Thursday, July 13, 2006

The drinking problem

For those who've been asking me about the status of my survey, here's a quick update - 146 down, ideally 154 more to go, but realistically speaking, and considering that my subscription ends on 6th Aug, I'll be happy to reach any 200+ figure. So if you live outside Singapore, watched Krrish and yet committed the horrible crime of not taking my survey, please save my life by clicking here now.

New post begins here:
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What do you do when a tall athletic guy collapses at your doorstep in fultu Devdas style? And just like Devdas, this guy too had a drinking problem. There was one slight difference though - Devdas drank too much, this dude did not drink enough.

Water, that is.

So instead of looking for Paro, he was looking for Pani.

Yup, my temporary flat-mate (yes yes the now-very-popular -in-blogsphere pictionary dude) was at the door, badly dehydrated after a cricket game. After surviving a panic attack which lasted a few seconds, I rushed to the mini-mart in my condominium minutes before it closed and bought some isotonic drinks for him. But he couldn't hold it down. Now if there's one thing Doordarshan has taught me, it's how to make the Oral Rehydration Solution (ORS). I made the solution, but he couldn't stomach that either. Then we tried plain water.

Ok, if a guy is unable to drink even plain water, he has to be rushed to the hospital.

I called for an ambulance. The lady at the other end of the phone said, "There's a fee, you know."

"Yes yes I know. Can you send the ambulance quick?"

"It's 80 dollars."

"Okay."

"80 dollars in cash on arrival."

WHAT THE..??!! In CASH?? On ARRIVAL???

Sheesh. I'd asked for an ambulance, not pizza! I don't have 80 bucks in cash on me at any point in time!

I pilfered both our wallets, and managed to put together 70 dollars and 35 cents. I decided to borrow the rest from my other flat-mates.

The lady on the phone said she'd call me after checking the availability of an ambulance. Before she could call me back, I had called for a cab. But even the called cab was taking so long! We waited and waited at the lift lobby and by a stroke of good luck, an available cab was passing by. I flagged it and we were at the hospital in ten minutes flat. (I'd remembered to cancel the ambulance and the other cab.)

Registration was faster than expected, and I was pleasantly surprised. But then they put him in a bed and told me that the doc would be there soon. 'Soon' soon became about half an hour. I was getting angry - did they even realise he was DEHYDRATED?? His face even looked different. I was quite freaked out. So I marched to the nurse and said, "He is dehydrated. The more he waits for the doc, the more dehydrated he's gonna get. Can you give him something to rehydrate him till the doc gets here??" Now I'm a girl who's pleasant as long she gets to sleep at 10pm. 11 at most. I'm not a pleasant girl if found awake at 2 am. The nurse took the hint and within minutes the doc was there.

So he was put on a bottle of IV drip. As I watched them poke the needle into his vein, I remembered my Mom's words. She used to say that if she saw anyone on IV drip, she'd immediately collapse and need two of 'em herself. Luckily the trait is not hereditary.

The doc said that he'd be re-assessing the situation once the first bottle of drip was over. I was asked to wait outside along with the bunch of other worried people. There weren't too many of them, and soon I got really bored. The Germany-Portugal match was going on, and I started watching that. I still can't believe I was watching that. Luckily, better entertainment soon arrived in the form of a baby who apparently had such an urgent sms to send to someone that he kept reaching out for his mother's mobile phone. Watching him relentlessly struggle for the phone made the half-hour go by very quickly.

After a while, I started to feel really cold. Luckily I'd changed into jeans before leaving the house. If I'd still been in my home shorts, I'd have frozen to death right there. I guess when you're worried, you feel colder. I wondered if I could ask the nurse for a blanket. But I was afraid of being reprimanded with a "This is a hospital, miss, not an airline!"


I wanted to call/sms some friends, but it was too late in the night, and people would either be partying or sleeping. So I decided not to disturb anyone. Except a friend whom I'd called earlier to get the number for calling the ambulance.

