Viruses hate alcohol

Last Tuesday morning when I entered my workplace, after going through the rotating turnstile, the next stop was the temperature check by a device put near the entrance, a new set up post Covid. As I passed through, the scanner talked loud and clear - "Your temperature is normal" displaying my body temperature of 97.6°F. After settling down at my desk, as usual I grabbed my morning cuppa Coffee. It felt soothing to my slightly itchy throat.

Soon I had this odd feeling of my throat getting sore and starting to itch more. By noontime I could sense coming down with something. This is not uncommon at this time of the year, the beginning of flu season. Post lunch I sneezed couple of times as my nostrils started to get warmer and wetter, as my breathing was beginning to give my nose a burning sensation. My spine, knees and slowly my entire body started aching badly.

Rather than hanging around and spreading my infection to the slim workforce on a Thanksgiving week and putting the rest of my coworkers at risk, I took rest of the days off and headed back home. Skipping my usual afternoon walk, I told my wife make a "Kada Chai" (strong tea) boiled with a liberal dosage of ginger slices and black pepper. It certainly was soothing to my aching throat. But the relief was temporary as it began to get worse.

Fortunately the next day was the day before Thanksgiving, a short day at work from home. I was feeling weak and tired, so took an afternoon siesta. By evening I was starting to get chills all over my body. It prompted me to gulp down Extra Strength Tylenol and retire early to bed. Normally I get up around 6 AM in the morning. But on this Thanksgiving day,  a holiday here, when I opened my eyes it was already 9 O'clock in the morning. My entire body from tip to toe was hurting like hell. I told my wife - "My voice sounds like our legendary singer Saigal". She replied sarcastically - "To me it sounds more like the course croak of a Bull Frog on a rainy summer night". We ordered some hot Thai food for dinner, which felt good to my tasteless taste bud.

The first thing I did after getting up on this Thanksgiving morning was do a Covid test using my home test kit. Thankfully it came negative. But flu like symptoms persisted, though I have already taken the seasonal flu shot weeks ago. I continued to lie on bed like a horizontal version Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, the legendary medieval time  preacher in Odisha and Bengal during the Bhakti movement. After a frugal lunch of hot chicken soup and lightly toasted bread I took a long afternoon nap on Thanksgiving day, thanks to the drowsy extra strength Tylenol. 

On Thanksgiving evening the feeling was horrible. Never felt like this for a long time. I was constantly getting chills and flu like symptoms. After excusing my wife and son for dinner, I went on sleep on an empty stomach. The next day, the day following Thanksgiving was hardly any better. The virus continued to torment me. It was a challenge for me to walk barely 30 feet to the mailbox on Friday afternoon to fetch mails as my legs refused oblige. The flu like symptoms won't relent. I was feeling hungry but hardly left with any energy or desire to eat. I drank hot ginger, black pepper tea which made me feel a little better after all. Yet it barely helped as the relief was temporary. By evening it was again starting to get worse.

I read somewhere that Viruses hate Alcohol. So I poured myself two stiff, large pegs of Vodka. My wife made me a double egg Omlete with freshly plucked chopped red chillies still growing in my backyard with cilantro on top. I washed the hot Omlete down with the sharp tasting Vodka. Alcohol shrugged off my jaded nerves. I slumped on bed to fade into deep slumber.

I woke up Saturday morning fresh and refreshed, feeling a whole lot better. I was still sneezing and coughing, but the worst seemed to be over. The body ache and weakness had reduced to a manageable level by not making me feel any worse. What various medications couldn't do, couple of Vodka shots could. No wonder viruses hate alcohol.