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Harrowing

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Yesterday was a harrowing day indeed. Maybe because I got out of my bed coughing like a Tuberculosis infected man.The rear end of the left side of my tongue was itching like hell. Only two weeks ago I had been treated for cough by my family doctor (Dr Lollypop). The rest room was changed into a cough room. My wasbasin mirror stared back at my protruding eyes.I made myself a cup of black tea and leafed through Daily Nosepaper. No... deliberately the newspaper was as if it was mocking my sniffy-runny nose. I wished I wasn't nosey.Maybe a trunk would be better.Then the runs would be far away from my face. It was past 8-30 a.m. reasonably cool but I was really feeling "under the weather" I decided to wait for Mandar my ladycook to arrive & licked at the news. Mandar incidentally takes two shots of insulin every day & she looks like a Sumo wrestler. God forbid if she slips & falls I have to call someone else to help me pick her from the floor.No,no I'm not making fun of her. I'm just calling a spade a spade not a trowel. Mandar rand the doorbell at about 8:45 a.m. I put the main-door keys in a cloth bag and hung it in front of her nose. I don't like to do a two way stair climbing.

Mandar entered... sat for a full ten minutes (to catch her breath) and made a beeline for the kitchen. She switched on the tubelight & a few seconds later I heard the loud hiss of the pressure cooker.It was her usual practise which frays my nervous nerves. She begins making tea only when she's halfway into cooking lunch... But she's a lady in need... how can I talk rough with her ! 

"Please begin making tea. Put some grated ginger in it..." Mandar never ever acnowledges what I tell her.Often it is difficult to make out whether she has heard what I had said ! With the electric chimney roaring like a steam engine I can't really blame her.

Most of the days the tea she makes is very very sweet.Too much sugar !! I prefer only three-fourth teaspoons in a cup. I drank a full glass of water... dipped a thin arrowroot biscuit in the tea & took a luxurious sip. My itchy throat felt better with the ginger juice. The weather was cloudy.I hoped for some rain which maybe would help the sprouting of mango flowers. This year I couldn't see a single mango flower.

Zodiac sign prediction " Opportunity to earn money will come your way.Grab it. Gastric trouble is expected. Expect to meet someone special... etc. etc." I laughed out loud at the sombre prediction on my zodiac sign. The guy should've written "Throat trouble expected" As regards someone "special" our ex-gardener (now on a crutch & out of work) came & I gave him a Rs.20 note. "Opportunity to earn money " did come when my newspaper vendor requested me to buy a lottery ticket.

With Dr. Lollypop I enjoy special privileges.I WhatsApped him & asked him to prescribe some medicine for my cough.The guy must've gone crazy !! I wrote down his prscription & trundled to the chemist close by. This Sir is a Homeopathic medicine. You must fetch it from a Homeopathic shop. I tried to telephone Dr Lollypop but his phone was busy."He has given me the medicine which I need. He knows me as well as my mother did" I went to the nearest Homeopathic shop & bought the medicine for a mere Rs.20/- & decided to go to Dr Lollypop's chamber in the evening.

Dr. Lollypop had messaged " xxxxxxxx30 3 drops thrice a day" I put three drops on my tongue at 11 a.m. & another three at 3 p.m.

My afternoon siesta was totally undisturbed by the racking cough. When I woke up the sun had set. I made myself a cup of black tea and was surprised to find my hoarse throat 80% better. Was Dr. Lollypop some magician ? The last time I had to buy three kinds of medicine including a cough syrup for more than Rs.300/- 

Dr. Lollypop's chamber had a different signage brightly backlit " PHYSICIANS CHAMBER" His name was nowhere on the signboard. I pushed open the plywood swingdoor & entered the visitor's lobby. The lobby was crammed with people.Nevertheless all appeared to respect the "SILENCE" signboard. I sent him a message & he asked me to go inside out of turn.

"It was a miracle cure Lollypop !! And.... your new signboard looks awesome" Dr. Lollypop now 98% bald (only a tiny forehead wisp) looked fit & fine even at 89 years."I've studied at all the alternate medicine schools & have several more letters. What I found is that any person in ill health needs a cure whatever the system of treatment may be. The number of my patients have become close to 100 a day. Most of the time I tell patients to simply wait for three days & then come again for a better foolproof treatment." I told him I'd be waiting in the lobby just before his clinic closes.

I read "Alice in Wonderland" savouring each scene in my amazed mind till almost 10:30 p.m. Dr. Lollypop called me inside once again & we talked of our sunset lives particularly the Zodiac fortunes which neither Dr Lollypop nor me believes in. Thus stops the world's Biggest Mudmaker Bishu scribbling his way till he withers.