So I was sitting on the couch, the cute baby was gone, there was no way I was gonna watch the game, I was exhausted and really hungry, and finding nothing better to do, I dozed off. Suddenly I was woken up by an angel who had brought with her bottles of 100 plus, cookies, mouth-freshening mints (thanks to the advice of another friend, in case I had to stay in the hospital till morning. It's so heart-warming when people think of such little details), candy and Hershey's white chocolate with choc chips. As I spoke to her sipping my hot milo and eating the white chocolate, I finally felt warm and calm.

A little while later, we went in to see how the dude was doing. It is a hilarious sight when a guy who could not even stomach plain water a few hours ago, opens his eyes and says, "I want pav bhaji." I'd have laughed my lungs out if it wasn't a hospital.

Unfortunately for the pav-bhaji craving guy, the doc ordered only clear liquids on the first day, and simple mushy food on the second, and no spicy food for three days. Torture, huh?


Finally, he was ready to be taken home. I wanted him to get well as soon as possible so I could start my scolding session on how badly he had freaked me out by not drinking water during a game under the hot sun.

And then I remembered how little water I drink.

How little water we all drink! I think I'm having another panic attack. Go drink a glass of water right after reading this post, all the while chanting:


Here is a little something
That I hope will make you think
Water water everywhere
Why the hell don't we drink? :-/

We gotta take better care of ourselves. Really.

We owe it to those who will rush us to hospital if we don't.



44 comments:

Anonymous said...

gold!

HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!

Anonymous said...

and those who are still confused it was typical amrishpuri style laugh haan.

let me repeat this again for you all

[size=10]HA HA HA HA[/size]

Unknown said...

gulping down a big glass of water. and taking the silver. buh bye.
thanks for the lesson of the day. verry immportant. i agree

Inder said...

you managed the situation pretty well... clap.. clap...
getting dehydrated is among the extreme. well, i have had my share of fainting due to exhaution and cramps... but not dehydration.

Anonymous said...

Are your days ever uneventful???!!!:) Well hope your ever so famous flat mate gets better soon! Thank god for friends like you. And I'm a culprit too, hate drinking water!:( It's just too much effort!

Anonymous said...

pee(??) liya! ;)

Abhishek Upadhyay said...

How come one get sooo dehydrated....*wondering*

that guy must thank his stars that Sayesha bhai is besides him.

Anonymous said...

This post kinda scared me, so me too grabbed for the bottle as soon as I'd finished reading this. Scary, huh!!

Anonymous said...

wow, the ambulance lady argued to you about the price while a person is suffering? is that common in singapore?

It sounds like a third world country, i thought it was developed.

Shekhar said...

Ha ha ha. Mast post, Sayesha ji. Seriously awesome !! :) Kept laughing right through. Regards to 'Pav-bhaji' man. I can't even begin to imagine how he would go about describing 'pav-bhaji' if he were given that word during pictionary. ;)

Macho Girl said...

I have a drinking problem too! My mom keeps telling me to drink water when I am at home. And now, I am an intern in a company and my lab partner finds it amazing that I manage to make it through the entire day with just a coupla gulps of water when she has to keep excusing herself from the lab to get a drink! I better take more water! :O

(one of my friends in singapore has this piece of paper taped to her notice board in her room which says "drink water!". She should read this post :P)

Macho Girl said...

oh btw,
There's an 80 dollar fee for ambulance????!!! IN CASH??!! ON ARRIVAL??!!!! :O :O :O :O

Pi said...

gosh. i think i might be the next one. I usually drink very little water. :(

Siddhu said...

For some reason, I was drinking water all the while, through this post.

Yeah, cricket without water in Singapore is crazy. I cramped up up north here in Edinburgh while playing cricket cuz I didn't drink!!! :P

Hope he gets well soon

Anonymous said...

absolutely cutttee post.. i have read all of your posts till date and enjoyed each and everyone of them.. each post makes me wait more eagerly for the next.. love this blog sayesha :)

-- piyu

R said...

hahahhaha
hahhahah
hhahahhaha

you know whhile reading ur post I tuk a few minutes break to get myself a glass of super chilled water only to come back to loads of gyan reagarding drinking water
heheheh

tussi gud responsible flat mate ho!
bahinn ki jai!!!
yayyyy

R said...

