Corona byte

Disclaimer - This is my personal account/experience and doesn't mean to give any advice on what to do in situation. I am not a medical practitioner and details mentioned are only indicative of what I was advised for my conditions. But potentially this can give a hint on what not to do. Take everything with heap of salt as pinch may not be enough.

As saying goes - apne dusman ko kabhi kamjor nahin samjhna chahiye (you should never underestimate your enemy). I am certain that person who would have said this would have fought a prolonged war with his and would have won on each occasion. Thereby assuming he will win in future as well and one fine day enemy would have struck with all the vengeance after working (mutating) on its weakness. 

Not exactly on same line what happened with Corona but certainly fear of corona tapered off over the period and one fine day struck at its peak. I always considered myself cautious since the time Corona issue came. I never stepped out of my door without masks and washed or sanitized hands after returning home. This can be considered a new low compared to the initial lockdown days of 2020 when every time I ventured out I took bath after retuning and washed each and every item immediately and put it in a secluded area before using it. 

While I never know how and when I got it but with cases rising within the apartment even at same floor called for stricter regime like 2020 and I missed. And, probably one lax moment would have given the virus an opportunity to strike (Mistake 1).  I was waiting for announcement  for vaccination for my age group and even registered for it and then things came falling down. Can say, when I was about to get vaccinated I was bitten by the corona. (Apni kasti dubi wahan pe jahan pe paani kam tha - As per mythology, each one is rowing a boat which requires a fine balance and my boat drowned when the safety of vaccination was so near)

• Day 1 - What started with a shivering and cold sensation followed by fever on day 1 was gone within a day after taking paracetamol and I became casual about it (Mistake 2). 
• Day 2 went without any fever and I assumed everything is alright. (Mistake 3) but still requested for COVID test (Sensible Point 1). 
• Day 3 - is when the fever and cough started rising and realized there might be some problem. Consulted doctor immediately and got typical medicine prescribed. While all this was happening I had move to a separate room from day 1 and limited interactions with family (Sensible Point 2). Till day 3 I was still considering it as common cold or seasonal fever. 
• Day 4 - gave the sample for test even though temp was normal and I was confident that things are fine now while headache and body pain started troubling. And this is the point when things started awry from my expectation. 
• Day 5 - started with loss of taste and smell along with diarrhea. And I realized things are not ok. Tried reaching out to doctor again and found doctor was not reachable when I want and there is a wait time (mistake 4). 
• Day 6 - started with loads of coughing and sleepless night and then worry started on medical history. I couldn't find any doctor even by evening and I panicked (Mistake 5). Started reaching out to friends/colleagues who vaguely mention about knowing a doctor (Sensible Point 3).
• Day 7 - my doctor returned and so did my friend with his doctor contact and prescribed lot many tests and asked to start with steroids. BTW while all this was happening my report from day 4 was still not available and realized this as another folly. Never ever trust the online folks when time is of essence ( Mistake 6). 
• Day 8 - Blocked for RTPCR again for walk-in sample collection point, gave blood samples at diagnostic center by going there along with hospital for scanning. Thankfully I didn't fell anywhere unconscious alone and returned home safely. Cough bouts were increasing and I was remembering cast away movie tom hank character who mentioned never ever delay anything that requires medical attention. You will never know when you get lost in jungle. If corona could have been there at movie time he would have completed the dialog as - you will never know when you get lost in jungle or corona bites you making you more vulnerable to your problems. Not sure if this was a mistake or sensible thing as I was delaying things because of corona without considering the risk what if corona strikes me. Anyways. by day 8 end things started falling in place in terms of problem freezing. Got most of the report including the COVID report for day 4 morning sample confirming my worst fears. Blood samples pointed to some challenges and I panicked (Mistake 7). Dropped a note to my office support group for help as oxygen saturation values were going down. Consulted my doctor again and he moved me to higher doses of steroids and also told that entire family might have got it and asked them to start on steroid too immediately. More panic attacks! On the other hand, Friend doctor communicated informally via friend not to panic and not to start steroid for family and I didn't pushed it on family(Sensible Point 4) . 
• Day 9 - By now as I learnt my lessons from previous online COVID samples folks. I contacted directly via network and got a guy to visit and collect sample for entire family next day morning and by evening same day got the report confirming things are fine with family. It was a BIG relief as things could have gone much more messier with entire family down. Seeing problem with my existing doctor changed the doctor and went with my friend's/alumni network doctor (Sensible Point 5). He changed the quantity of steroids, added some antacid, blood thinners to support the entire steroid setup which was missing from earlier prescription. And to tell you this helped in BIG way. 
• Day 10 - Things started deteriorating with steroid doses and cough bout increased and leading to another sleepless night. My new doctor was out for conference and no slot of consultation available.
• Day 11 - No signs of improvement and my new doctor was still not back. Searched the doctor over LinkedIn, activated the Linkedin Premium and dropped a SOS note. Doctor was kind enough to respond and suggested changes in doses of cough syrup and additional test. Again a walk-in to the diagnostic center late evening which helped as results were available early morning. 
• Day 12 - Results were not that promising as I CRP doubled, ratio of neutrophil and lymphocyte entered the danger zone. Consulted the doctor and was assured that even though the results are not promising I should be fine and panicking will only make it worse. Asked for way to connect continuously. A channel was created for me whereby doctor will be available to respond promptly for any query via the official app (Sensible Point 6). I should have probably enquired for such channel availability on day 9 when I consulted my doctor for first time. (Mistake 8). This channel helped me to be in constant touch with doctor and get clarification on most of my worries over next few days.
• Day 13 - Temp stopped exceeding the normal temperature range but no changes in cough. BTW over this entire period oxygen saturation continued to be a challenge. Prone position helped on all such occasion to bring back to normal range. Similarly elevated headrest position helped partially with the cough bout.
• Day 14, 15 - Status quo but I felt I am doing fine so requested for RTPCR again assuming I will get an negative result and after that I can possibly stop mad sanitizer spray regime at each and every touch point. Unfortunately it was still early and result was not as per my expectation. Few more days of mad sanitizer spray everywhere.
• Day 16 - Day20 - All these days went without major surprises but slowly I started feeling that things are improving and this feeling helped a lot. Finally gave the RTPCR sample again at Day 20 and by Day 21 morning got the result that things are fine now.
• Day 21-Day 25 - There was still a hesitation to mingle with family and step out from isolation area even though doctor confirmed that there is no problem. Only thing that reduced was sanitizer spray. But slowly one step at a time towards normalcy started.
• Day 26 - The day when finally I found comfortable to step out of room without much mental blockage and resumed with regular work.

