Hey You !

 I suddenly remembered my condo in Bangkok. On a high rise, where from my bed I could see the lights shimmer. I always felt sad when I had to leave it. It all seems to be a different world. A different time. And I feel like an outsider, watching a movie unfold. Unpredictable, unknown and uncertain. We have never seen times like this. And we take so much for granted. When we come out of this probably it will be a lesson for the rest of our lives. May be we shall learn to actually be human(e). And the lights are much brighter these days. Maybe they are shining at the end of the tunnel. This too shall pass! 

My surgery came at a time when the world is going into the (s)hell! Quarantine, self isolation, shutting down the shutters. It seem prophetic that Bill Gates had said in TED Talks that it not the missiles but microbes that will kill us!! From cholera to corona, we are still humbled by tiny microscopic mites that miss our eyesight. I grew up with horrors of Cholera. My Dadu's father died of Cholera, while he was studying medicine in Kolkata. Dadu often spoke of the telegram and how he had seen his father's apparition bidding him a goodbye. And he was clinically cruel about our cholera shots each year during my summer vacation. I reacted terribly, came down with fever, fainted, dramatized the entire inoculation issue, but no escape. Even after he was paralyzed he continued to ensure that the compounder did not miss his date with TABC. Dadu also ensured that we gargled - and we escaped the pox, joy bangla and most of the seasonal diseases thanks to the regimen. I  am talk

The messages kept  popping since midnight . Ode to awesome, superwomen...mothers, wife, sisters and friends. Old young and middle aged. She impatiently looked at the clock. Almost 11 and time to leave for the all ladies meet at a restaurant that's celebrating Womens' Day with a 50% discount on the bill. Still no sign of the maid. Impatiently she picks up her bag and and phone for the Uber , when the bell rings. Irritation, impatience, she is ready to vent when she notices a tiny face peeping at her. Her maid with her 3 years old. - Deri hoye gyalo go didi....Maiya ta kichutei eka thaklo na. Khub bhoy peyeche go. Amader bosti te ekjon k bhoot e dhoreche !! Kyamon korche. - Ki j bolo !!! Amar deri hochche . - Omaa ! Tomake ki shundor lagche ...Party achche? She melts a bit . - Jao shaban diye shobai haathe dhuye nao. Ja Corona r bhoy ! - Tomake na Kareena r moton dekhte....amar ma bole ...A tiny voice says. Kareena , Corona now she is all mixed up ! - Kothaye jachch