to this scientific conundrum.
-N&N
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