Life, Musing & Anecdotes

#AtoZChallenge 2016 Day 5 – E for Emergency Room

by Tina Basu
written by Tina Basu
This is in 2009, I was staying in a PG in Bangalore and had some lovely friends there. We are still friends though we stay in different cities and countries now! One early morning my room-mate, the very sweet V, started complaining about stomach ache all of a sudden. This was 9thMay, I still remember the date.

We had been out for a dinner the previous night so thought she must be having some indigestion and gave her a ‘Pudin hara’ (an OTC popular drug) in that half asleep state. She was obedient enough to pop it in. But I heard she was crying in pain. Another friend (R) got in our room hearing her sobs. V was still complaining about pains!


“If you keep doing like this, we’ll take you to the hospital, now get back to sleep”, I almost scolded her!

But I was surprised when she said ‘yes please take’. V was not the one who would go to a doctor easily and she is willing to go to the hospital means she IS in pain.

We were on our way to the hospital in an auto-rickshaw when V started screaming in pain and then went limp all of a sudden. The auto was waiting at the red signal. The driver got scared too.

“Signal tod du?” he asked (should I break the signal?)

“Tod do” we replied in tandem. (break it)

We were at the ER in no time breaking all signals on our way. We were quite scared because we didn’t understand what was going on. We wheeled her in and got her on a bed when this junior doctor took details.

“I think it’s kidney stones” V cried aloud suddenly waking up from the unconscious.

We all looked at her in surprise. She was okay!

“That is for me to decide”, announced the doctor.

They ran few tests and gave her some painkillers so that she could be silent for some time. We were running here and there getting the payment done, taking her to those particular departments for the tests. Our third friend A was back at the PG after her night shift and joined us at the hospital.

I took her to the X-Ray department to get this chest X-Ray done.

The X-ray was over in a few minutes and I was helping her to get dressed. The nurse at the room was taking down some details in the file. She looked to be a calm, serene, soft spoken Keralian.

“Patient’s name”

I was tending to all her queries while V was coming out from behind the curtains
As the nurse uttered the next words V started howling holding my hands

“Tins, AIDS ho gaya mujhe…” sob sob sob (Tins, I caught AIDS)- They call me Tins instead of Tina

“27” I replied to the nurse aloud who was utterly shocked by now looking at V howling

I had to scream at V –AGE AGE, she asked you AGE!!!!

The tears stopped, the howling stopped in that fraction of a sec.

Tell me how can someone mishear AGE as AIDS!!!!

But thanks to the nurse’s accent, that’s what V had heard which resulted in all the hysteria.

I was still thinking whether to laugh, be annoyed or do what.

All I had to tell V was – Since when did AIDS virus started getting detected in a chest X-ray!!!

And AIDS…. Really???

We still LOL on this whenever we are together and discuss our 9th May mayhem.

P.S. She actually had developed kidney stones, but is all fine after a surgery and medication.


Love you V.   

Source


Let me know if you are enjoying the anecdotes!

Until next time, Cheers!!

Meanwhile check out an easy healthy breakfast recipe
  in my Food Blog


 ***
This post is written for the A to Z Challenge 2016 for Day 5 Letter E. Visit A to Z, BlogChatter to read other beautiful bloggers!


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TravelTravel Anecdotes

#AtoZChallenge 2016 Day 4 – D for Dry

by Tina Basu
written by Tina Basu
 We were touring through Egypt in the year 2007 and spent few days on the Nile cruise. I think I was in third year of my college! I was with my parents but had a single suite to myself! I made few friends in the ship, it’s always good to hang around with your age group, because otherwise some people (the aunties and uncles I mean) can get on your nerves!

On this particular day we were anchored in Luxor for the day. If you are visiting Egypt you will probably see more temples than you can ever see in India! After some sightseeing through the day our evening was free to roam around. My parents, as usual, wanted to visit the market! Now there’s hardly anything you can buy in there – other than local perfumes, handicrafts or dates!!! So I really wanted to skip all that and go for a swim. Thankfully I was left alone and not dragged all the way to the market.


