In Vacant or in Pensive Mood

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 ...

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,...