Apale
It’s a sunday night and i’m feeling tired even before the week has started. That’s not how it should be, specially after 3 of the most relaxing days on the beach in Talpe, rounded off by a Hansi roti kadey stop on the way home. I read fiction for the first time this year, I didn’t take my laptop with me and I didn’t even feel the time pass. The first four months of this year have been very heavy with work, there’s been great fun in between, with lots of travelling and of course the world cup, but i think im feeling the pinch a bit. Last week I finished 2 of the 4 major things i’m working on, and I think both went well, so much so that it’s fair to say the last 2 weeks have been possibly the best of my short career so far. So hopefully by the end of this month i’d have completed the other two major things, leaving two smaller matters to be dealt with by mid-May. Responsibility levels have increased, the importance of the work has increased and I’m loving it, but I think a break is needed. A break in the sense of knowing there is nothing pressing that I should be doing when I’m not at work. For the past 4 months even if i’ve been out of town or just at home on a weekend, i’ve had work nagging me in the background, and that’s tiring. So there is a plan emerging to go to Nepal in the end of April to do a bit of trekking, rafting and discovering the land beyond Katmandu. If that is to materialize, i’ll have to work extra hard over the next three weeks and pray that nothing new comes up. Which is why i’m annoyed that I’m feeling jaded already.
I seem to be running into some bad luck these days as well. I was incapacitated in some way through most of March. First up i caught a flu of sorts which meant no swimming and made work very difficult bc of the A/C office. Actually the lack of swimming was far more troubling, the daily swim has become part of my routine, and being a creature of habit, i’m not fond of change. Soon as i recovered i managed to chip my toe while playing football with the dog. Lost a quarter of my big toe nail, a lot of skin, a chunk of flesh and the ability to wear shoes. Those who saw my toe once it was finally exposed from the bandaging will tell you that I am exaggerating a lot, but there really was a lot of blood so i was entitled to feel distressed. During the injury time i had a dramatic limp and an even more dramatic amount of protectiveness, warning everyone to stay away and producing menacing looks to deter those who dared venture close. Eventually it healed and I was able to get back to my usual activities.
Hardly a week had passed when I went to waadduwa to mess around on a poya day in the sea. The sea was a typical poya day sea, rough as hell and unswimmable. So i resorted to catching crabs on the beach. I spotted a nice large and lazy looking fellow who seemed unaware of my presence. I produced my best 007 stalking and crept up on the unassuming crustacean. Now i’m quite good at catching crabs, specially up at Buba on a Sunday evening where the overfed devils are almost too easy. So expectations were high. I inched closer, the crab barely moved, and then i pounced. As soon as i hit the ground i knew i had done something to my shoulder. My first reaction was that it had popped, but i stood up dazed, tried to join in my friends’ laughter and felt around nervously for jutting out bones. My whole arm was numb but i could move it around without too much difficulty. No breaks, no dislocations. I figured its just sore, and i couldn’t make a fuss bc it would all look quite silly. I went home and mocked my mother for suggesting physiotherapy. I expected it to be fine by morning, a strained rotator cuff seemed the obvious injury given the nature of movement possible.
I ambled into work and all was fine till around 12 when the pain began to sharpen and I knew something was wrong for the pain to get worse. I bit the bullet and called the physio, maternal instinct is just too damn annoying. I was glad she didn’t do the whole “i told you so” gig. The physio examined me in all manner of ways, bending my arm back and forth and testing every plane of motion. He frowned and I began to worry. I asked him if its rotator cuff, and he said probably not, that this is a lot worse. Apparently the fall on the elbow had been at such an angle that it got no cushion from any muscles, all the weight fell square on the shoulder joint, as a result the tendons and ligaments in the shoulder capsule had got torn. Apparently the delayed pain was the tell tale sign. The blood flow to the capsule is very low, and therefore healing is a particularly slow process. And worse still, recurrence is pretty much a given. I asked the dreaded question, how long? The physio replied that soft tissue injuries can take up to 6 weeks, and during this time it would require utmost rest. That means no swimming, no imaginery bowling, and no driving in the immediate future. I felt deflated. The only thing that interested me was the prospect of wearing a sling and looking rather cool, specially since I was making a presentation at a conference the next day. Of course i would have to hatch a better story than “i fell down trying to catch kakkotuwas”. But the physio disappointed again and said no need for a sling. My pleading look went swish over his head.
One good thing came out of it, I got to skip a dinner in honour of the conference guests that night due to physio commitments. That gave me a chance to watch the England vs SL match, and what a match it was. Big Dil stepped up and won it for us off the last ball after that bugger Bopara cost me a few months of my life by weakening my heart that much more. (but what a knock, well played). The next morning all the SLkans at the conference were red-eyed, but we gave one another knowing looks and smiles of acknowledgement knowing the whole thing was worth it. As the parents have been saying, it maybe a bit of an apale time for me, but things are looking good in the West Indies. Good luck chaps.
