2021 and the reinstated belief in ‘Anicca’.

2021 has been challenging for me physically. I have had many firsts this year- an injured ligament, dengue, multiple deficiencies, tones of blood tests (boy, do I hate needles!), an accident- to name a few. I have been on medication for many months now and my body has not been taking it too well. It has been tough.

It all started a few months ago when I moved to the city after having lived in a village for a couple of years. I was, naturally, convinced that the move to the city caused it all. I had not experienced illness such as this when in the village.

So as soon as I felt slightly better, I hopped my way back to the NE. To Mualdam, the village I wrote about in my last blog! It was magical and I felt right at home..

..until 3 weeks in where my body gave up and I fell ill again. It hit me like a tornado and I resorted to the bed yet again. I was in bed for 2 days straight. My recent experience had taught me that if you start feeling sick, take medicine. Something that I refused to do for 28 years of my life. So I started popping Parecetemols. Not one a day but a good 3-4. I was f*cked – the medicines just wouldn’t work.

This was not like any other time this year that I fell ill, oh no-no. This was different and I will tell you how.

As I mentioned in the previous blog, Mualdam is extremely remote. The nearest town is about 8-9 hours away by kachcha road. Obviously, the only medical facilities available are about 8-9 hours away- no less, no in-betweens.

The room where I was placed was at a lower elevation and I had to walk uphill for about 100 mts to get to the washroom. I had strength in the negatives to be able to make this distance.

It was cold. My mattress was on the floor, there was no bed. The tin room had gaps through which the cold winds kept visiting me every once in a while. There was no electricity, and heaters were out of the question, of course. Yes, there was a warm fire. But that was in the kitchen, a little distance away from the washroom. The kitchen also had two very cute cats that would love to come and sit by me. The only problem in this situation was that I am allergic to cat hair. So being sick and close to cats was like making a deal with death. So that ruled out the fire possibility as well.

I wanted to make a call to my doctor and see what he had to say. It was the next best thing. But guess what! There is no network in Mualdam. If I had to make a call, I had to climb up a small hill where I got calling network (internet was but a farfetched dream). In my state, that was a total no-go as well.

So my sick self and I slept- day and night- popping Parecetemols every few hours.

After 2 days and no recovery, the word spread, and the sweet sweet villagers dropped in to visit me. They got me fruit and words of comfort.

My host sister then came in to visit me with a masseuse from the village. She offered to give me a massage. My body was in shambles so a massage was welcome. The kind tribal woman started massaging my frail body. It was too much for me- I was howling, crying. My body hurt too much. She told me to hang in there. It will hurt but I was sure to feel better the next day, she assured me. It didn’t go according to plan. I woke up the next day with a swelling in the right side of my neck and a very stiff left side. (Fun Fact: 12 days later, I visited a doctor and found out that it was a pinched nerve. After 3 weeks and some more medication, I have recovered well now!)

After 2 days of no improvement, we knew we had to see a doctor- there was no way out. By then my throat was swollen up so bad that I could not swallow my saliva even, my fever persisted, my body hurt more than before, I was throwing up owing to no food and acidity.

It was a tough call. The work that I came for, remained unfinished. In that state, I still tried remaining optimistic and telling my friends and myself that I can do it- let’s just wait it out one day. But as the days progressed, it did not get any better and I had to decide to leave my 3rd song unrecorded. My heart broke but it was what I needed to do for my health.

The dreaded day for my departure from the village arrived. It was going to be one of the toughest days of my life- I knew it. If you read my previous blog, you would know what road conditions prevail in that part of the country. In the state I was in, I had to travel 8-9 hours on those roads, IN A PICK-UP TRUCK.

A few hours before I left, a well-intentioned gentleman paid me a visit. He was the local healer. He asked me whether he could do a quick check on me. I had nothing to lose, I said yes. He made me sit on a chair outside my room as the sun kept peeping at us. He had some wild plant in his hand which he started crushing as he started chanting some. After blowing some “positive energy” on me, he started rubbing the crushed leaf on my head, all the while chanting some tribal mantras. After a couple of minutes, he concluded that I had jaundice, which was very common in that part. He promised me that the leaf would make my fever go away and that my journey would be better than I expect. I gave him a smile with all the energy left in me and started prepping to leave.

After saying my goodbyes, I sat in the pick-up truck and we began our journey at about 10 am. The journey was indeed better than what I thought it to be. It was hilarious but I was so exhausted that I slept some in the journey on those really terrible roads, haha! Before I knew it, my fever had begun to subside and I was slowly reclaiming the energy that the fever had taken away from me. I was in no way ok but I survived.

We reached Haflong, the nearest town at around 6 pm. William directly drove me to the doctor’s clinic. I was told I have tonsillitis and it is so bad that I need to get hospitalized. I refused. There was NO WAY I was going to have more needles in me this year- no Sir, not happening. Right before traveling to Assam, I had tonsillitis and here it was once again.

And so he put me on antibiotics.. yet again I found myself popping pills for something I thought was out of my way once and for all.

Fast forward to today: I have recovered and I have recovered well! My medicine course is FINALLY over. All parts of my body are almost in order again- touchwood!

Looking back, I laugh and wonder if the plant that the healer used on my head actually helped in the recovery.. was it just coincidence, or did my fever really subside because of that (and the chanting, of course, hehe!)? I guess I will never know. But all I know is that I am grateful. To him and so many others who made those few dreaded days easy for me.

Ravi and Rhea were by my bed the entire 72 hours. Rhea knew me for 10 days but the way she cared for me made it seem like we had been sisters for 20 years. Ravi has always gone way out of his way to make me feel comfortable- even when I am well. So, I mean, you can imagine how he must have taken care of me when I actually needed him to!

I found these people literally in the middle of nowhere when I least expected to find them. Life is funny sometimes, no? When you aren’t looking, it’ll quickly leave sweet surprises for you along the way. These people have been JUST that for me and I am keeping them with me safely tucked in my heart. 🙂

 

– By Rucha Deshpande