But this gang that had formed within the ship had some other plans – partying!! I had to say yes to that! But we were faced with a tricky situation. I had some Egyptian Dollars with me and no USD and I didn’t want the bill to be charged to the room (for obvious reasons). If my parents got a hang of this party I could have been in trouble! So we decided to go out in the town and party. Good enough.

The super market nearby didn’t have anything in it. Not a single can/bottle of beer! We were expressing our disgust while walking over to another store nearby when a man approached us and spoke in broken English. The guy didn’t look to be a tourist or a shop keeper, we figured out he was a horse carriage puller. He had heard us.

“You people looking for beer? No beer!”

We thought we’ll ignore and keep walking.

“You will no get there, nowhere now” he yelled.

We thought – like really! Nowhere! He must be mad. The place is throbbing of tourists everywhere. What did he mean by no beer anywhere??

The next store too didn’t have anything for us!

“Told you, no get beer this month” he said as we stepped out. He was waiting outside the store!

He probably understood our expression and explained – “this is dry month – its Ramadan!”

We had completely forgotten it was October and it’s an Islamic country!

But that man offered us to get some local brand beer in black! We were little wary of that but gave in because we didn’t want to spoil the party!

He was back with a rag sack in 20 minutes but asked us to get back to the ship and open them. We obviously were happy and respected their faith and were back at the ship. But pretty soon the party turned sour, bitter – one sip of that beer and everyone started swearing – the worst beer any one had ever tasted! 

Some were brave enough to finish their cans. But mine went down the flush! I was rather happy with the mineral water bottle in the room!


If you are visiting an Islamic country, always note which time of the year you are going. And if you are in a similar situation like mine (but I was quite young that time) please have booze from trusted sources!! 



Let me know if you are enjoying the anecdotes!

Until next time, Cheers!!

Meanwhile check out an easy breakfast recipe 
for the diabetics in my Food Blog


 ***
This post is written for the A to Z Challenge 2016 for Day 4 Letter D. Visit A to Z, BlogChatter to read other beautiful bloggers!
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Life, Musing & Anecdotes

#AtoZChallenge 2016 Day 3 – C for Camera Shy

by Tina Basu
written by Tina Basu

Camera Shy

We are living in the age of Selfies, aren’t we? Before anything else happens we take a selfie – at a mall, in your balcony, in your bed, washroom, and I don’t know where all. I myself am party to it. Some of my cousins say I am obsessed with selfies!! Like really??? I know girls who take 69 washroom selfies at a cinema!! I am much mellower than that. At least I post much lesser than what I click. LOL.

Just a few days back someone said in our family whatsapp group I should be named Selfie Tina. It made me laugh actually. It sent me thinking for sometime.


The more I see my son posing for selfies at 8 months the more amazed I get. The moment you hold the phone in front of him he knows it’s time to pose! He is a camera friendly baby. But his mom hasn’t been like that always.

If you see photos of mine from my childhood you’ll be surprised to see a kid who’s always sulking. I hated cameras, I hated flash, I simply hated the idea of gathering together and posing for photos.

During my childhood, we used to have these photo sessions at home. My dad has a friend who is a famous photo journalist and we have had many photo sessions with him. I was probably five or six when one Sunday we were all dressed up for one such photo session.

I particularly was not happy how my mum had dressed me up. I hated kajal, I hated jewellery, I hated stockings. I don’t know why but I just can’t stand stockings at all. I was not happy with any of the outfits I was made to wear. Then came the torturous lights, quite a nightmare for me.

All other cousins were super happy and excited about the photoshoot. They all loved posing and dressing up. And there I was sulking in all the photos, which was enough to face some wrath from my mom later.

