A Bitter Pill

For a change, I will write something 'bitter' in my blog... after all, it's titled 'Lemony Snippets: the sweet, sour and bitter tastes of life'.

This story has the same beginning as many others... it all started with Temptation. I gave in to it and that was it! I took a bite off that juicy red apple dangling invitingly in front of me, all against my better judgement, and see what it has done to me today. In my case though, it would not really have been the apple, but a glassful of Mosambi juice that started all the trouble.

The Choudeshwari Juice Centre near the Yellow Bridge caters to the health-concious IISc minds that gather there to have thier fill of a variety of healthy fresh fruit juices that the shop has to offer. It's a ritual the sporstmen in campus follow religiously - after a good day's play on the cricket/ hockey/ football fields and the volleyball, basketball,tennis and badminton courts, the Sachins, Dhanraj Pillays, Bhutias and Bhupatis of IISc end their day at the juice centre. Men covered in mud from top to bottom, with rivers of sweat pouring down their face, order '1 sapota, solid', '1 mosambi', '1 watermelon' or whatever it is that pleases their taste buds. Never have I seen such bonding between men of the earth like the one that takes place at the juice centre in the evenings, they might be arch rivals on the field, but at the juice centre they are all one big group of close buddies having a great time together. The juice centre is also where the lovebirds and family people alike, flock to share a cool drink and some equally juicy gossip. All in all, the Juice Centre is the happening place in IISc in the evenings... And this is precisely the place where my troubles began.

One fine evening after aerobics class, I was tempted to have a fresh fruit juice at the centre. (btw, Aerobics @ IISc simply rocks!!! A separate blogpost on that later :)) SPB has fruit juice everyday after aerobics. I generally watch him gulp down a refreshing glassful and wonder if I should give my fragile digestive system a shock by doing the same. Then one day I could bear it no longer... as SPB ordered for his 'Sapota, solid' I went right ahead and asked for '1 glass Mosambi juice'; and THAT was where I made the mistake. I ordered the wrong stuff. I should have said '1 glass Mosambi juice SOLID'. And no, 'solid' doesnt mean you get a frozen concoction, it simply means that you want no water added to your juice and want it squeezed right out of the fruit with no sugar added to your drink either; you want it as natural as it comes. Sometimes I really wonder how a pro like SPB could have overlooked the fatal error in my placing of the order... probably because he has been living on 'solid' juices for 5 whole years now ;) and could never imagine that an amateur like me would get things muddled up the way I did. Anyway, my mistake was left uncorrected and that's that. I emptied my cuppa of watery juice and then it was the juice's turn to empty me out completely. The loose motions and stomach cramps I had that night will remain fresh in my memory, as fresh as the fresh fruit juice that gave them to me!

Absence from the lab and a visit to the Health Centre were inevitable the next day. Doc there gave me Voveron (a pain killer, of all things!) and said it was the water in the juice that had done the damage. I agreed with Doc and also told him tall tales about my fragile GIT, but no amount of persuasion would make Doc give me an antibiotic to kill whatever it was that was creating havoc in my stomach. So, armed with a dozen strips of Voveron, I marched back to my room and lay on bed for the next two days. Credit must go to NiNa for religiously pestering me into telling him how many times I ran between the wickets on those two fateful days.

Was that the end of my troubles? Of course not!

A sudden change in the Bangalore weather from the hot and dry to the damp and wet brought me crashing down with sinusitis, allergic rhinitis, bronchitis and possibly the rest of the respiratory '-itis' family too. Add to it the zealous cleaning (dusting, sweeping and mopping) of my room, which was necessitated by cirumstances beyond my control, and my extreme allergy to dust, I was as good as gone for the next few days. Another trip to the health centre saw me come back with a barrel full of Voverons (oh, they are much-loved in the hc!). Three days, and the swollen throat was still the same and the intermittent fever that I kept having did nothing to subside; and I still had an year's supply of Voveron with me!

That decided me. I packed my bag and away I went to my Aunt's. Showed myself to a good doc, was relieved when he prescribed a dozen antibiotics, but NOT a single Voveron; and right now am lying on bed typing my blog, with a slight glow of victory on my face. I beat the Voveron! V for Victory! V for Voveron! V for Victory over Voveron! Yay to that! :)

And so dear friends, that ends my bitter story. What was so bitter you ask? Try popping a dozen pills twice daily and see what it does to your system... loss of apetite (not at all recommended when you have a chance to savour delicious home cooked food instead of hostel food), extreme drowsiness, inability to eat, sleep, drink, read and write are just a few of the side effects. It's a miracle I haven't fallen asleep typing this post! And what to say of the bitter after-taste the pills leave in your mouth... yuck!!!

But what to do? That's the bitter truth you see...

P.S.: If anyone anywhere in the world is in need of Voveron, you know whom to contact, right? And for the Smart Alecs, the answer's NOT the IISc health centre, but Me, Moi, Maya... get it?