This time it took me real long to get back here. It was purely attributed to a dearth of topics. Life feels so usual once again. (:P). To start with, I am missing my sweet helL like anything, those long walks, friends, even those classes and assignments (one more tongue out smiley goes in to add effect to the last two cases) (:P).
To give you an idea of my present status of life, I came to Chennai this June end, joined TCS, work commenced pretty soon.
During my last stint of one and a half years in Chennai I had fallen ill at least a thousand times. Every time the villains were "The Climate" and "The Hard Water". If there is any thing that makes me swear at this city at any point of time, it is one of these, climate obviously gaining prominence most of the time. The other day I was telling my friend how better the weather seems to have gotten now and she tells me,"Wait till next April-May, you will realize that nothing has really changed. It is just that you landed a bit lucky this time around. Hopefully this will not be the case next year." Guess I could afford a transfer to some hill station or at least Bangalore before that.
Thanks to the pollution, my already feeble voice has started waging World War ilk wars with my consciousness. How would it feel like when you are discussing serious stuff with someone and all of a sudden you cannot talk. Under natural circumstances the other person would think, "Oh! the poor thing is having a real tough time, her voice is breaking, she is going sentimental". Only I know that it would rather make me mental very soon.
And so all this lead me to the doctor once again. "Back to life", said Chennai to me. This time I was in no mood to give up. I kept going to office until I reached a stage where I could not even feel hungry anymore. I felt like I had contracted leprosy in my stomach or maybe, in that part of my brain which used to stimulate that feeling in my stomach. Again there was no giving up, why be pessimistic, it helps to be optimistic in such situations, "This might be the only way left to shed some pounds". So there went I, to office the next day. By afternoon I was blind, my eyes were shutting down in spite of genuine efforts and I could not even think of food and on my way back I was leaning on the wall of the auto. Had never felt more pathetic in my entire life. Half a day more without food, and then my friends decided that I had to go home somehow. Air tickets had reached a different level altogether and there was no way I could go home alone and there was no way I could tell my parents about my situation.
A friend was going home that very same day. I got on the train with her, spoke to the ticket examiner. Seeing my situation he even forgot to fine me. By evening I was feeling much better. The thought that I am heading home and that there is nothing to worry about now kept me going.
My friend who had gone to sleep woke up in the middle of the night looking really uncomfortable. She said she needed water badly. We had just finished that only bottle some time back. She started coughing and I started feeling sick again. We even considered asking any of the fellow travelers for water. Thankfully the train stopped at a station. It was 12 at night. There was no second thought, rushed out of the train only to find that the storekeeper was fast asleep. A stranger woke him up. Got a bottle of water, but the storekeeper had no change. I could almost visualize a "Jab We Met" scene by now. One more minute, and I did not even have the strength to raise my voice, forget about running behind the train. Anyways he was kind enough, gave me a discount and gave me that bottle of water. Anyone who had seen my friend take gulps would have wondered whether she was actually devouring amruth.
And yeah, we both did reach home the next morning. I am even back after my short vacation, or rather hibernation. A strong me is back in Chennai to face the pollution and the hard hearted-ness of the Chennai waters. Hope Chennai does not play games with me all over again. I hate it when someone teases my voice and hate it even more to apply for a leave selecting from the dropdown list the reason, "diarrhea, dysentery, vomiting, etc." Feels Yuck!! (:P).
Disclaimer or epilogue or whatever: My condition was not that bad after all. Exaggeration was purely for the sake of sympathy. (:P)