This is exactly how uninterested I was while being clicked. I am in Red Shirt


But if you follow me on Instagram now or on FB you’ll know how much the little camera shy girl has come across. I still don’t know why I used to sulk in all photos in my earlier days.


But my bub ain’t camera shy!

Here’s mom and son – Same Place, Same Photographer and Same toys!! he hijacked my teddies!!


Let me know if you are enjoying the anecdotes!

Until next time, Cheers!!

Meanwhile check out an easy summer salad recipe in my Food Blog



***
This post is written for the A to Z Challenge 2016 for Day 3 Letter C. Visit A to Z, BlogChatter to read other beautiful bloggers!

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Life, Musing & Anecdotes

#AtoZChallenge 2016 Day 2 – B is Braving the Bumble!

by Tina Basu
written by Tina Basu
B is Braving the Bumble!
I like wearing freshly laundered and pressed clothes for work and I like ironing my clothes myself. But you know sometimes you are running late and need to iron in a hurry just before you step out.
 
So on this particular morning, I grabbed my formals which were drying out in the balcony and did quick ironing before I went for my bath.  
 
Husband was still asleep as his work timings were very different. I wore my trouser and was buttoning up my shirt when I felt a sharp pain on the back of my left knee. This pain was strong and painful enough to get me screaming and jumping half dressed. It woke my sleepy hubby who could only muster “you’re screaming so loud!!”


When I tried to feel the area of pain I could feel something fluttering!
 
‘What the hell! What was in my pants! A cockroach!!!’
 
Those few seconds were hell… I hate cockroach.. or anything like that.
 
Indro came for help. I could feel he was grinning inside with my third eye I guess, and I was in a good mood to give that back but this flustering entity was the bigger problem at that moment. The pants were off in a second. And guess what came flying out – a bee!! A big fat black and yellow bumble bee!!!!
 
The sight of it was bad enough to get me screaming louder but the pain was worse.
 
Leg in pain, huge bee flying in the room – it was horror story for me.
 
I had to go to work, had an important morning meeting but the leg was in bad shape – swollen, red and burning. Damn that bumble bee!! I remembered applying vinegar would bring relief. Don’t know where I had heard that. Indro got the vinegar bottle from the kitchen in a flash and I fetched some cotton from the medicine chest. Just before application the label on the bottle caught my attention. It read Chili Vinegar!!!!
 
Can you imagine what would have happened?
 
Some after shave came to rescue and I limped till work later.
 
One brave bee, I tell you!
 
For more of such anecdotes from my life keep visiting throughout April. 
 
Source
 
Do you have any experience with a bee or any other insect? Let me know. I’ll wait for your comment.

***
This post is written for the A to Z Challenge 2016 for Day 2 Letter B. Visit A to Z, BlogChatter to read other beautiful bloggers!

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Life, Musing & Anecdotes

#AtoZChallenge 2016 Day 1 A – Anaesthesia Story

by Tina Basu
written by Tina Basu
Oh My God first of April is here and I gotta write every day!!! Is someone trying to fool me today?? Well actually not. I am indeed going to write every day! Okay my theme this year for the A to Z Challenge is anecdotes and I am sharing glimpses of my life through several anecdotes.

Those of you know me on FB or are regular readers here know that I was pregnant a few months ago and now I have a little boy. [Who’s turning out to be a complete monkey]. Today I am going to tell you about my delivery story. 

A is Anesthesia!


I had a c-section because of some complications. Since my dad is a surgeon himself he offered to be present in the OT. The OB and dad are great friends. On the day of the surgery, I got a catheter inserted [which was quite a prick] and the anesthetist said “we are going to give you anesthesia now.” [As if I had anything to say in it.] I was getting a general anesthesia.

I don’t know when everything was blank and black or I was sleeping god knows what was happening. I felt something moving below my (then huge) belly! I could feel bells ringing around my head somewhere but couldn’t open my eyes. I could hear my dad’s voice somewhere in the distance. But what’s happening through all that loud rings and jing bangs! That’s when it struck me shit the anesthesia didn’t work! Not completely for I could still feel every damn thing!

