I see the glass as half full, half empty is not in my dictionary, I am hypersuperenthusiastic about life and all its mysteries and adventures. I fell sick after ages and coughed and sneezed the night away, burning up with fever, suffering from agonizing body ache and headache. A visit to the doctor’s office was a given, seeing how much I groaned and moaned throughout the night. My need to be the centre of attention was temporarily fulfilled thanks to this brief illness.

My family collectively pushed me out of the house in the morning because I had milked the situation to the fullest by demanding my son put balm on my forehead and massage it. My husband was ordered to give me a backrub, my daughter fetched me hot water bottles and medications, even the dog had been assigned a job by bossy old  me, she had to keep me company at all times and lick my face at regular intervals. See how terrible a patient I am? I am a nightmare on paracetamol and erythromycin.

I entered the clinic right behind the elderly bespectacled doctor with kind eyes; he shone a torch down my throat and grimaced. Checked my pulse and nodded some more, I was going crazy imagining all sorts of diseases in my mind. He scribbled down a few unlegible words and suddenly looked at me and said, “Don’t bathe for three days”. YAY…there is a God, thank you. I forgot all about the nodding and face-making by the doctor but remembered only the ‘no bathing for 3 days’ advice.

Optimists see the silver lining in the dark clouds and so did I. I am a big-boned, middle-aged and menopausal obese woman who needs a tankful of water to bathe so I reckoned I would be doing Mother Earth a big favour by not bathing for three days and will be conserving our natural resource, precious water. So I gulped down the four odd pills he had prescribed for me and drank two teaspoons of the very disgusting and vile cough syrup before settling down on my comfortable bed. Oh one more thing; I folded my towel and tossed it in the cupboard, bidding it a 3 day adieu.

Happy napping people and remember-NO Bathing for three whole days for me.

Sulekha