A Fever or Twain

 I love fevers. Only as long as they're the names of FM radio stations or sales on Amazon, Flipkart, Snapdeal or Ajio. Or any other shopping website, I don't know too many. Fevers ought to occur only on these websites and not with humans- it's just unfair. 

We always keep going on about how the human body is amazing and has evolved beautifully so it has indicators for a variety of scenarios and so on, but think about it for a moment. If the human body had to give an indicator of infection, couldn't it have chosen something (anything?!) other than an increase in body temperature? And I mean anything.

Just think about it and let the idea sit in your mind. Instead of a fever, imagine growing longer nails if you've got an infection. Or even better, your nails change colour if you're sick. And I don't mean a colour change like a pink or red, oh no. I mean green or blue or violet or white or neon shades- all of it based on your ancestry. That would've been fun, wouldn't it?

But nope. Fever is the switch that illness flips when it decides to visit your house and there's nothing we can do to stop that. Except never get ill. That's not an option unless you're dead, unfortunately.

Now why am I waffling away about fever today all of a sudden? If no one thought that, good for you. If someone did, sorry to have bored you. I hope I didn't, though. Anyways, I've been ill for the past couple of days and thankfully, I've improved a lot, so I am up and about today. That wasn't possible yesterday without me trying to spin like a ballerina, so that's a plus.

You know, there's something really funny about this. Not the fever, I mean a person's behaviour during it and sometimes after it. And I shouldn't be saying person, actually. This is one of the few times in a man's life when his level of drama overtakes that of ladies, and it should not be belittled. The other times when a man's level of drama reaches a high are probably when: his favourite shoes are ruined/ his favourite book is returned in bad condition/ he is out with friends and they are trying to prank someone.

I'm not sure if I'm getting all of that right, so apologies for any mistakes I may have made. Anyhow, when men get ill (and I mean ill like a fever or a cold or something relatively commonplace), they get extra dramatic and conscious. I mean, women might, too, but men go for a 200X boost as opposed to a 20X for a lady on the fever drama front. 

And trust me when I say I know what I'm saying. Yes, there are several stoics as well, who won't utter a word, but for many, if not most, extra sensitivity is what comes out during a fever. It's a pity that extra sensibility doesn't come to men, whether they need it then or not. 

In Tom Sawyer, Mark Twain got it spot-on when he gave Tom a fever. Tom's thoughts immediately went to Becky Thatcher and her immeasurable sadness at his death and whatnot, but obviously none of that happened. However, that doesn't mean that boys (or men) these days don't think along the same lines.

While train engines and dress styles may have changed in the 150-odd years since then, men's thought processes, unfortunately, have little to show for it. By the way, 'twain' is actually an old English term for 'two' and not just a surname. Just a factoid, in case you were interested.

There are a lot of things which go through people's (and my) minds when one is lying sick in bed. There are many incidents, many people, who come to mind. And there's almost nothing in common between any of them. Eventually, you realize what is common: the fact that they stoked your insecurities, or bad memories, or just something you want to forget. It's never fun.

I suppose I've rambled enough for today. Today's post is a bit long, but I'm covering up for 2 days, so I guess it works. Hope everyone's safe. Adios!