The hand that’s moving near my belly what is that hand going to do?? Is the doctor marking the place for incision??? Are they going to cut me up now??? But I can feel every damn thing – I am in trouble, big trouble, I am going to feel all the pain – it’s going to turn in a horror story!!

I tried, I tried really hard to open my eyes, to speak, to move my hands, fingers, legs just about any damn thing in the body so that I could signal them I am not knocked off yet, you are going to hurt me, just stop with what you are doing. But nothing was working. The bells were now inside my head, someone was hammering inside my brain. I could hear people talk louder. I was still trying, relentlessly, to move my hands. I could hear people laughing around. Why the hell are these doctors laughing!! I am going to feel the pain!! Someone look at me I am trying to signal.

I could barely move my fingers and I concentrating on moving with all the strength I had in body. Black clouds moving white bright sun coming in. Yes I was close I was succeeding in moving my wrist maybe I could speak but something was stopping me. The bright glare just vanished ohh I could see… “ann….annn…anesth…anesthesia hoyni…. Stop… “(anesthesia didn’t take place… stop). I managed to utter with great difficulty.

But everyone started laughing! WTF! I am trying so hard and you guys are laughing! Dad…where’s my dad? That’s the only thing I could think that time. The anesthetist lady again laughed and announced to others “She is telling anesthesia didn’t take place!” Again there was a round of laughter and I could hear my dad telling from somewhere don’t try to speak it will hurt your throat.

“Stop, no anesthe…”

“Tina… surgery is over” said my dad hovering over my face.

“What??”

That’s when I got to know that everything was over and I was coming back into the senses and not getting knocked off!! The hand that was moving near my belly was my OB’s hands stitching me up. All that effort that I was putting in making a single finger move was all in vain and I felt like a complete idiot!

Dad came again and asked “are you interested in knowing about the baby?” That’s when it hit me ‘oh yes I was here to deliver!’

I can never forget how I made a fool out of myself. It was the first time I was having a surgery and getting a general anesthesia. Maybe things like this happen with others! Or maybe I should stop reading about anesthesia gone wrong stories!

It still brings a smile on my face on how I made a complete idiot out of myself. 

LOL


Ok I am not the only one! Source

Do you have any similar anesthesia story? Let me know. I’ll wait for your comment.                                                                                

***
This post is written for the A to Z Challenge 2016 for Day 1 Letter A. Visit A to Z, BlogChatter to read other beautiful bloggers!

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sad girl in forest, rape survivor, fiction, tina basu
Fiction & WritingMicro Fiction

Three Words Wednesday – That Night

by Tina Basu
written by Tina Basu
I am gearing up for the April A to Z. I am in the Planning and Scheduling stage (sounds like I am working on some product launch LOL) anyways. I want to be ready with 10 posts so that I have time in my hand. But hey, that doesnt mean I’ll not write anything else! 
 
Got my Three Words Wednesday promt in my inbox. What a perfect mail to get me writing! 
 
There you go.

That Night

She woke up with a heavy head. It was all hazy. Where was she? 

She could hardly remember anything.

The ground felt clammy, slimy insects crawling everywhere. Where was she?

Torn clothes… Bleeding nose… Her entire body was in pain.

She tried hard to remember… what had happened… She was at Sam’s house party last night… 

How did I come here? Where am I? Joan couldn’t comprehend anything.

She picked herself up… her eyes wandering around.

Morning rays were peeping in through the dense forest. 

Why can’t I remember anything? Why am I in this godforsaken forest! 

She kept walking, trying to figure out a way out from the forest. Still tying to remember what had happened last night.

But she would never be able to remember… never remember who brought her here or how they were brutal on her while they violated her. Thanks to the new drug in the black market her rapists will roam free. 

This micro fiction is written for Three Words Wednesday on the word prompts Brutal, Clammy & Dense.


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