Frankly, this covid thing never really bothered me. I was not even planning to be vaccinated. Till of course they said that I was too old not to be vaccinated. And that meant I had to visit the clinic along with my wife. Which I did, my wife grumbling all the way, since she is a science hater. I think she thought I was planning to have her murdered by the vaccine.

Well we went through the motions. People were waiting there to be vaccinated. All as old as me, some even older. I was surprised to see them, because till today I thought I was the oldest man on earth. And I was amazed to see so many old people congregating to make sure that they don’t die too soon. There were endlessly many of them. I never even suspected that there were so many old people on earth who were not willing to die.

Anyway, this guy injected the venom into my arm, but I didn’t feel this happening. I was even suspicious that he had actually not even vaccinated me, but merely charged me for the service. What worried me even more was the fact that I didn’t develop any reaction at all till 24 hours later and that too was a mild pain in my arm. So, my fear increased. I would have probably died without the vaccine. But now the probability looked like a certainty. Don’t get me wrong. It’s not as though I am not willing to die. But I don’t want the vaccine to kill me.

And then this morning, the newspaper announced that scientists in Britain and elsewhere believe that this variant of the vaccine can produce blood clots. I have no idea what blood clots do to you, but I distinctly recall that the clinic asked me if I was on blood thinners. I wasn’t and assumed that the vaccine might turn my blood thinner than it is. But it appears now that it doesn’t thin the blood, but coagulates it. That’s not a happy thought. I mean the idea of turning into a man whose blood, instead of flowing, actually coagulates. Worse, if I don’t die in the course of the next 4 weeks, they will give me yet another dose of coagulator. I think coagulated blood cannot be pumped by your heart to your lungs or whatever. Besides, my lungs enjoy consuming liquid stuff more than semi-solid things. I learnt this in junior school. I am likely to die therefore 4 weeks from now.

All because I gave in to the vaccinator guy.

No other thoughts as I stare blankly at the monitor. Except of course for the thought that I have no other thoughts worth recording. Nothing much happens these days. But there used to be happenings way back in the past. Such as the rainy days. Torrential rains that refused to relent. A frog had somehow found a secret passage through which it visited our living room. My older brother and I were the only people at home. I have no idea where my parents had disappeared. I think Naren was there too. Naren was a servant employed by my mother’s brother, who didn’t live far away. That was Jatin Das Road too, but not the tributary where we lived.

The frog began to hop. It took mighty leaps and I was scared that it might attack me. My brother too must have thought similarly. For he began to jump as well. Perhaps he thought that the jumping frog would imagine him to be a jumping frog as well and leave him alone. I can’t recall what Naren was doing, except that he was yelling at the frog.

Well the frog finally disappeared into thin air and the rain stopped. If it didn’t stop, it might have continued to rain till this day and the frog would have grown old like me and accompanied me to the vaccine centre.