Sampath was a successful businessman in Chennai, India, living a luxurious life with his family. He came from nothing and slowly built the conglomerate it was now through sheer determination and hard work. He had married his first love who was always a pillar of support. They had two kids together, a boy and a girl. It appeared like he had everything that a man could hope for; but on the contrary, his life wasn’t picture perfect as it seemed to the jealous onlooker.
In his late 20s, he had developed prostate cancer. After a long trial and error process, his doctor finally found a drug that would stem the spread of the disease. As all drugs do, this miracle drug had side effects. It released a drop of estrogen into his bloodstream with every pill he swallowed. Over a two year period, the estrogen ocean that accumulated washed away the carcinogens, but made his body believe he was a prepubescent girl. His manly chest developed perky B-cups, his boring behind found interesting curves, and his arms and legs packed more fat.
His ever supportive wife, Sulochana was there on his side during the whirlwind journey discovering Samyukta. She provided a shoulder to the person who suddenly found that he could cry, opened his eyes to the fact that mental strength trumped physical strength, and in bed, showed him the sensitive nerve endings that had manifested overnight. Her magnanimity didn’t end there. She even accepted his new found interests in her exquisite sarees and expensive jewelry. They would dress together in matching sarees, admire themselves, and as night fell explore his budding assets. Over time, she grew to like both his physical and mental changes; the smoother Samyukta felt far better than the coarser Sampath.
Both husband and wife carefully guarded the new developments from not just the outside world, even from their children. Whatever happened in their bedroom stayed within its insulated walls. He wore specially designed sports bras to hide his boobs, she got him baggy pants to deemphasize his bubble butt, and he worked hard to project a fake masculine aura at the office.
But, projecting a fake image took a toll on Sampath, he aged rapidly. He wanted to pass on the responsibility of managing the day to day operations to his son and retire. But to his dismay, Prashanth ― his son didn’t show any interest towards the family business. Instead he spent all his time with three of his friends in the pretense that they were starting a rock band. It had been 5 years since he had dropped out of management school and announced that his band was the second coming of The Beatles, but nothing had materialized, not even a Single had been released.
Rekha, Prashanth’s sister, a year younger than him had both the looks and smarts. She graduated at the top of her class from the best management institution in India. Right out of college, she joined the business and slowly worked her way up. The employees loved her, some thought she would go places farther than her father. But unfortunately, she was born with two X chromosomes. Sampath was old school, he believed that the son was the one that would inherit the business. Afterall, a daughter would get married and go to a different family. Even his internal estrogen ocean didn’t have strong enough waves to sway his rooted regressive thoughts.
To be continued...