Self-Quarantine Chronicles – Part 2

Day 3: 15^th June 2020

I love the balcony, from where the view is lovely. A phone call in the balcony is a good idea, I thought. Seems like it wasn’t. The crow, who I had teased, decided to take revenge. It landed on the balcony roof. I still didn’t think much of it. While I was looking the other way, it flew right above my head, leaving me scurrying back into the room. Fortunately, the mesh door was in an unlocked position. Otherwise, I would have died out of heart attack. Looks like someone in the world wants me out of the way!

I have not visited the balcony alone after that. Frightened chick, I am.

The same day, Teji wanted me to oil her hair. I was applying liberal portions of coconut oil on her hair, straight from the bottle. Once, when I pressed the bottle, the bull’s eye turned out to be Teji’s mouth! She was singing ‘Despacito’ and, when she said ‘to’ of this word, there was an oil spill there! A little splash on her pants and T-shirt, and I was done for the day.

Day 4: 16^th June 2020

It was Teji’s birthday, and the Ashram kitchen was kind enough to make her favourite breakfast and also send across a special sweet for the two of us, poor quarantined people.

Rest of the day was spent by her answering calls or replying to messages. Overall, a quiet day – unlike any other 16^th June for Teji. I didn’t venture out to the balcony….

Day 5: 17^th June 2020

We decided to change roles. I would be Teji and she would be me. I was a little less adept at this, but she had to be very serious and scold me for every wrong move I made and, say ‘no’ to anything I suggested. She did full justice to the role till it lasted. It didn’t last long, though! We were back in our original roles by the evening and had a good laugh. May be the room was much quieter than other days during our role play. Both of us ended up becoming silent – she, because she took on the role well and me, because I couldn’t be her for God’s sake! A quiet room, which even the crow did not disturb.

In the evening, we saw beautiful birds – the golden oriole, the warblers, the mynas, the bulbuls, etc. (which we are thrilled to see every day). Some of them sat quietly on the branches when we sang. Music has that effect, you know!

Day 6: 18^th June 2020

The crow was back at the balcony – threatening me with guttural sounds which didn’t seem like cawing at all. Maybe it was scolding me. Teji told him to be merciful and forgive me for the grave mistake I had made of teasing him. Let’s see what tomorrow is like... We still have 8 days more to go in self-quarantine.

Self-Quarantine Chronicles – Part 1

Day 0: 12^th June 2020

Returned to Chinmaya Vibhooti from Mumbai. On self-quarantine. Set all things in the room provided (Sumitra 201). Tired… Wanted to drink something. There was a nice bottle with a greenish liquid inside. The label said, litchi + aloe vera juice. It wasn’t full. I thought it was a loving gift from husband, who has missed me from the past 2.5 months. May be he liked it so much that he had to share it with me! I smelt it. It felt weird, but I thought it was the Aloe Vera! I decided to sit a bit to find out. I did – and found out it wasn’t any juice, as it was horrid and almost burnt my throat. Thanks to network issues, I couldn’t get through to husband over phone. I sent him a message as to what was in the bottle. No response. I drank some water and sat to eat dinner. There was no taste in the tongue!

Received husband’s response – ‘that was phenyl’. Wow! I was apparently trying to leave for good! Teji, who was with me throughout, panicked, and informed authorities in the Ashram, as she read on the internet that ingesting even a little of the liquid could lead to burning of the internal organs and great damage!

Soon, we called up the local doctor, who didn’t panic, thankfully, as I was still alive! He said he would see me the next morning at the gate, as no one is allowed inside the campus. A lot of suggestions and help later, I failed to bring out the food along with the ‘liquid’, but having consumed 3 litres of water within an hour or two, I felt I would have taken any poison out of my system.

And truly, the next day, I woke up. I mean, I woke up! Messaged and called everyone to say I was fine. The doctor decided that antacids over the next few days would clear the system of any ill-effects of the ‘liquid’.

Day 1: 13^th June 2020

A slight rainfall brought in water into the room, right on top of our many laptop and phone wires and on the chair.

The laptop was refusing to get charged properly. We tried various points but felt a fluctuation in the power. We asked for a spike guard, feeling that it would solve our problem.

Day 2: 14^th June 2020

No spike guard could save the laptop from the coma it had gone into. May be it took away from the brunt of my poisoning and took it on itself to fall ill, instead. Real loyal laptop, my Simba! It has been sent to the Apple hospital.

While out in the balcony, we found a crow (raven) making different sounds with its cawing. I found it funny and started imitating him. He must have taken offence but went away quietly. I did say that I was joking and that he need not take me seriously.

Come evening, and both of us took chairs outside and sat in the balcony for chai. Suddenly I felt something land on the back of my head. Teji saw it and said it was lizard poop. She even had the guts to say that my hair matched with the black & white poop! Thankfully, I had already covered this possibility and had pushed my chair towards the grill frame in the balcony, away from the wall. I dread to think how my chai would have tasted with lizard poop!

To be continued….