The Intruder

The morning sun rays softly crept in through the window. The light pink lacey curtains rustled as the soft breeze brushed past. She rubbed her sleepy eyes and saw the greenery waving at her. “Another day in my life,” she said while pushing away the duvet.

**********************************

Six months back she had visited the doctor. High fever and weariness had kept her away from work.

“Oh, it is just the viral flu. Take some rest. Probably you have been working too hard,” the family physician told her.

The symptoms started to emerge at a regular frequency. She was used to the paracetamol dose by now. But what worried her was, lagging behind in her office work. She was always appreciated for timely submission and diligence in her work.

“Are you going through some stress?” her boss asked her with genuine concern.

“Why don’t you go for a full health checkup,” he advised her.

She lived away from her parents for professional reasons. A warning bell rang in her mind as she went through a rewind of medical problems she had faced recently.

Leave for personal reasons was sanctioned and she took the first flight to her parent’s home.

Several tests and diagnostic procedures were followed. The kind-faced white coat clad physician broke the news. He named a very complicated term as the reason for her frequent illness.

She could not remember or rather preferred to forget the name of the disease. It was an uninvited guest in her body space. Six to eight months of life would be a miracle for her. She named it “Intruder.”

***********************************

She jumped out of her bed with a sprite. As she splashed water on her face the image in the mirror smiled back. “Should I be happy that I am alive, or should I be sad that I will die soon? So many great minds have left the planet in their thirties. Life is like a box of chocolates. The unpredictability gives you the incentive to stay alive. It is the essence of life that generates energy. Why should I let the Intruder be one of my worst nightmares? I may be among the great names that left this overcrowded globe early.”

As she sipped her morning coffee her mind spelled out some amazing thoughts. The ink flowed smoothly as she penned a new poem. The books on the shelf beckoned her lovingly. She had a good laugh while the Intruder was locked up in the closet.

“Life is no different than the weather. Not only is it unpredictable, but it shows us a new perspective of the world every day.”

Pradnya Surve