CORONA TALES!

 I am Penning this memoir on the eve of the 21st day of showing the first symptom of possible coronavirus infection.

after contracting it I passed the infection to multiple people thereon.

The husband

Praveen Reddy

who was attending to me with all the masks and proper gear showed the first sign within 5 days of I showing the symptoms, the cook who reached me food thrice a day was the third victim, then the son

Rahul Reddy

who was attending to both parents, and then another help (who stays with us) was the fifth victim. I could successfully pass on the infection to 4 more people which gave the impetus to my daughter to call me Typhoid Mary (an interesting case study of a lady from the past who spread the disease everywhere she went ., pls google).

________________________

I recovered within 7 days and then went on to take care of the husband and the rest of the patients at home.

It was an exciting circular activity of taking care of each other.

__________________-

The dogs and the garden were relegated to the farthest corners of my daily chores. They peeped into the house from every possible window craving for my time and attention. I knew they could wait in the best interest of everyone.

__________________

Meanwhile, the farm bill happened in the parliament, I missed the monsoon session albeit, through tv channels, the hathras victim made me bleed. I was peeping into NEWS whenever I could and I had so much to say. But In all chaos, one thing which made place and presence felt was the IPL. THE CRICKET CRAZY HUSBAND AND HOME did not miss a single ball. It was ridiculous to watch the fake applause. The only moments of laughter and happiness on my man's face was whenever the ball went off the boundary.

__________________

Thankfully we all completed our prescribed course of treatment, now all the blood parameters are near normal. Today I got the home sanitised with a fogger and a spray machine bidding a final goodbye to any trace of the virus as a fomite.

__________________________

This writeup will be incomplete if I do not express my gratitude and thankfulness to the human beings who stood by me in the past 21 days.

My

Reddy Healthcare, Siliguri

family, who reassuringly worked an hour extra to ensure that no service was hampered in our absence. from taking our health updates time to time, keeping us steadily supplied with medicines and oxygen cylinders at home to everything which is expected of the team was delivered.

That's why I call my team my beloved extended family. there is a relationship beyond employee and employer which I treasure from my end.

__________________________________

Friends and Family made me realise the ecosystem of interdependency in bad health days. the brother

Navinchandra Reddy

Vani Reddy

and sister

Archana Reddy

of the husband were the most worried, followed by my

Gvs Prakash Reddy Sheru

brother and his family. they kept a watch on each and every movement of ours with a telescope fitted in their eyes. they were always rightfully skeptical of my decisions vis a vis treatment, both of them ensured that they took the opinion of experts in their circle to ensure that we are doing the right.

The older brother From the USA

Sharat Reddy

Manitha Reddy

instructed for video calls, he kept us engaged for a long time on phone so that we don't feel bored in isolation. told stories about presidential elections , about ruth bader Ginsberg which was A current topic then.

I experienced for the first time that Relations mature with time like wine, the older we grow the closer we creep into each other. my sister in law

Manitha Reddy

gave me feedback on how i evolved in the past 25 years, from an arrogant new bahu to a mature caring lady now. it felt good to have a heart to heart conversation , all thanks to corona.

_____________

family is a blessing, family is a bliss.

In all this one constant irritation from my husband was, "I hope my mummy is not worried, pls don't share all the details about our illness with her ..Don't this dont that etc..sleep talking mummy

Pramila Reddy

I said hello "Don't do too much of mummy mummy even now. you are 50 she is 70", RELAX!

to which the son replied mom don't you think we both will be in the same situation someday, don't behave like the tv serial witchy bahu, to which the daughter replied, bhaiyya you know she anyway married dad for his money, so this is expected of typhoid Mary.

IN MY HOUSE I DON T KNOW WHY I ALLOW ALL THE JOKES ON ME.

For my brother and his family coronavirus is a disease which can be killed with steam inhalations and gargling, so their content advise was to eat fruits and take steam, which I said I am doing and it is helping.

_________________________________

My doctors who helped me back to life

Prem Dorjee Bhutia

(who was 24/7 on ph with us) who was as involved in each of us as we were in each other. There wasn't a minute when he did not think of what best to offer so that we did not deteriorate further. A god sent person in my life, the best of a friend, guide, mentor and caregiver.

Chandra Prasad Sharma

a doctor (who spent 3 hours by his friend's bedside to make us all feel good)....

he is our doctor, a friend, a well-wisher and a fellow concerned human being. He set a benchmark on how a friend should stand by in tough times.

__________________

our diagnosticians dr

Bishal Sharma

and dr

Khilanath Sharma

who kept a watch on all the alarming parameters. Who managed us and their reddy healthcare. these two human beings and their families crossed our paths for some beautiful reasons I guess. indebted to them.

bishal said ma'am dont worry about anything I will take care, and that I felt like a son saying to his mother.

dr khilanath and I bond like best friends sharing common interests in astrology literature and philosophy. there is an instant understanding of each other's needs, we silently communicate everything and just manage things between us effortlessly. If he is around I stop worrying about problems he can solve for me.

_____________________

dr

Neela Alen

and dr

Kaushik Bhattacharya

were involved in us as friends and doctors. Neela sent me the herbal powders and a ritual ph call morning-evening keeping a tab on our disease progression. This brought us closer than ever before. also her understanding of dealing with the disease helped me understand it better.