It certainly takes a toll on mind and body. There are stages when care are not taken can lead to an ugly turn. Few of the lessons - 

1. At least during current time, do not take even a minor fever cough incident lightly. Don't rush for testing as well immediately but start identifying places which can give quicker result. Mostly Day 4 is when getting the RTPCR done along with a result is what that is needed. Not that it makes corona recovery faster but government regulation requires a positive result and associated tracking number for hospitalization.
2. Keep your mind engaged all the time and stay away from negative news/people. Mind plays a lot of trick and negative news make the game worse.
3. Day 5-7 are critical. By day 4-5 if situation is not improving even after completing course of medicine prescribed by doctor then time to consult and get blood tests and CT done on day 7. Not before day 6-7 and not beyond day 8. Again, rule of thumb - go by doctor advice. People making random video on youtube or people posing as doctor and quoting random points in video forward do not have clue about your condition and medical history. Prescription/Medicine/Advice varies from people to people.
4. While the most difficult part but definitely needed is not to panic. Delegate as far as feasible to your family member, friends or office colleague on items which is bothering you. Your family, friends and office colleagues are your biggest support system and are always there when you need it.
5. Limit talking and communicate mostly over chat. Last thing you look for is increase in coughing bout because of talking.
6. Last but not the least, live in the moment and be positive. Be grateful. Things will be fine. Keep your mind engaged and distracted. It helps a lot.

Need not emphasize more that Corona is definitely real and appropriate care should be taken till the time it goes away completely or majority of population is vaccinated. Stay home and stay safe!

Corona Talkies - Day 31

Third post in corona talkies. None of the post has anything to do with a movie or theatre but instead can be passed as a random note. With Lockdown 2.0 announcement by PMO India, what started as a 21 day confinement has turned into a 40 day no-outdoor-activity/no-social-gathering event. This also gave opportunity to observe and ponder over few aspects - 

