paracetamol-tasting

i have been playing hide and seek with the germs for two days now. it all started with a stupid idea to have ice cream over the weekend. now i remember why i don’t eat ice-cream. ironically, i made the outrageous claim on the same day while eating that ice-cream to a friend that i don’t remember the last time i got sick. i thought these kinda stories were always made up. how cocky of me.  did i mention the physically exhausting badminton games i have started from this weekend (nothing to be proud of since i have lost 10-0 twice)? that deserves a separate post i guess. i could not sleep that night as i was very excited about my new baddy racquet and ended up practicing shots against my shadow in the night (the humiliating 10-0 was the next morning).
anyway its like playing a game of chess with the germs. the first move being a sore throat. i said ‘good move sir, here have some cough syrup.’. dull move yet, a proven one. immediate relief and a bit of jumping around followed. followed by an outing in the night in the cold winds for some tonic water with unmentionables and steaks and super cold fresh lime and a victory walk for 3 kms at midnight in the chill of the night. that night i swear i thought i would die. i could not explain what i was feeling. every muscle in the body was making its presence felt. i got cramps around my chest which i mistook for a stroke. i had sprayed some baygon since the mosquitoes were making mince-meat of me. i must have tasted some from the air. it tasted metallic. my stroke-fears went thru the roof followed by ‘am dying, am dying!’. all this at 4 am with a very high fever. i remembered this was just a chess game. took a crocin. was fit as a fiddle and went to play baddy again at 6:30 am. came back in pretty high spirits and slept for most of the day and woke up with a sore throat and a cold. the fever was still gone. body ache was at its peak. now it was time for a combiflam, fine combination of paracetamol 350mg and analgesic. it worked like a charm and i was jumping around too soon again. sore throat is a biotech (auto spell corrected bad word). it came back for more. some milk and turmeric sent it out again. mild fever and cold took over. today is another day and its baddy time with a bad cold. now the right weapon for the war seemed to be a sinarest. yes, feeling better already. its either checkmate or i surrender. :-/ in all this, i realized paracetamol-tasting could be an emerging art. why do we always talk about something being a dying art? here is something that is definitely emerging. ‘fine pill this one. good balance of paracetamol and the analgesics. a hint of caffeine as well! good job i must say’.

i wonder why even the muscles in my jaw pain when i speak after playing these baddy games. very strange. ok so happy bhogi everyone. ‘pazhayana kazhidhalum pudhiyana pugudhalum…’ is a saying in tamil used with this festival. translates to ‘getting rid of the old and entering the new’. on this day no morning flights can land in chennai because of the smog caused by the bonfires of the old thru out the city. oh well…