Slipped a disc....

Hello gals,

So here is how the consultation with the orthopedic doc went. I got up early (hate it) and got ready (that took some strategic thinking), now when I’m meeting a physician I usually dress in the drabbest stuff I can lay my hands on, simple logic, when you’re dressed smartly the physician accesses your financial health first, so to skip this step I go in my dullest stuff.

Got ready on time and went 5 mins early for my 8:30 am appointment, however, it seems my physician was doing his own procrastination experiment and he landed up 25 mins late, so I waited twiddling my thumbs. Now, when I’m idling I often go on fantastic imaginative mental rides, but today the mind was in a sulky mood for being disturbed so early, so I had to make do with playing games in the hand phone, for the record Pocket Carrom is a dull game.

Anyway, my doc came in 30 mins late and thankfully, since I was his first patient, didn’t have to wait long. Took one look at my financial health and skipped to the actual health dismissing dreams of gold fittings for the bath. After hearing the tale behind the current state. He asked me to stand, try bending a bit and surprisingly made his diagnosis…..can’t tell you how shocked I was…..no tests, x-rays nothing, straight diagnosis, I looked reverently at him, now here was a positively divine creature absolutely devoid of material gains, while I was wondering how many months income I’ll have to park in his account he pulled a rabbit on me……. Of course there is the possibility of him already possessing a gold flooring in his rest room and he sure wasn’t the B*DAWG type bling bling soul so maybe he was content to not add up to gold furnishings.

So he drew a pic. told me the vertebra is cushioned by the discs, and one of them has slipped. He explained a slip doesn't actually slip but bulges or ruptures. Now in my awkward posture scooping Mags up I ended up rupturing one of them, these discs have a liquid filling in it. While the filling by itself is great for absorbing shock, it also isn’t very good when it oozes out. The gel when it seeps out, is as good as sprinkling chili on a wound, it burns the muscles and the muscles shrink to avoid the pain and so the feeling of spine being frozen in that one state. It is body’s natural way of trying to protect itself. The gel won’t leak if there is no pressure on it, and the only way to ensure that is to rest.

He said basically nothing can be done for the pain. It will stop when the disc heals itself……physiotherapy though may seem like it’s easing the pain will have no real benefits, it shall be a waste of money to continue with physio. He said I need to be on complete bed rest for at least a week to give a chance to the disc to heal, and after that it shall take another 2 weeks to come to normal, but since the disc has been ruptured once lifelong I shouldn’t lift weights, even light stuff for it can rupture again…… I told him my current situation and that working on my dream was also a pleasure & necessity, there is no way I can keep the store closed for a week.

Then the recovery phase will be longer he said, so basically there isn’t a darn thing I can do except for wear a lumbar support belt, try to rest as much as I can, and forget about lifting weight, bending down, bending back, sitting on low slung beds, chairs or floor, my chair’s seat should be of 20” from the floor……and of course meds..with some unpleasant side effects.

Well gals that’s how it went, as he started writing the prescription he asked me where my store was, I thought, "Oks the consultation is over so no harm in divulging the details" and the moment I gave the location he was visibly zapped, I was like thinking yeah……. could’ve done the tests jig had he not been put off by the drab appearance.

I could see his mind racing with potential bath fittings and then he played his ace as he mentally zeroed in on the fittings that he’d like to add, he told me to come back in a week’s time to check the progress and what can be done further……I was like “Noooooo, I’ll not give you my savings & earnings……..” but well it was too late all I can hope for is that he has so many patients during the week that he forgets about the bath fittings supplied my income totally however, the sad thing is that I’m pretty unforgettable…….sigh!

Unchained from time.........

I’ve been keeping a crazy schedule for the couple of months, ever since the idea of having my own pet store struck me I’ve been just working on it endlessly, without break, and since we launched the store Bhai & I both have been keeping the craziest schedules and working non-stop, through the weekly off. The only thing that kept us going was the soothing presence of our dearest pooches. But all the same, we were heading to a breakdown we knew. Tired, exhausted and totally irritable we were really snappy. However, Holi coming this year in on Wednesday gave us a big break, with our weekly off on Tuesdays, two days off together was like a boon. We decided to take a real break and board our pets and head off to some relaxing place close by.

However, when Monday rolled in we knew there was no way we could drive out of town, so we decided to stay in here, but just board the pets, and take some time off, without being driven by clock, routine or schedule. Tuesday, got up later than usual and got the pets ready for their mini-break, boarded the four of them in the car, and went in search of this boarding centre we’d heard good reviews about. It took us a while reaching there after being misguided a few times, but finally made it. First impression, of the people who were running it was that they were gentle, loved pets and had patience, in my book that is perfect. We dropped them off and slept through the drive back home. Once home, it felt different to finally not be bound by time. We headed to our fave mall, shopped a bit, lunched and just hung around a while, then headed home though it was early evening, exhaustion swamped me, I called it a day and went off to sleep. Funny how our natural clocks are wired, as usual I woke up after 21/2 hrs. Then I called in and checked up on how our pets were doing, it seemed like they were having a blast, then I decided to catch up on some reading. After that had dinner and went back to the book and then off to sleep at 3 a.m.


