Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Will it happen again?


"Everything that happens once can never happen again. But everything that happens twice will surely happen a third time." said Mr.Paulo Coelho in his book " The Alchemist" where the protagonist of the book is warned of being stolen of wealth he has.

I am unsure if Santiago was scared or was ready to face to all that was bound to happen, but I am I am really really scared. Scared to the core..........

Day 1:

Annoyed and irritated after a phone call with my boss, I called my friend to chill (lament) over coffee. As we walked to coffee shop, our usual gossip time began. We were so engrossed that I ignored a slight itch on my neck. As I sipped coffee, I felt the itch aggravate. I felt something holding on to my skin and there my friend raised an alarm. There it was.. there it was... that horrible little monster - Gypsy Moth Caterpillar - (called kambli poochi in tamil) Scientific name: Lymantria dispar Linnaeus.
There it got stuck to the sensitive skin of my neck and it wouldn't part from me. With my efforts to remove it from my neck, it got stuck to my finger. There i yelled on seeing this little scary creature. I came back to my office scratching my neck and hands. It started swelling and the need to scratch became more intense with every passing minute. Unable to stop the dire need to scratch, I decided to pay a visit to the doctor.
On the way to the hospital , I started to yell again on the sight of another monster on my dress which fell again on my hand. My friend who accompanied me to the hospital got scared and removed it from my hand.
There I was at the hospital reception greeted by a well mannered nurse, who could easily understand what I was going through by my ill mannered scratching and the abnormal bulges on my skin.She guided me to the examination room and there came a lady who resembled like one who acts in a mega serial with a smart phone hung around her neck, dyed rough hair and clumsily tied up saree.
By the time I could observe her, she finished examining me and started writing the prescriptions. The nurse moved me to another room and asked me lie down and handed over a prescription sheet to my friend. Soon the nurse walked in with five syringes and a few bottles of different sizes. The panic and fear of needles began.
My lacrimal glands started functioning and was wetting the sheets of the bed I was lying on.
Finally ended up with 4 different medicines injected into my blood stream. Gradually itching subsided and I feel asleep in the hospital. An hour later , the nurse woke me and checked the rashes and let me go.
I went back to the hostel and continued my sleep as those medicines were sedatives.

Day 2:

My friends didn't turn up for work. After discussion with my manager again, I stepped out of alone planning to have juice. I sat down in the bench in the juice shop watching passers by. I was sipping juice and my friends passing by were playing pranks at me. Everybody knew I was so scared of this monster after this ordeal and it has become a matter of fun for everybody at office. As i put down my cup of juice, there he was in my salwar sleeve.A bigger monster, darker in colour moving around my wrist , i got so uncomfortable and was trying to put it away. The people from the nearby shop ran to my help, and were puzzled as to what happened to me.The lady was caring and was humble enough to remove it from my sleeve.this monster has moved from wrist to arm in my frantic efforts to shoo him away. That lady being the owner of a parlour where nobody ever walked in, brought cleanser and washed my hand and wiped it with a tissue. My skin was turning red and small eruptions were showing up.Eruptions became bulges in less than a minute. 
With eyes welling with tears and face struck with horror, I walked into office to my friends who were playing those pranks at me with a swollen arm. And that was the second ordeal.

I was sent back to hostel from office again. Horrified I sat in my bed , to regain my breath and to make sense out of what had happened. I decided I am not going to the hospital again for I knew very well that the injections are going to make me feel even worse.
I rested for a while, took pills and closed my eyes for sometime. I got up with shivers in my body as a strand of step cut hair fell across my face. I am unable to close my eyes peacefully, I get the sensation of that monster moving on me. I see it wherever I go and whatever I touch feels like that.

All that is going on in my mind is what the wise man Paulo Coelho said. Will it happen again?

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