42. Of Turmeric and Neem

-The Last Phase of chicken pox: The good-news is, you are finally allowed to take a bath, but before heaving a sigh of relief, the bad news is, you are not allowed to use soap!!! Apparently, that comes as a part of the ‘Neem and Turmeric’ treatment!

It’s not one of the pleasantest experiences, I’ll tell you….and Neem-leaf paste is definitely not the ‘fragrantest’ substitute for soap either. Neither is it, for shampoo. Yea, the paste is even applied on the hair. And getting these infinite tiny bits of leaves out of your hair is no easy task, due to which, once the hair gets dried, you’ll look as though you had just been in a hurricane, while passing through a Neem-forest! Add to this, all your clothes get freely dyed bright yellow!

Today is the last day of my CP vacs, and boy! am I glad to get back to normalcy. Now I’ve got a new friend who’ll stay with me for life –Varcy, aka Varcilla Zoster Virus(lurking somewhere inside of me….)

and also the CP memories –the days survived on

fluid diet, the taste of Aciclovir tablets, the fragrance of burning myrrh, the Neem, the Turmeric, the Love, the Care…

40. CHICKEN POX- for a STRESSED SOUL!

Red itchy rashes of fluid filled blisters, high fever, unbearable body aches, nausea, loss of appetite, flu-like symptoms…all these loom large in the mind, by the very mention of the term chicken pox(CP)…don’t they?

So when the possibility of a chicken pox first struck me, these fears crept in,and I was scared shit, dreading the days ahead… Little did I know what was in store for me though! As soon as I was positively diagnosed CP, the scardy cats in the hostel didn’t allow me to stay there a moment longer, and hence I was soon expatriated from the hostel. And…..

……And well, nothing happened! Oh yea! I did suffer for the first two days…I had this extremely bad body ache+ joint ache+ head ache which can be described as just excruciating. But other than that none of the afore-mentioned fears were actually realized. A few small harmless spots appeared here and there(thankfully none on my face and hands!), which scaled off after around a week. No itch; no pain; and no yucky fluid-filled blisters….Nothing really happened, and this even made some of my friends ask me to double check if it really is CP!

Therefore I came to the conclusion that God allowed this CP just to give a break to this ‘stressed’ soul. Now, I really am having a good time at home –having gladly missed the interim exams, and being pampered by my parents and grand-parents, and of course friends too who despite of their busy acads, find time to check often whether I’m doing alright,!! Thanks a looot guys

Nevertheless, I have my rants too…. I have been robbed off my rights to take a proper bath for the past 1 week. Imagine having to resort to taking hot-water sponge bath in this sweltering heat!! And I still am subjected to isolation of sorts, and am not allowed to roam around the house( my parents haven’t had CP yet!). Hmph!.....maybe it’s time I get back to normal and head back to college.
Sheesh! I hate to think of the loads of work awaiting me there!!

39. An uncanny way out!

Those of you who had read my previous post, didn’t you feel that I needed a break (well atleast I did…infact I was yearning for one), and looks like even God did. And so did I receive my break that was rightly due. Two whole weeks free from classes, assignments and deadlines of what-so-ever form. Two blissful weeks at home, where I can sleep round the clock, oblivious to all the cares in the world; hog on, as and when and what I want; watch ‘n’ number of movies in the lappy;……the list goes on. The only hitch being that, I have to do all this in isolation(Ah!as if I care!). Yea, certain maladies can come in handy at times. Chicken pox rox!