On the Corona Virus

Remember the kid in your class who has 60% attendance because he was always sick - I was that child. Adulthood hasn't been much different. Many weeks have been spent in hospital beds.

But I consider myself fortunate. It's given me the opportunity to make peace with my body. And as my friends discover prolapse, reflux, kidney stones, wheezing, dental surgeries, etc for the first time, I feel like a war veteran. Their bodies have just started creaking, mine has creaked, cracked, broken, and healed. I'm now in the best health I've ever been.

So, the prospect of a very viral virus just lying around on metal surfaces is annoying, to say the least. I feel my constitution might be weak enough to get it, and it'll definitely attract the worst strain of it. I'm definitely not afraid of dying of the coronavirus. But I really don't want to be quarantined, or worse, lay on a hospital bed. For those who haven't spent days stuck at home or glued to a hospital bed, let me inform you - it's not fun. Not romantic. Just boring. And dyspnea feels like someone's chocking you.

And I want to keep my little girl far from the virus. The same way I want to keep her away from other viruses, and bacteria, and mosquitoes, and paedophiles, and generally all "bad things."

So for all those folks out there who are at peace with the virus and are going about asking everyone "not to panic," please take a minute and acknowledge that you are probably speaking from a position of privilege. You are a healthy person, who can take off from work (or work from home) for a few weeks, and don't have a child / old parents at home. Not everybody is like you.

You didn't get malaria thrice a year, I did. And you didn't have 16 cavities, I did. So please, let me wear my mask, and stock up my fridge, and hoard on sanitisers, and obsessively check the news. And yes, I have read that masks may not help. No, my mask is not put the wrong way, and no, I don't touch my face more if my mask is on.