In Vacant or in Pensive Mood

Growing up is a huge responsibility. When we were children, we were just waiting to grow up and go to work! We thought that life was easier for our parents and the other adults we knew because they had no homework to worry about when they got back from work. We associated school to torture when we compared them with our childish imaginations of adult life. And, although some of us did say that we wanted to become doctors or teachers when we grew up, the span of our imaginations could not be limited to those few words put into our heads by adults. Take, for example, what my little sister used to say she wanted to be when she grew up; “Haaayah” , her version of Aayah , a name we use for maids who clean, and help the teachers in the kindergarten. She also used to claim that her Haayah was her best friend! My little cousin once said he wanted to be a lorry (truck) driver. What simple, uncomplicated wishes they were, very unlike the clichéd aspirations we were expected to possess.

This is some information I compiled during the Rabies Awareness Campaign we conducted at Madras Christian College, Chennai. This page is an extension to the previous post: A Memoir , dedicated to my friend, Alan. Rabies   is a zoonosis caused by the virus Lyssavirus rabies , which attacks the central nervous system. Rabies can be transmitted to humans from infected dogs, cats, bats, foxes, raccoons, coyotes, wolves, etc. may transmit the disease. A person is exposed to rabies either due to a bite from a rabid animal, or from exposure to its saliva on an open wound/cut. People who have been bitten by a stray/non-vaccinated animal, or licked by one over broken skin, should be treated within 12-48 hours. People exposed to rabies need to be treated with rabies immunoglobulin and rabies vaccine initially. They must also get additional vaccine injections on the 3 rd , 7 th , 14 th  and 28 th  day after the first treatment. Rabies is 100% preventable if the treatment is started on

Two months ago, on 20 th February 2014, Alan Joash Samuel, our dear friend and classmate, passed away due to Rabies. The weeks that preceded it, and those that followed, have been the toughest phase of my life, emotionally. I tried to write, but I wasn’t in a state of mind to blog about it. Now that I am back here after a long break from blogging, I feel that it would be unjust if I don’t record the event that impacted my life in such a big way. So, I’m putting together here what I wrote at different points during the last two months. It’s been over a week from that dismal day, yet our hearts refuse to be comforted. His sudden and unexpected death has left us all shattered. We didn't get a chance to tell him how much he meant to us, how precious his role in influencing our lives. W e didn’t have the time to bid him goodbye. Even though my mind is still fogged by the sorrow weighing my heart down, I now recollect the events of the past few months. In late October 2013,