Candles in the wind

I don’t belong to a soothsayer’s family. But I turned into one when my servant anxiously asked, “Madam, when will this roga go away?” I replied peppily to assuage her feelings, “give it another two months, it will run away! Till then wear your mask and do not roam too much”. At my prophecy, she went away humming an indistinct tune through the mask.

In over five decades of my life, I have hosted chicken-pox, typhoid, flu all of which are infectious in various degrees. I remember my mother narrating the story of my eldest sister. Smallpox was the protagonist of those times. A manager working at our hotel fell prey and my father made arrangements to shift him to our spacious house as the manager’s family resided at his native place. My mother pleaded against the idea due to the toddler’s presence. But my father went ahead, arguing that the person would be accommodated on the first floor. The manager recovered in due course but my mother’s precious baby succumbed. After many years it was the turn of the chickenpox virus and I was its genial host. The moment I displayed signs, I was sent back from school and was quarantined at home, with my maid, sister in law and an aunt taking turns to tend to me. The virus spread its tentacles lavishly and left me after a virulent stay. Strangely the virus was addressed as “amma” and the local goddess was propitiated after recovery.

After a decade I unexpectedly contracted measles from a student. With no help, I had to tend to the rogue guest all alone which drained me. I have since then nursed my kids through measles, chicken-pox, typhoid, flu, malaria but never seen a Covid-like situation. A light cough or a sneeze is enough to scare the wits out of anyone. It is goodbye to eye contact leave alone hand contact, as with the mask on nobody can be recognised. I don’t step out of the house, yet a cough from me gets a suspicious look from the husband. Each one is cooped up at his own abode like never before, unnaturally so.

Even so, let us remain grateful that essentials are available for the subsistence of the tangible body. I stay relieved as I am able to watch television for the news. But the saviour of the intangible mind is the internet without which the neurons would have gone haywire! I am able to virtually see my dear daughter, son-in-law, and grandkids who live far away at the epicentre of the pandemic. I am grateful for these small mercies!