Saleena and Sameena did the first survey on twins

In Kudinji, you’d be forgiven for thinking that you’ve had a drink too many. Because everywhere you look, you see double.

It is recess time at the Upper Primary Government School. Young children in blue and white uniforms spill out of the classrooms and hit the playground. The play area seems a regular sea of faces — till the principal asks all the twins in the school to stand on one side.

In minutes, 12 pairs of children — each pair with strikingly similar looks — crowd near the school office. “Actually, there are 18 pairs of twins studying here,” says teacher Narayan Elambilad. “The others come in the afternoon batch,” he says.

Not many schools can boast of such a high twin turnout. But in Kudinji — a small village situated 40 kilometres from Calicut in Kerala — no one bats an eyelid. L.P. Primary School, just down the road, has 12 pairs of twins, while the Islamic Education Centre (IEC) Higher Secondary School has 10 pairs. Walk through the market place and you’ll spot a pair of similar looking faces walking behind their mother or waiting at the bus stop.

TWO MANY: G. R. Chandak (in white) and Sribiju with several twins at Kudinji

Twins are a way of life in Kudinji, which comprises about 250 houses. A study conducted last November found that the village had 204 pairs of twins. The oldest pair was 60 years old, and the youngest one month old. “The maximum number of twins — 79 pairs — is in the 0-10-year age group,” says primary school teacher Abdul Lateef, who conducted the study.

In 2008, there were 307 deliveries in Kudinji. Fifteen of these were pairs of twins. The rate of twin births was 45-50 per 1,000 live births, more than four times the national average of 11.4 twins per 1,000 births . “The Yoruba tribe in Nigeria is the only community in the world that has such a high rate of twin births,” says Sribiju (he only uses his first name), a consultant dermatologist at the Government Taluk Hospital, Tirurangadi, five kilometres from Kudinji, who is studying the village’s twin phenomenon.

Kudinji’s twin tale has made the small, palm-fringed village close to Kerala’s coastline a genetic goldmine for scientists. The Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), Hyderabad, is planning to conduct a study in Kudinji to unravel the village’s links with twins. “We will study the genetic, dietary and environmental factors in Kudinji to understand what is triggering twin births,” says G.R. Chandak, scientist, CCMB. He conducted a preliminary investigation in the village four months ago.

Chandak believes that Kudinji could throw up answers to questions on multiple ovulation and fertilisation in women. “There is a lot of genetic work happening in the area of twin births. Kudinji could provide some important answers,” he says.

Chandak has been on the twin trail for two years now. Currently he is analysing the results of a study he conducted in Mohammadpur Umri — a village near Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, where 33 pairs of twins live in a population of 600 people. A CCMB team visited the village two years ago to collect blood samples of the twins and their parents. Initial findings suggest that genetics played a key role in Mohammadpur’s twin story.

“There is a high incidence of inter-related marriages in the village. This is probably causing the high rate of twin births,” says Chandak.

But Mohammadpur and Kudinji are as different as fraternal twins. A north Indian village, Mohammadpur Umri is populated by a poor, mostly illiterate and closed community of farmers and milkmen, who commonly marry within the family.

Kudinji, on the other hand, breaks all stereotypes of a typical Indian village. Set amidst stunning green coconut groves, the village boasts of tarred roads, brightly coloured bungalows and a bustling marketplace. Motorcycles are the preferred mode of transport. Hoardings displaying advertisements of gold jewellery brands abound in the village.

A few kilometers before Kudinji, a billboard announces the construction of a “Jeddah Mall.” Drive further down the coconut boulevard, and you spot a hoarding of “Dubai Jewelry Shop.” Kudinji’s economy, clearly, thrives on money from west Asia. “Every family has someone working in the Gulf,” says Abdul Lateef, who lives in a canary yellow, granite floored bungalow.

In keeping with Kerala’s focus on literacy, Kudinji has four schools. Twins, of course, abound in each one. In fact, the village’s two-birth tale was first discovered by a pair of twin sisters, who were students of Kudinji’s IEC Higher Secondary School. “There were 10 pairs of twins in our school. Every marriage or social gathering we attended saw a huge turnout of twins. This set us thinking,” says Saleena P., one of the sisters, now an undergraduate student at Calicut University.

Four years ago, Saleena and her twin, Sameena, undertook the first door-to-door twin survey in Kudinji. “We visited 250 houses and made a list of 76 twins,” says Saleena. The survey catapulted Kudinji into the spotlight.

Till now, living with look-alikes was routine in Kudinji. But as the village turns into a bio-science hotspot, twins have become the new celebrities. In November, last year, a Twins and Kin Association (TAKA) was set up in the village to look after the welfare of its burgeoning twin population. “We are making a list of all the twins in Kudinji. The association will help educate and find employment for them,” says TAKA president Pullani Bhaskaran, who has twin sons.

Everyone has a comedy-of-errors story to tell. Bhaskaran’s 16-year-old twins, Anup and Abhi, look strikingly similar with their thick mane and a slight cleft lip. They recall how they sailed through school with only one brother doing the homework at one time. “When the teacher asked us to read our homework, one of us would stand and read it twice over. It always worked,” says Anup.

Kudinji’s twin phenomenon has made self-styled scientists of many villagers. Everyone has a theory on why so many twins are born here.

“Some say people in Kudinji take ayurvedic medicines. Some believe it’s the air. Others feel that the locals have a unique way of having sex,” says Abdul Hameed, treasurer, TAKA. Hameed has five children, four of whom are twin pairs.

Sribiju is trying to find a scientific solution to Kudinji’s twin puzzle. He feels there is something in Kudinji’s environment that is causing the high number of twin births. “There are thousands of heavy metals, natural isotopes and micro organisms in every environment. My hypothesis is that something in Kudinji’s environment — its water, rock or soil — is causing the twin births,” he explains.

Sribiju is currently mobilising resources to analyse the chemical make-up of the village. To further corroborate his point, he will examine the natural resources in Tirurangadi and draw parallels.

Sribiju feels genetics may not have played a role in Kudinji’s twin story because the two-births cut across caste, class, community and religion. “Twin births are happening across religious, social and economic spectrums. So genetics probably plays no role,” he says.

Scientists may be decoding Kudinji’s genetic versus environment riddle, but for Salma Basheer, mother of two six-month-old daughters, the challenge is to bring up identical-looking toddlers in one go. “I often feed the same baby twice. When one falls ill, I sometimes give medicines to the healthy twin,” she says.

Science has no answers to this.