___________________________

My

Naresh Agarwal

BHAIYYA who should have been a doctor but who is no less than a doctor when it comes to understanding on how this disease is behaving socially. Our first interaction was " how dare you to keep this news hidden from me for so long, once he took charge of us, I stopped bothering about what medicine to buy from where. He was like the guardian all along the way. My nephew Jayesh should be a youth icon on how gentle and caring a young boy should be.

_______________________________

My

Binny

anna and

Vishika Chhetri-Sharma

ensured that my table was always filled with food. there was never a moment when I was wondering or worrying about what to cook.

there was a steady supply of dishes from non-veg to desserts.

_________________________

Nita Mallik

my friend planned every dish to be sent for lunch and dinner. apart from being on the ph with us all the time she squeezed in time to cook a nutritious meal for lunch and dinner. These two ladies were like Annapurna devis in my corona times.

indebted to the two of you my friends can never compensate for all the love care and concern you two showered on me.

_____________________

my friend

Neeru Sharma

was a calming reassurance that all will be well. You need people to tell you that no harm will ever come your way.

________________

Mr

Nemchand Mittal

uncle came all the way to deliver herbal medicines and dry fruits as a gesture of care and concern whereas he was not at all needed to do the same. The gesture mattered a lot to me.

________________________________

Pankaj Kumar

sir and

Mausami Kumar

from Kolkata were on text day and night, taking hourly updates, giving suggestions, reading about every new treatment available, discussing our case with AIIMS doctors, with our doctors, they left me wondering what good did I do to inherit this love and concern from them.

________________________

Narendra Mitruka

might be our auditor but a friend of the family for past 20 years, insisted I speak to all the experts in Hyderabad Chennai wherever to ensure that we are not missing the best treatment for his friend. Recovering from corona makes one very empathetic I guess and that's where his concern was coming from.

_______________________

my husband's friends from faraway Maharashtra who came to know about it kept taking updates, giving me suggestions on what better iI can do for their friend.

Ramakant

bhiayya,

Sanjay Shete

Sunita Kadam

, Madhu bhaiyya. having so many doctors inquiring about health status made me an expert on the corona. interaction with experts is always enriching.

your friend is fine now, all thanks to your prayers and love for him. all the friends from school ..th chuddy buddies i have been reading your messages too...

___________________________________

To so many missed calls, and so many messages: behen mai hoon tere saath from

Shailesh Kumar Jha

, don't hesitate to call me at any hour.

______________________

ma'am dr reddy sir helped so many people, god will help him recover faster this was a call of reassurance from Sharad Agarwal, it really made me feel good sharad.

_________________________

Niranjan bhaiyya saying babhi inko theek hona padega, hum sabko inki bahot zaroorat hai, kuch bi chaheye , bas ph kardijiye, mai aajaunga.

________________________

those innumerable missed calls which certainly made me smile for a moment, made me feel good that we dwell in your thoughts and prayers, those WhatsApp messages which I couldn't respond in time but reading them made me feel remembered and thought of.

_________________________

my school friends who called me to say that I am a fighter and I will come out of this, guys and girls who I did not speak to in 30 years called me to give that one nudge of feel-good, cracked a school time joke.

Sheetal Uttarwar Pampattiwar

Sonali Joshi

Sandeep Dubey

Jayshree Pradhan

each one of you ,,rajshekar'

Vishal Kortalwar

Pankaj Kokate

Prasad Tikkawar

Achyut Reddy Sarsan

Deepak Das

and each one of you

___________

my friend

Suchitra

who indulged me in a long chat on how so many got infected and cured...

________________

This coronavirus made me connect to the people from all corners of the globe.

There is a family of aunts uncles and cousins from who we kept this infection hidden for time being because we did not all of them worrying about us.

aap sabse maafi maangti hoon, for not revealing it to you all. I thought the older aunts and uncles should not be troubled with news of illness and disease. APOLOGIES.

_______________

finally my learning

This is a very strange disease, it treated all the 5 people in my house differently. it kind of went with vengeance on the doctor for he has been at his job without fearing it since the pandemic broke out. so it was kind of flexing its muscles on him. they had a good tug of war between them, giving us some moments of anxiety on who the winner is going to be.

but I guess it understood that it cannot outlive its turn in anybody, so finally decided to end its journey inside our bodies and home

A moment of triumph that we could restrict it and put an end to its spread from our side.

The extent of damage it has caused to each one of us individually will be revealed in the times to come. The scars on the organs are going to be our friends forever as a reminder of our association.

The multiple articles I read suggest that it is never over with corona forever. Hoping for good times health wise.

One significant observation is: it is a psychological downer. during the first week, it made me seek questions on the existential crisis, very depressing and negative feeling all along. if we do not get enough love and care of friends and family we may sink into a temporary depression.

I know how it feels so dear world here I declare my support to anyone of you going through this, I can talk to you share my experience and guide towards some scientific data which I collected in the process. I can help with food, medicines, diagnostic tests and guide you on some good stuff to read.

PLEASE DO NOT PING ME ON PERSONAL MESSENGER to KNOW ABOUT MY WELL BEING. we are cured and in the process of accumulating the energy lost in fighting the disease.

Let us not waste time in meaningless chat.

let us chant

go corona go

go corona go

take all the precautions but even then there is no assurance that it will not find a way into your body.

So be prepared to fight when it strikes!