LIVER 'pool' ed

What a month that was? Oft used to describe a month that passed by rapidly, I could come across nothing else to capture the worst month of my life in a nutshell. I have often heard about ups and downs being a part of life and experienced it too, but it has always struck me as being something too trivial. It was a month I had been looking forward to for a year because birthdays come just once a year and I was to finally get rid of the immaturity associated with teenhood. The start of the English Premier League season and the prospect of getting back behind Liverpool after a bland World cup besides the prospect of some challenging work associated with my management fest kept me buzzing. This is how the next few days actually turned out.

August 1: My uncle comes to Varanasi along with aunt and grandma on a spiritual tour for a day. I accompany them thus missing my first classes of the semester. Forced to accept the rustic beauty of Varanasi for the first time. An agnostic, I 'visit' around 10 temples, grumble at why people get so 'religious' and am an exhausted lot by evening. Pause for a moment wondering about the number of temples present here. With 60 odd ghats and each having its share, this place should easily make its way to the record books. My estimate is around 300 temples. And I spent a day covering 1/30th of that! A spiritual behemoth indeed! But some things never change. The Ganges is still brownish-black and I am too lazy to see them off to the station. I get treated at the 'Diamond' by one of the greatest misers in IT history and am forced to think of visiting temples most often. Am satisfied at having missed 4 classes.

August 2-16: Life passes off as usual with time passing off quickly even with my doing nothing. Classes, sleeping and browsing take up most of the time. Have numerous meetings to give our management festival 'OPULENCE' some shape. Put the final touches to a pretty lousy brochure but am still satisfied. At least some work done. Behave like a stupid 'professional' politician in refusing to give up my post of TPR. Feel gung-ho about it. Try in vain to get some other TPRs elected to assist me in this crucial month. Miss another 3 classes due to general laziness.

August 17: Get my training set up. Am quite happy for that is a major headache out of the way and I get paid as well. Miss 7 classes having to involve myself in what was supposed to be a tough selection procedure but in the end turns out to be quite biased. My classmates exercise their legs and try desperately to get some leather off their slippers when I return with promises to repeat the process over the next few days. What a weird world! My body pains as I go to sleep.

August 19: Opulence general body meeting takes place. Am excited at the way the meeting proceeds and also at the response. Eat heavily in the afternoon as a consequence. Wake up at night feeling uneasy. Decide to take a fast at night despite having been a very profitable Saturday. Liverpool draw 1-1 to Sheffield United.

August 21: It is my birthday and my classmates repeat the entire exercising process very extensively for around an hour just as the day dawns. Go to sleep once again with pain, wondering. Bathe for the second time in the morning this semester before going to class. Sport a new T-shirt and get back in the afternoon buzzing. Plans have already been set up by my classmates on my treating them at the TAJ that night. Withdraw money after sending my parents unconscious. Feel uneasy in the evening but still drag myself to the temple. Get a fever and dinner is off. I thus save some money or so I think.

Read on below….

LIVER 'pool' ed contd......

A prosperous month continues....

August 22: Wake up feeling terrible. Think it might be the after effects of deficient sleep over the past week. Go to class. One of my friends detects a tinge of yellow in my eyes which no one else can. Ridicule him with a tinge of fear within. Go to the doctor after class who assures me that it isn't a case of jaundice but still asks me to test for it. Get tested and go back relieved. Feel weak the whole day. Go to collect the results wearing shorts. The results reveal that I have substantial jaundice. The bilirubin levels are 3.6 with the normal limit being 0.8 and SGPT levels are 15000 with the normal levels being 50. I abuse for the 5th time during the day and change into lowers. Call my parents up who want me to leave immediately for my uncle's house in Delhi. (My parents being in Trivandrum, it would have probably taken me the rest of the month to get there). Board the Rajdhani that night courtesy the real wonderful friends I have got who display admirable selflesness. Am forced to run the entire station to catch the train, not advisable for a jaundice patient.

The next month is spent without oil, fat, salt, spices, sweets.....the list is too long. Mineral water, papayas, coconut water, glucose and a very very restricted diet has left me shrivelled and completely worn out mentally and physically. How do you spend a month with no books and television for they strain your eyes just lying on a cot thinking of life's glorious uncertainities? My bilirubin levels still conspired to rise till 14 which sent my doctor getting me to scan my liver in search of stones or cysts. Besides, my fitness conscious classmates had ensured a bent tailbone with appreciable swelling. What worse for a person needing bedrest than be unable to lie down upright or sit down? Things got to such a state that I was pretty much willing the levels down. All my shirts bore a familiar look of yellow. To make matters worse, my friends were reminding me about my attendance, missed tests, missed classes,missed whatever; Liverpool lost to Everton, Chelsea and only managed to draw with PSV; India finished 11th at the hockey World cup; Sania lost in the 2nd round at the US Open; India's cricket team was losing; the management fest was losing (so the convener says though I refuse to believe that my absence can affect anything) and all the plans that I had with regards to training remained just that. I had lost count of the number of classes missed when I returned on September 20th though I reckon my current attendance is around 55%. My Professors have already asked me to get it to 70% if I need to have a shot at writing the exams. How very assuring for a person who is mentally and physiaclly worn out, whose last checked bilirubin levels were 4.1 a week back, who no longer wants to take tests for there might be insufficient blood and who has been forced to return and attend classes just because of the attendance mess! I have forgotten how buttter tastes; the tastiest thing I have is mineral water and being still confined to bed in the hostel unsure as to whether I will be able to write the end semester exams and pass this year can't necessarily be described as the best state of mind to get into. The academic backlog of a month in what is supposed to be our toughest semester not withstanding, things are looking up. Liverpool have won against Newcastle and Tottenham; Sania Mirza won 3 matches in a row; India won a cricket match; Opulence work is proceeding; a fresh set of plans have been hatched to improve the training scenario courtesy 3 more TPRs to accompany me; and I am attending classes. Do reckon that I am due for a bit of luck and good fortune and a few comments for my posts would not be a bad way to start. But I still need to do something like 140 consecutive classes to get my attendance back on track, I am still agnostic and all the jaundice expenses have eaten into all that money that I had .....