(919) Genetic Variation

Moved from 389 to be next to a companion blog

The first few months I landed in my college on the Eastern Seaboard of USA, I used to correspond with my brother by aerograms. In one of those newsy letters, I was informed of my cousin's suicide attempt. He was born and bred in southern China. Unfortunately, he won a place in a prestigious university in northern China. Within a few months, he was clinically depressed. Sadly, he had one failed suicide within the first year. After lengthy hospitalization, he was diagnosed with the sunlight related disease, quite a long name with many syllables. You see, should his brain not receive certain hours of bright sunlight per day, his brain chemicals begin to change and he tailspins slowly but surely into severe depression.

I was astounded by the sad news. Being born and bred for twenty years in a bright and sunny tropical country, I have taken the sun for granted. As long as I have breath and it does not rain, the sun shall shine. Not so in temperate America! Within three weeks of a wet, dim and drizzly spring, my usual even temper began to change. I was easily irritated and would snap readily when others tried to be difficult in dealing with me. The first year, my good friends used to snicker behind my back and whisper PMS (Pre-Menstrual syndrome). Some of them would be extra gentle and handle me with kid gloves. By second year, a few saw the pattern and actually marked my outbursts on their desk top calendars. One was brave enough to confront me once the spring rain stopped and asked if I have a genetic abnormality. I did not seek a medical diagnosis. By third year, I found that a few hours of reading next to my dorm mate's tanning lamp would negate the forces of darkness.

That was the early eighties. This is now a good thirty years later. I recently mentioned about my little infirmity to another cousin who is about ten years my junior. Guess what? She went right on to tell me about her problems. Since she did not study abroad, she did not realize she inherited the same set of faulty genes until our country had a really bad bout of haze -- when the readings went well above the double digits for weeks. That year, my brother had a tough time hunting for good guava because the harvest was badly affected by the haze. The unit price of retail guava skyrocketed and still one cannot get a hold of the usual big and plump round guava. During those days of sub-standard lighting, my cousin would come home from work and wept at the slightest provocation. She used to feel slighted easily and felt unwanted and unloved by anyone she came across. It is funny that on normal days she is a strong minded person whose head sits squarely on her level shoulders.

Just last week I finally gathered up the courage to tell my brothers about these three cases within the family.
- My cousin who was clinically depressed in northern China.
- I who would switch and turn into quite a bitch when the weather became gloomy.
- My other cousin who would be weepy and helpless in a period of dull, hazy days.
It did not end here, my niece went to England and failed no matter how hard she worked. Her brother actually believed she became depressed and reclusive. If you count our small family group, the number seemed significant.

My grandma who migrated from Canton had four children. The eldest daughter had two children, neither of those two had ever lived abroad. So we can't tell if they are blessed by the presence of those genetic aberration. The second boy grew to be the father of my weepy cousin when the sun hides itself behind thick haze. My mum is the third girl and she begets me who would snap at all and sundry in the spring rain. My eldest brother has a daughter who may very well be part of the club. She came back from England with the long winter nights and thrives now in our hot sunny weather. My grandma's youngest son has two children, out of which came the elder one who suffered the most because he ventured to a place with little sunlight in winter.

Not counting spouses, we boast of eighteen direct descendants from my maternal grandma. (f1 generation of four siblings have never lived away from the equator for any extended period of time) Out of eighteen individuals, we have at least three (f2 generation) whom believe they are bearers of the faulty genes. And one suspected case in the f 3 generation. That is close to a quarter. Frightening! But as long as those affected ones stick around the equator, they will be perfectly alright as long as haze does not hit too badly.