THE COMMON COLD

 

THE COMMON COLD

Though named so, everything about it looks odd and irritating. Can anyone stay in peace with cold-affliction?  Among the several viral disorders known to target humans, the least worried about and the most contracted is the common cold. NOTHING LOOKS ‘COLD’. The nose looks purplish, eyes feeling drowsy, voice turning husky or hoarse and pronunciation distorted. ‘N’ sounds  ’t’, ’m’ sounds  ‘b’ and so on. Quite some ruffling occurs in throat and the victim neighs like a horse on and off. The nagging experience is, neither can one take to bed nor can go about routine with the usual freedom. The engaging assignment for the victim is to ‘blow off ‘the fluid from nostrils, lest it should cause embarrassment unpredictable for magnitude. Such persons carry different forms of balm or cream meant to ‘ease’ breathing by relieving congestion. All such facilities are mere transient supports, as in due course, the victim is bound to go to ‘nose-blowing’ exercise.  Reams of tissue may be needed before one can stay free from the disturbance.

Cold is caused by virus. But, under the generic form ‘cold’ there are varieties. No two varieties of cold are alike. All differ by the length of time they reside in a victim. Some last for 3 days, some for 5 days, some-7 days, some for 3 weeks and so on. Every cold is preceded by typical symptoms like dry nose ,  ruffled throat or both. For how long the symptom persists before the cold establishes in a person is an approximate indication of the ‘stay’ of cold in a victim. The longer the persistence of symptom, the greater the duration of stay of cold. Some precautions may lower the severity of infection.

Once dry nose feeling arises, better to flush the nostrils clean with fresh water once every 15 minutes. This can wash off viral particles still in the nasal canal, so that the volume of infection is lowered though it cannot be eliminated outright. Another effective help can be had from salt gargling of throat, which osmotically challenges the infection processes. The advantage from gargling can be readily felt and repeat gargling for a few hours would prove advantageous in minimizing the severity of infection.

Most regimen suggested for cold are mere strategies of lessening the burden and not a cure per se. There is a popular saying in English which suggests ‘Cold -treated lasts for a week and if untreated stays for seven days’. Perhaps, truth cannot be paraphrased any better. Most suggestions to tackle cold include spices like pepper, betel leaf, vasica [adathoda] leaf, and dry ginger, turmeric etc concocted to a drink and periodically consumed. The dreaded part of cold relates to the sneeze that possesses the victim. My naming it ‘possessing’ the victim has the logic that the person never knows when would [s]he sneeze, but would unfailingly do so when the least expected. The most proximal persons may recognize the sneeze on its way, provided they happen to watch the victim under the prospect of a huge sneeze. Sneeze appears to be a ‘process’ which requires a certain level of organizing the event. The ‘sneezer’ comes under the process of possession. [S]he slips into penance –like state, one of the eyes closed 90% and the other open 70%, nostrils gently palpitating while one nostril slightly expands and the person feels tickling in the head, releases a huge spray of fluid in a high decibel frightening all persons around; it is not the end of it; slow trickle of water from the corner of the eye, mouth and nostril follow in precision. The person has no way of containing the sneeze, except to shield the mouth with a thick towel. At times, the sneeze is so sudden that all including the victim are caught unawares. Despite the outburst by sneeze, the person has to again go through the session of nose blowing.  The ordeal of the victim is harsher at night because breathing turns near impossible while lying in bed, except by a reclining posture.

Yes, cold is common and its grip over humanity is also common but no sufferer feels ‘I am not alone’.

Prof. K. Raman