Corona Escapades

 

And finally I was declared Covid positive on the 5^th Feb 2021.

The Covid 19 virus was already around for about nearly a year and somehow had been evading me. Probably this could have been the conceited thought that I was entertaining in mid-January 2021 which they overhead and decided to take on the challenge. Or maybe they had already marked me out for an encounter and were looking for an opportunity to sneak in. However they wouldn’t have found it too daunting since my guards were always down and often the expressway through the nose open without any masked barricade. Or were they too tentative and cautious, which is why I could evade them for so long. Whichever way I chose to look at it, ultimately the virus launched an attack, they managed to win some early battles but I finally won the war.

I have reason to address this microscopic parasite as ‘the virus’ while still using the plural pronoun ‘they’. This is a tiny life form but they perform their survival rituals in groups. Being tiny and non-complicated, it multiplies fast, is evolving and has a massive capability to adapt itself to its surroundings through mutation. Evolution of life has been a singular constant through the history of this planet. When we care to look back, the Dashavatars of Vishnu begin with simple life forms which first lived in water (Matsya  the fish), and then moved on to land along with water (Kurma the tortoise) and subsequently to land (Varaha the boar), and thereby took on or transformed into a finer version of its previous self. Later Charles Darwin also propounded the concept of natural selection in the process of evolution which is defined as "descent with modification", with the idea that species change over time and give rise to new species.

A few pseudo-intelligent minds of the world blatantly declared that the Chinese invented the Covid 19 virus in their laboratory while the research machinery of China has since day one been quite adamant that the Chinese people being the first victims were conveyed the virus through the Bats and Pangolins that they love to eat. If I may borrow from the great Shakespeare this has been too much ado about nothing. My opinion is that, since the time this planet cooled down and became hospitable, life forms have evolved and still continues to. There have been several corona viruses before this one and most were not so menacing. There also have been viruses that have been hosted by animals like poultry, pigs and cows. Covid 19 virus is just another latest life form which has mutated from some earlier state but this one has taken on a malevolent character against the human species. Unfortunately the human species has found itself at the receiving end this time since this Covid 19 virus has equated humans to be the most vulnerable and easy prey.

Coming back to my rendezvous with the Covid 19 virus, it was probably after the mid-month of January 2021 and probably at Nagpur that we had our ‘glad to meet you’ moment. As is their temperament, initially they did lay low, concealing their hectic efforts in attacking my lungs. I was at Mumbai on the 26^th January when suddenly out of the blue I felt feverish in the evening. I was exercising and eating well and there was absolutely no reason for the fever. The next day the body was normal, and as is my nature, I soon forgot the events of the previous day like a bad dream. However thereafter I started feeling tiredness in the evenings. 29^th January I returned to Nagpur and was thinking that maybe I was overworked and needed some rest. I had the next trip in my mind, on the 1^st February to Kolkata, to attend the Shraddh of Deepanjan and I didn’t want to lose the opportunity to meet Mamon and my Mashi. Though I rested on the 30^th and 31^st January, I wasn’t comfortable and the tiredness persisted. Probably I was completely in denial mode and couldn’t accept my own sickness, and so I couldn’t entertain the thought in my mind that this could be because of the dreadful Covid 19 virus. However I started doing steam inhalation those two days maybe due to some instructions from the life force inside. Moreover the compelling thought in my mind during those couple of days was my increased blood sugar levels. My urine had sweetened and I found ants roaming around the WC toilet. Therefore on the 31^st January I overdosed myself on the diabetic medicine hoping that my sugar levels will drop.

Well, it did nose-dive, and upon boarding the flight on 1^st February morning I knew I was going to collapse. With my decisions on medication I ended up making myself hypoglycaemic. I immediately had to purchase some chocolate cookies from the air hostess and munched on a few to become stable again. Now I was worried about Covid since I had to accept that there was a strange leathery feel inside my mouth and I couldn’t taste food. At Kolkata I stayed masked, met both my cousins and Mashi and spoke at length with them. The ceremony went on smoothly but that afternoon again I couldn’t eat much because most of the preparations were either oily or sweet. That didn’t help my condition. I went back to the hotel and slept the rest of the afternoon. Dinner that night was with Rumpa and Abro at a restaurant, where my condition worsened and immediately after consuming the soup I collapsed. I could feel a strange sensation of losing energy in my body and remember thinking that if I close my eyes for a while and keep silent, it will pass. I don’t remember falling on the floor, but regained my senses after people sprinkled water on my face. I had a bump on my head and also hurt my knee. Immediately I was given a glass of Pepsi which took my sugar levels to soaring heights. After finishing dinner we went to their place and Rumpa wanted me to stay over for the night. I refused as I was certain that I would create a mess if I was carrying Covid virus and therefore was dropped off at the hotel by Abro. They imagined that it was a neurological problem and I didn’t explain my antics with excess dosage. The next day I returned to Nagpur, with tiredness persisting and a worry which took over my thoughts.