• I was talking with few of my friends who happen to stay at their workplace which is far away from places (well any place within city itself is too far considering lockdown but worry had higher intensity with city, state and country boundary based distance) where their parents are staying during lockdown. I am sure worries will be at both the end at the moment but for a change child's also started worrying about parents which was only parent's past time earlier. Probably, extra time at hand at each end to think how possibly things can go wrong brought those worrying feelings at forefront. 
• I have tagged myself during lockdown with an old couple who happen to stay in apartment block so as to ensure that they get their daily grocery needs sorted without them being stepping out of apartment premise. While I wasn't really going out specifically for any of their asks but instead clubbing their request along-with items which I had to buy anyways. But interestingly, during each visit to handover something, I get to hear that how much trouble I am taking for them and how thankful they are for this gesture. It's good feeling nonetheless to assist someone but repeated thank you note is certainly embarrassing.
• This lockdown gave opportunity to listen to constant chatter from kid and also closely observe their behaviour. Noticed kid mimicking my own action and behaviour at each point and also helped to understand why they do what they do. This creates an additional burden (yes, burden) to do the right thing or guide them to do right thing keeping aside your own insecurities and lack of confidence to do that task. Probably, a leader role where leader themselves aren't really capable to do the thing on own at first instance (or they never achieve) but then convert their fears into confidence to get many more those who are following him/her achieve the tasks for greater good. Life is really interesting
• For some reason there is an increased emphasis on learning during lockdown. Why not all the time and what stops people during regular time? Or this is just the IN thing, that one thing to show-off?

On side note - 78 episode (35 minutes each) of Ramayan got over but Corona didn't and looks like stop loss set with 96 episode (60 minutes each) of Mahabharat too will go for toss. Corona waiting for Shaktiman (450 episode of 30 minutes each) to get over will probably be catastrophe far beyond negative crude futures price or Franklin templeton 6 debt funds going dry. Later actually reminded me about Third curve lecture shared by Mansoor khan during PGSEM inauguration.

To end - encountering daily with below statements and not necessarily in office conference calls - 

• Are you guys able to see my screen? 
• Is my screen visible?
• hellooooo! am I audible? 
• Can everyone go on mute please? 
• Those who are not talking kindly go on mute?

On last 2 points - people are most likely doing this just for fun part of it. Else, how come they keep their line unmute even after explicit muting by the host. It is comedy to see how host struggles in each call to get people muted explicitly and work through comments thrown on corrective measures by some of the participants in chat window. ;-)

P.S. - Another incoherent and random post. This post was supposed to go live on Lockdown day#25 but for some reason or other I couldn't put the content after starting with it. Not that it makes any difference to reader but for me to remind that I keep pushing few things forward. Ideally those items should be closed then and there.

Life at time of corona

As saying goes - hard time teaches the most valuable lessons and brings us together. This pandemic and resulting lockdown brought entirely new perspective on community living, family, colleagues, friends. While nothing really changed from deliverable's/work perspective as if world is still the same but how we communicate with each other did changed. On side note, received a quote from whatsapp university which says - "If you would like to know how it feels to be a IT Employee during the Novel coronavirus pandemic… Remember when the Titanic was sinking and the band continued to play? - We’re the band". Interestingly, similar kind of customised quotes were being forwarded for bank,  healthcare, hospitality, police, retailer employee's, etc. Which made me think probably all of us were part of band and no one was taking care of ship which led to sinking of the ship. Few might have watched Titanic followed by these forwards, if they have not watched in past. Some extra revenue for streaming portals. ;-)

On professional front, each touch-points with colleagues/team/client typically started with small talk on - how everyone is doing and whether all was OK at their end unlike pre-lockdown phase where meetings mostly started with set agenda. On personal front, realisation of fact that movement is blocked intracity itself, forget about intercity/state/country was worrying with parents away. Those familial concerns became prominent which I didn’t observed before came in forefront. Similar worries of friends/office colleagues for their siblings/parents were noticeable too.

Me and my wife being at home at same time during day meant weekend for my preschooler kid, there was constant nudge during initial days from his end to go out to his cousin's house as per the usual routine for each weekend. It was a challenge to make him understand that it's a regular work day and we can't go out anywhere because there are no transport means. Obviously, incessant calls/meetings for both my wife and mine made it easy and helped him to understand the fact that it is working day and parents are not going out as something wrong outside. He too gradually found new ways to engage himself and thankfully with daily traffic game (queued toys) which he played, I don't think I have missed Bangalore traffic at all.

Once adjusted to new normal, predictability returned in day and had some free time to listen to son's chatter and reasoning’s that why I should be playing with him more or even write something on blog page which was crying for some posts since past many years. I have become more appreciative of efforts which my wife put at work/home (well, it was mutual and will probably help in future) and made an attempt to distribute house chores among ourselves to avoid anyone burning out. Now we are truly 'maid' for each other. Took some master class on blockchain, enterprise architecture and Heroku when had opportunity to take them. Last but not the least, rearranged the bookshelf and placed books at key locations to get ample cues to pick and read those half read books which certainly helped.

To end, taking multiple perspectives into consideration’s Dicken’s quote is certainly relevant now - It was the best of times, it was the worst of times..

P.S. - This is unabridged version of writeup which I shared with for my unit newsletter. 

