the gunya

I have been out the last five days with the infamous chikungunya disease. Most of you probably haven’t heard of it but its currently an epidemic in South India and Sri Lanka. Like Malaria, it all starts with a simple mosquito bite. In a few hours you start to feel muscle pains, usually in your back. Then comes a pounding headache, a sense of fatigue, and dizziness. So, you innocently go to sleep thinking that everything will be fine in the morning and then BAM, you have a 102 degree fever, you can’t walk and all of your muscles are frozen in crippling pain. The good news is that it isn’t fatal and that it usually runs its course in 5-7 days. I got lucky and it only took 3 days of suffering and two days of feeling so-so. Last night was my first c-gunya-free night and it was fantastic.

While afflicted one of my aunties (family friends) took pity on me and had me stay at her place for a night so I could recover. I felt bad because all I really had the strength to do was sleep and eat. I went to sleep in her spare room under the auspices of some sleeping pills and was happily passed out when I heard a noise in the room. Who do I see but the faces of two Sri Lankan army officers peering down on me. This just goes to show what a bad state this country is in. Because of the terrorists and the stupid war, the cops can actually come into your house, into your bedroom, and make sure you are doing what you are supposed to be doing. If the Fairfax county police ever came into my bedroom and were watching me sleep I think that would make some kind of national news. Anyways, these police just took pity on a poor feverish girl and left without demanding ID.

On Sunday I was feeling a bit better so I decided that the perfect thing to do after I had been sick for a while was to go to a carnival. Sri Lankan carnivals are just as weird and awesome as carnivals everywhere. The blasting Hindi music, the cheap ice cream, what could be better? To top it off there was a haunted house called “Terror House” which was one of those very weird structures where many rooms of a building are turned into various scary rooms staffed by people in monster masks. These people wait for people like me to walk by and then they jump out and wave their hands in front of them and say “ooga booga” or something to that extent. Then, people like me, because we are generally afraid of all moving things (and some stationary ones too) run around screaming. Good times.