The next day 3^rd February, was the peak of my discomfort. I continued with inhaling steam but wasn’t able to eat my food with relish. Nimje ji was bringing my lunch and dinner and taking back the earlier container which I had washed under conditions of extreme risks. On hindsight, the couple of days I holed out in my apartment denying my fallibility actually aggravated my situation and made me weaker physically and mentally. Since it had been decades that I hadn’t fallen so miserably sick, I imagined that my body had developed super strong immunity to counter any type of pathogen. I continued to not accept my frailty and not accept the present circumstances. Possibly it was a complete failure of my so-called understanding of spirituality. Idiots do make and are entitled to mistakes. Or maybe life had a different plan like a course correction, trying to breakdown a wrong path that I had chosen.

Sameer was consistently calling me up and urging me to go for the RT-PCR test. I held out for one day and gave in to his pleading on the 4^th February after I finally realised that on its own my body wasn’t able to overcome the sense of tiredness and the weakness was reflecting in my voice too. I was hoping for a negative result but instead ended up with a bruised ego. Sameer went to collect the report on the 5^th afternoon and informed me that he would arrange for taking me to Dr. Deshmukh’s hospital. He suggested the ambulance from the hospital to pick me up but I shot it down. The office driver also refused to come and take me citing his aged mother at home. While Sameer was searching for alternatives Kanchan just called in. She has an amazingly powerful 6^th sense. Then the moment I told her that I had been declared positive she immediately declared that she was reaching to pick me up. Such raw courage with immeasurable compassion is extremely rare. She is undoubtedly a highly evolved being. Meanwhile I had informed Soma about this. Well, thereafter events rolled very fast. Kanchan took over along with Sameer. I was sent for the CT scan of my chest and the score was 12/25. Dr. Deshmukh overruled my suggestion that I be allowed home quarantine. He admitted me into a spacious room and over the next 5 days pumped Ramdesivir along with steroids 40 mg daily along with a fistful of several sugar controlling and immunity boosting medicines. The concoction of drugs made me feel weird. It was as if something was continuously generating and exploding empty bubbles in my head. Even though I was sitting erect it felt as if I was swinging like a pendulum. I could feel the presence of a foreign matter inside me, something which was unable to adjust with its surroundings, was disturbed and in turn disturbing everything else. This duality inside remained for a few days until the foreign matter was destroyed. On the fifth afternoon Dr. Deshmukh permitted me to leave.

Meanwhile Soma, Prantik, Vinita and Biki had already started moving heaven and hell to ensure that my home stay went without any impediments. The apartment on the fourth floor wasn’t liveable except for a couple of beds but Vinita and Biki along with their kids moved in at immediate notice. They set up the kitchen with their gas cylinder and a new stove. All four of them must have contributed in every small and big way just to ensure that I get good rich food three times a day at my desired time without having to bother. Their kids continued with home classes from here and they all put up without a television, furniture and other arrangements. Soma and Prantik joined them on weekends. It’s so overwhelming a deed, a Himalayan feat of love and caring, such a grand gesture which I can never repay. I am forever in their debt. After my 14 days of quarantine, when I met them and saw what they had done, I remained dumbstruck. As a matter of fact, the kindness and love showered at me by some many people right from Sameer, Kanchan, Dr. Deshmukh, Soma, Prantik, Vinita and Biki, and many more was so awe-inspiring, so on-the-face, so humbling that I was left wondering as to what did I really do to deserve this. I find no explanation and no justification. Once again life had taken over the reins from me, and this time taught me that to give something precious without the hope of ever getting it back is the greatest act of selflessness.

To cut the story short here, immediately after being discharged I started with my exercise routine of 90 minutes in the morning. Initially it was difficult since the bubble bursting and pendulum swings continued for a few more days. I had lost weight and strength considerably. But within 10 days before my quarantine could end I was able to cycle for more than an hour as well as exercise with reduced dumbbell weights. My quarantine ended on the 18^th of February, I went to work from the 19^th and met my family on the 20^th. It had been a magical three week when powerful and beautiful things happened to me. The only thing I lost was body weight but there is clear instruction to never proceed on that path again.