Corona Talkies - Day 12

This is second post in corona talkies. While no one is reading my blog page with me being away for more than 2 years still want to highlight standard disclaimer. Kindly don't take any of content personally and there isn't any intention to hurt any religious/political sentiment (or any sentiments which are larger than life).

We are living in world were few people have lost sense of what is right and what is wrong. And at same time we have animation series giving interesting perspective. As rubble from paw patrol quotes when his TV show is not coming because of faulty satellite which fell out of orbit and heading towards adventure bay to destroy the life - "I feel bad as I was only thinking about my TV show when entire adventure bay is in trouble". And at same time here we have few folks who were thinking only about their rituals and customs during such hard times which had impact on entire country. If it was not intentional then nothing worse than this and if it was intentional then guess it is state matter which they will handle anyways after appropriate investigation.

Disease which is not looking for country/religion/affluence boundaries and treats everyone equally to destroy and devastate life should be handled with utmost care. Follow every thing which you believe but only from boundary of your home in these hard times. As each person stepping out is increasing the risk of exposure to many other people over the period because of its contagious nature. 

Migrants were another problem but with no work work, no money and no access to food topping it with risk on life with no roof on head - they hardly had any options until govt took notice of this problem and did arrangement for them. Obviously at heavy advertisement cost to spread the awareness but what was other option? [Couldn't find news link from moneycontrol which had an interesting perspective on this]. And if picked your interest and know bhojpuri/hindi you can listen to comment from Ravish Kumar an Indian journalist. Analyzing content will F your mind but always good to hear each side of stories. 

Leaving aside all negative points, positive things that has happened with Corona lockdown from my perspective. 

- Stock market are at sensible number upto some extent. I personally believe anything below 7K for NSE is at Sale which will be bigger than big billion sale. And as it happens during all sale, I end up not buying anything and story may not be different here as well - paisa nahin hai bhai.

- Kids and families are having some quality time provided they are together after settling down during past 10-12 days. First week may have been hard with lot of arguments (probably). After all, while adjusting with work colleagues during long work hour we had little time to argue back at home and probably forgot how to adjust for longer duration while being at home. 

- Unprecedented order level for online grocery platform that they aren't taking any further orders. Only unfortunate part is they are constrained for delivery with reduced movement and lesser delivery folks(migrants?)

- Human side of people are visible (up to some extent) - be it paying their maid/house help even when they aren't coming home to work, or understanding that resources are scarce and limit the wastage and coming together to support our neighbors and society.

- Last but not the least pollution which unfortunately will be back once business as usual resumes. But it is unbelievable to see note that people that they are seeing himalayan range from Jalandhar and Burj Khalifa from Noida. Pollution hin kam huwa hai bhai, eye sight or bich ke opque item nahin gayab huwe hain. Will wait to hear soemone saying they are seeing Eiffiel tower from bangalore and statue of liberty from patna. Statue of unity nahin dikh raha tha kya bhai Noida se? Left mein thoda sar ghumate to dikh jaata.

Note - All links are copied from google search top result. Kindly don't assume those link to contain fact and can be considered as that person's/media house perspective only.

P.S. - Leaving it to your interpretation but remembered a sanskrit sloka from  7th Class NCERT Book (Obviously it is from Geeta) but had to share the source as always. 

Yada Yada Hi Dharmasya Glanirva Bhavathi Bharatha,
Abhyuthanam Adharmaysya Tadatmanam Srijami Aham.

Praritranaya Sadhunam Vinashaya Cha Dushkritam

Dharamasansthapnaya Sambhavami Yuge-Yuge.

Meaning in link here. Jai ho!

Corona Talkies - Day 10

New attempt to dilute the blog page once again and none other than coronavirus (or is it china virus as POTUS mentioned?) should be blamed if you happen to bump into my blog page.

Few observations at time of corona.

1) One should watch sansani at 11 PM at ABP news. The guy is so loyal to channel without an iota of care towards people watching TV that he end the show with comment "I will meet you again tomorrow afternoon till that time keep watching ABP news". Koi daaku makeup mein aaye anchor bhai saheb ko batao ki subhratri (good night) karke bhi koi cheez hoti hai jo raat ko 11:30 PM pe bol sakte hain. 

2) Dish service providers might have seen some spike in network load as quite a few people with whom I interacted recently have recharged their long dead setup box. For uninitiated - Your internet service won't be able to take load of Ramayan, Mahabharat, Saktimann and Sansani (chain se sona hai to jaag jaao - aur dekh ke sona bhul jaao)

More to come till one between corona or ..... doesn't end.

First post for 2019 and 2020 for not so happy new year. But as one great person named Andy Dufresne once said - Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies. So I hope this new year too to be a good new year like how it had been for past so many eon's for human race and earth as a whole.