When 2020 said a good bye - I got a LUDO life !

So here I am, so excited after watching this netflix movie - 'LUDO' that just few minutes later, it was planned to give it a second shot - this time with flatmates (pandit and  gujju). Three guys who just came back to gurgaon for planned 9 to 7 job from their respective homes after diwali holidays fixed their eyes to SONY 32'' box and soon the song started - "oooooh betaji :P ". I was so unaware of the lyrics of this song that I didn't realize that "zindagi ki hawa is going to be garam very soon." A day later at around 2.30 AM, when I was completely lost in my dreams that night, I heard the voice - Bhai paracetamol hai ? It was my flatmate pandit who started giving me direction at 2.30 AM that this medical shop was still open and I had to bring paracetamol for him. I was like - " Bhaag saale, subah kha liyo. Bukhar hi to hai. Soja "

Since it was mandatory to get tested for COVID-19 before resuming work from office, we did that on the very next morning and when reports are recieved - he was positive and I was negative. He was shifted to a quarantine facility and things become normal except some sanitization activities that we had to do in our flat after every while. Things went pretty well for next 3 days until I started feeling warm to myself. Rarely I use thermometer to check fever but when I did that day, it was 101.4F. Oh Shit ! Back in my mind, doubts were obvious that it had to be COVID considering what happened in last 3-4 days but still I was hoping that it was normal viral fever due to weather change. 

Yes, I had to think weather change as the only possible reason because after a week or so, my brother was getting married. Yupp, my real elder brother was about to get married and I had to be there to enjoy every bit of it. I was expecting everything to come out positive for me except that COVID result of which I had given sample again the very next day.

Report status - Positive with some value ~20. "Fcuk you pandit", - the very first thought came and again that song started playing in the background - 'ooooh beta ji, zindagi ki hawa kabhi naram, kabhi garam garam !'

I too shifted myself to a quarantine facility in gurgaon for isolation and tried my best to recover soon. Taking steam, doing gargles, drinking possible hot liquids and medicines has became my every 2 hour activity. 

Emotional part of my mind was constantly wandering on how to comfort my family that I had no serious medical issues, that I was doing fine and that it is okay if I miss out to be there. However, technical side of my mind was constantly calculating the number of days left to the wedding day, that how long should I extend to get myself tested again in a last hope that it became negative and that I could reach Agra on wedding evening itself.

While days were passing with all such hussle going inside myself and talking to friends on audio/video calls, I was also on recovery mode that hardly any symptom was left except a bit of slight cold. Hence, I took  a call to get myself tested on 1st Dec so that in worst case, reports can be available by 3rd Dec (the wedding day). I so wanted to get the result to be negative and I did gargles and took steam twice just before the sample collection. I also enquired that Lab person for any possiblity of negative result stating all the story. Busy in filling his forms, he said - " Ha bhaiya, 70% logon ka to 6-7 din me negative aa jaata. ".

I was very clear from the beginning that if it came out positive, I was not going at all. However considering my past luck and with every family member wishes, I started believing that I should pack my bags. The next day came and every converstation of my whatsapp chat had the similar messages - report aayi ?, kya hua?, is it negative? , kab aa rhe ho? etc etc etc. 

Now its 3rd Dec, 1.30 PM, 48 hours have already been passed since I got myself tested but the report is still not available on the portal. Thanks to LAL PATH LABS for creating so much anxiety in the already occupied minds. Keeping the travelling margin of 4-5 hours, I was thinking that still I would attend the main function if I had the reports then.

20 minutes later, I got a mail with an attachement, As soon as I opened it, my eyes started looking for that 8 letter word 'Negative' and guess what I found an 8 letter word there. A sense of relief settled inside me. A relief that its final and no more suspense, that I was NOT going to attend it, that the bloody 8 letter word started with 'P' with some value 26. Fcuk you pandit !

So I told everyone that its positive again and enjoyed the wedding moments via video calls like this way. 👀

Anyways apart from whatever had happened, here are the things that did come out positive for me during those quarantine days -

- Two COVID test reports.

- Improved bonding with friends. Be it #we3, #Beer, #google #flatmates.

- A lifetime bitter sweet memory.

- One of my best painting work. You can see it below.

At the end, I would like to conclude this 17 days journey with just those three golden words - 

FCUK YOU Pandit !! 😝😝😝