DAILY DOSE By Bikram Vohra
You know the part about being ill is that you get well and then all the sympathy you have been garnering disappears like a mist. Zip, gone. Misery is addictive. You were wallowing in it. Everyone was at your beck and call. They asked you what you felt like eating. Everyone tiptoed past so as not to disturb you. Soup? Stew? My wife even laid her cool hand on my fevered brow, something she would not do if I was bouncing about like a tennis ball.
People call to ask, how is he? They speak in reverential whispers. You don’t have to go to parties. If someone calls you don’t have to take the call, they just say he is unwell and the caller is now all into apology. If someone drops in you don’t have to join them.
Then you are on the mend.
You want to come downstairs, lunch is served, no you can’t have it upstairs.
Dad, it is your friend on the phone, the one you try to avoid, I am not yelling, who says I am yelling and you are okay, can you answer your own calls.
Hi, I am just going for my hair, give me some money (wife), if you want something ask the cook.
This is the neutral part.
Now, it’s gets into the indictment stage.
Well, go play badminton in the sun, serve you right. Smart move,that.
Told you a dozen times, you have a sensitive stomach don’t eat food from outside but will you listen.
You have to stop medicating yourself.
At least shave and look a little presentable.
The A/C is leaking. The toilet isn’t flushing properly. Leave your room for a while, let the help air it, open the windows, it has that stale smell.
You want to talk about it. For you it was a saga, a major milestone (are there minor milstones but then they wouldn’t be milestones0 You know, I was really sick, like being hit by a cricket bat, it just came upon…where are you going?
I am telling my friend and he says, yeah, yeah ,you are fine now, get back to work, you can’t keep lying in bed all.
And then you turn to your wife and say, you want to put your cool hand on….you reach out to her.
She pushes you away.
You know life is back to normal. Thank goodness.