Slept through Holi entirely, somewhere the internal clock too crashed out and I woke up deliciously late at half past 1 in the noon. Followed the usual routine of Yoga, switching on the radio, getting ready and lazed around, it felt good doing nothing, finally in the evening we decided to catch a movie, left home at 6 in the evening for the theatre which is 10 mins from home, picked up the tickets for the 7.50 p.m. show, dined at a nice Italian restaurant, it was a great dinner, relaxing to enjoy the simple food and comfortably linger over the coffee. Finally, we headed for the movie, ‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’. The movie was also easy, not too complicated, not too introspective, gloomy or action oriented, it was a simple tale well told, perfect with the relaxed mood of the day. Thankfully Bhai also liked it, and then as we headed to the car the weather was pleasantly cool & windy, we stopped by this wonderful place called ‘The French Loaf’ picked us some great desserts, and breads and headed home. Reached home at quarter past 11. Shared the desserts with everyone, and then decided to set the alarms for a little later than usual time, since the pets were boarded there really was no reason to rise with the sun.

It was a simple break, just relaxed and nothing much, totally soothing and peaceful. Sometimes just not being on a schedule can be so relaxing in a world driven by schedules. It was a simple day, no phone calls, no messages, no internet but such a sense of rejuvenation, wholeness and perfection.

Feeling aubergine.

I’m feeling purple today, it’s been a long time since I’ve co-ordinated shades of purple, I think I fell back in love with it when I saw this cool aubergine shade of nail colour. I know the Goth look is dated but thankfully I’m not looking like a Goth but it has been ages since I tried on nail colour so strong, I think last when I was into navy blue and black nail colour shade was in College. After graduation, entering the service industry pretty much put a stop to these unconventional colours, with the professional sober look taking a priority. But yesterday this colour just appealed to that adventurous part of me. Often this part of me had led me to a lot of trouble, there was this phase in college when I was an ‘tomato head’ in college the idea of colouring my hair was one of the fun things I did, and boy did I swing in some shades at that time but my first colouring experience was unforgettable to me and a million others whom I provided amusement with! It was my all time different look.

One fine day I decided to try on hair colour and while I was at it dramatically alter my entire look by chopping off my long lustrous black hair and go with a ‘boy-cut’ and the hair coloured a flaming shade of red, The aim of the look was to look funky, with my hair taking on a tint of red, and looking classy, however, I looked like a beacon of sorts, believe me had we been living in a coastal city, my hair could’ve guided ships home. It was like the Yahoo red colour.

But being this Yahoo! Shade wasn’t a conscious choice, It was supposed to be a good red, and keeping my natural black hair in mind, it should’ve turned out like a lovely deep tint of red, I never thought that my natural back would take offense to being splashed with a bit of colour. I hoped it would know I loved it a lot but just wanted to try on something else. Had I talked to it whilst assuring it that I was going to stay my first love, it probably wouldn’t have just picked up its skirts and walked out. I never imagined it was such a weak clingy creature that needed to be reassured that it was loved.

But well, it was weak & insecure and offended, contrary to my hope that it would’ve the better sense to hold its ground, it just packed its bags and went, and leaving behind for the read a wonderfully pristine surface for the red to wash on, and I became a ‘tomato head’. My mom was horrified when I went home she was shocked, speechless and she didn’t know how to react, after all it was a multiple choice option:

a. Should she throw a fit for chopping off my long locks?

b. Should she react to the colour?

c. Should she faint?

d. Was this a nightmare?

e. Why did my grey cells abandon me?

f. Was her child colour blind?

Shocked into speechlessness I think it took her a week to find her voice (I wouldn’t like to think she didn’t want to talk to me!) anyway once she found her voice, boy! Was she vocal! Often I wonder how delightful silence can be…… and Bhai labeled me ‘Tomato head’ now why wasn’t he speechless I wonder. He had a delightful time bursting into mirth at the sight of me, anyway it was a good 2 weeks later when I was able to rinse out the red and become Mahogany but in the meantime I served the nation by providing laughter to a millions souls. After that many shades came and went, thankfully none that made me look like a blooming idiot, Post College I stuck to shades that looked professional.

But now that I’m my own boss I can once more be as expressive with colours as I wish to be. I never dreamt doing my own thing would translate to so much freedom. I’m absolutely delighted by the freedom my life has. So I gave into the temptation to pick the aubergine shade. And it is looking fantastic! So I’m gonna be aubergine for a good many days.