I DO! I'm a shmarrrrrt boy. :P

Why, water is such a thing...I mean, no matter how much Beer or coffee or even juice I take, water is something I can't ignore.

I'm totally normal, YAY!

Anonymous said...

:) :) :)
Hope your room-mate is fine now!! Do give him a pav-bhaji treat along with "paani" gyan when he feels better..
heheee

bye
take care
sakhi.

Sudipta Chatterjee said...

Arre you are an asset as a pav-bhaaji! Err... I mean room-mate!

That was really thoughtful, Sayesha... well done! BTW, that angel too deserves all kudos. Will check her place now.

Dev said...

We owe it to those who will rush us to hospital if we don't...

That's deep.

Innkeeper, another barrel for me.

Unknown said...

What a post Sayesha!!!

I know I shouldn't but your exclamations did make me laugh in b/w :P

But great yaar.. you handled the situation really well *clap clap* :D

Pav Bhaji??!! :O
Raat ke 3 baje don't remind me of it.. No fast food's open that late here :(
But its ok, am having another fav dish.. Maggi :P and gulping down water too :D Me too have very less water yaar, mom's tired of yelling me for this.. Maybe your sweet poem works ;)

Take care dear,
Aarti

Iday said...

Does one get dehydrated after playing cricket (of all games) in Singapore??? I can only think abt the college days when the whole Saturday and Sunday wud be spent in playing cricket!!! In all 4 yrs i was in college, no one ever faced dehydration.

Poor chap. Hope he's doing well!!!

Next time, stack up some water bottles and accompany ur friend to the play ground. May be, as an appreciation of ur gesture, the guys wud allow u to play and u can recreate ur Gali Cricket magic ;)

Anonymous said...

Hope he's doing ok now :) As for drinking enuf water, guilty as charged! Ughh!

Sayesha said...

#Satish,
God aur Amrish Puri ek saath? badi nainsafi hai :D

#Ipanema Gal,
Good gal! :)

#Inder,
It's real scary to see a dehydrated person you know... I actually thought his face shape had changed! :O

#Duhita,
Hehehe... something or the other keeps happening yaar... what do I do? :P
And go and drink a glass of water! :P

#Satish,
Pee liya ya pee liya? Ya pee kar pee kiya? :D

#Fishy,
No water for the whole day??? Grrr! :@

#Abhi,
Singapore is a hot hot hot country yaar... very easy to get dehydrated especially if you play outdoors all day long. :(

#Sunshine,
Read this post at least 8 times every day, okie? ;)

#Anon,
Huh?? Who said anything about argument over price?? She was just telling me the T&C for their services. I was just surprised they expected me to have 80 bucks in CASH! :O
ps: And yes, Singapore is a developed country.

#Shekhar,
Hahahaha! Good point, I think instead of drawing a seedha sadha pav bhaji, he will somehow bring in American politics and WMD to explain it. :D

#Macho,
Yeah, we should drink more water yaar... it's hot outside and aircon inside... both are bad. :|
ps: Yes, just as shocked as you on the 'in cash on arrival' bit! :|

#AP,
Drink more water my dear! :)

#Siddhu,
Yeah, he's fine now, getting ready for a cricket tournament already :)

#Piyu,
Welcome to Sayeshaz and thanks! :)

#Raam Pyari,
Haan dher sara pani piyo... yeh seher ka pani is no good... apne gaaon ke kuen jaisa nahin hai... lekin peena toh padega, ka kahat ho bahinn??? :D

#Rohit,
Looking at the amount of coffee you drink in a day, you need more water than the rest of us!! Coffee makes you lose water buddy!

#Sakhi,
Yeah, he got both the pav bhaji and the gyan on day 2 itself! :D

#Sudipta,
Thanks thanks! :)

#Dev,
Hahahaha! Innkeeper, give him a barrel of water as requested! :)

#Aarti,
Pani peeyo bacha... very important... good for skin too! ;)

#Iday,
Singapore's too damn hot yaar... we're right on the equator! Even a few hours out in the sun will suck you dry. :(

Good idea about the gully cricket! May just try that some time! ;)

#Liz,
Et tu? Hope you're inspired to drink more now! Water, okie? ;)

BP said...

