My Experience with Chickenpox

After 15 days of rest due to chicken pox i have returned to office last Monday. To my knowledge, its the second time i'm taking off for a long time in my entire career.

Chicken pox affects due to the virus Varicella which can be spread through respiratory droplets and fluids from the blisters. So it is a must for you to be isolated so as not to spread the disease.It will be more complicated if you are active when infected.

I came to realize about it 2 days after i got infected. Our dermatologist suggests Zorivax(antiviral), DoloCold (paracetamol) and xyzal(anti allegergy, to avoid itching). She also added that with respect to chickenpox drugs are only to resist further complication and not for curing.

Blisters

You will get more blisters on the head and back than arms or legs. Every blister will last for 3-6 days based on the size. You feel itchy all over. Actually i was afraid of the spots that it about to left as i'm looking out for a bride and cant resist to ask the same to the doctor too(Avan avan kashtam avan avanukku :) ). But luckily it swipes off most of the dots on my face :).

At first, blisters starts to appear sparsely, then all of a sudden it increases massively in head and face, then spreads on to back. Head and face cures in a week but those on my back worries much, it keeps generating one after another for more than 10 days.

Goddess and Varicella

In ancient Tamilnadu, there is a popular false-belief that Chicken pox is relative to a goddess. There are some conflicting theories with this belief too, somebody thinks it as auspicious and some thinks it as a reflection of one's sin. And it will be decided based on the time of coincidence at which it occurs with respect to your behaviour :).

So, whoever affected by me in the recent past can justify it to be part of my sin and those benefited(anybody out there) can claim it as auspicious. :)


Role of Neem

In India, Neem plays a crucial role in treating Chickenpox. Neem is also considered as an auspicious tree to hindus of tamilnadu. In villages it is very likely to find a neem tree with bottom decorated by turmeric (background) and orderly positioned Kumkum as mark of godly respect.(designers exists everywhere :) )

My parents formed a neem bed for me to sleep, i resist initially but they persuade me with its chemical properties against virus, not interested to dig deep into it hence agreed with them. Also they form a Neem and turmeric mixed paste and applied all over my body. With greenish tint all over my body, i looked very much like "The Hulk" for more than a week.

Disadvantages

Due to lack of physical activity its unavoidable that you will become plumpy if you dont maintain a proper diet. I gained 7kg in a span of 3 weeks. Thats the nature of my body, hope now you all know why i'm giving more priority to workout. (My mom's kitchen expertise is the main culprit.)

The worst thing is, the Neem tree nearby to our home sacrifices all its leaves to get a bald look as part of the treatment.

Advantages

During the infection, you get a chance to find the most ugliest of you in the mirror.
Rest for 2 weeks and can spend the whole time with your loved ones as you are restricted to go out.
I have utilized to read enough books during this time. Having noticed the recent Anna Centenary celebrations in my native(kanchi), i preferred political topic(in tamil), mostly about Periyar, Anna, Jayalalitha, Karunanidhi & Ambedkar.

Along with i also got a chance to read the "UI Design & Analysis" book which belongs to my sister. (Surprised to find that it is part of the engineering syllabus and happy that current stream is very much in sync with the industry standards. During my course we nearly studied the history of computers :) .)

Social Networking via mobile

During the isolation my mobile Nokia E63(smart mobile) helped me to contact with my friends and colleagues via Twitter and Facebook & Zoho Mobile(to mail my peers @ zoho). Some of my tweet references are below.

http://twitter.com/vivekanandan/status/4493483454
http://twitter.com/vivekanandan/status/4599009919

It indeed helped me to lookout for some mobile based applications and widgets. Thanks to Opera Mini & widgets. The interesting part is you can find more widgets for Twitter & Facebook in any emerging technology which has the potential to social network. So there is nothing to surprise about their growth i think.

The best part of chickenpox is, you get a strong immunity against this virus and will not get infected for next 10 years cycle.