Yeah dehydration aka "tired" really sucks! :(

Siddhu said...

Didi!! It's the 14th now! New post new post new post!!!!!!

its me said...

ok drank water just now..
so did you have Pav Bhaji finally? ;)

The Inquisitive Akka said...

Glug, glug.....ok I am ready to type now :) Poor guy, I hope he's doing ok. But I don't understand these ambulance and hospital guys. Haven't they heard of the word emergency??? Strange!

How do we know said...

as usual.. the perfect Sayesha! Why don' u just get a middle name like Supergirl or sth? Am in danger of seriously starting to admire you!
btw. not watching that game was not such a good idea.. helps to be a sports informed martyr.

Iday said...

//Good idea about the gully cricket! May just try that some time! ;)
And i'm waiting for ur post on that experience :P

Angelsera said...

woow...u had quite a time at the hospital :)

Angelsera said...

I hope ur roomie is doing ok now

Anonymous said...

Nice work!
BTW what time did the cricket match finish? if u reached the hospital at around 2 A.M, was he playing under flood lights????

can same person take your Krrish survey twice!!

Sayesha said...

#Bananapen,
Yeah! X-(
ps: For those curious about what Bananapen's talking about, it's an inside joke. A doc once gave her a medical cert that said she's "suffering from tired". We laughed our asses over it! :D

#Siddhu,
Huh?? :O :O :O

#Its me,
Yes, we did. On day 2! :D

#Akka,
Dunno how they work man... I'm just glad that my friend got well soon.

#How do we know,
:P

#Iday,
Aha! You just wanna read about how the mighty Sayesha got booted off the field! :-/

#Angelsera,
Yeah, he's fine now. Already gone to Malaysia for another tournament :)

#Anon,
We didn't reach the hospital at 2 yaar.. reached around 11-12 I think... Match finished in the evening, and by the time he got home it was quite late. Plus the isotonic drink and ORS etc. at home took up some time.
ps: Yes, the same person can take the survey again but I hope he doesn't. Affects my results :)

Anonymous said...

okk!

now that i have refreshed my opera, which takes not more than half an hour to do so, like a thousand times, to see a new post, my finger has started to ache now. and i am not complaining. :|

but the important thing is that this world needs me, and if i die due to dehydration or starvation or anything, which is probable becos of me being busy refreshing your web page whole day, the blame will be upon u.

may be i sud give u my yahoo ID and you cud add me in your farend-list, and give me a buzz tht you are abt to post a new entry.

(i am smart!!!!)

:P

(sorry for polluting this space with my comments.. again. :|)

satish

Sayesha said...

#Satish,
Dhairya dharo bacha... give that finger some rest... kahin gusse mein koi aur finger na uth jaaye! :D

Anonymous said...

arey n wat abt the lucky offer?? (abt being added in my Yahoo! friend-list???)

satish

Just Jane said...

your flatmate is a laugh riot! i drink water all the time, altho' less when i'm home and more when i'm at work...hmm...go figure?

Sayesha said...

#Satish,
Oh yeah forgot about that! Add me sayesha13. :)

#The Chosen One,
No figuring needed. I do the exact same thing! :O

Sudeep said...

i hope he is ok now... i mean after getting scolded be u

*gulps down huge amounts of water*
ab teri wajah se har 20 mins mein break lena padega :(

Sayesha said...

#Sudeep,
Hahaha! Meri daant khakar uska digestive system thoda hil gaya hai, lekin otherwise he's ok :)

Hahaha! Alternating pee break with pee break kya? :D

Anonymous said...

arey aapne toh srsly apni ID de di :D.

thankooo!

and you sudnt post ur ID here yaar, pata chala kal aapko hazaron farendship ke request aa rahe hain :P

chaliye bye!

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the blog. It really makes sense. We owe it to those who will rush us to the hospital. I keep getting scolded by my fiance for not taking care, but i used to feel, he is just being too protective. But staying alone and not taking care is really madness. Thanks again. :D

Sayesha said...

#Satish,
Arre block-delete function kis liye hai? :P
ps: Yahoo mein hai na??? :O :O :O

#Anon,
You're most welcome :)