[the title similar to my other post 'Atypical Bomdo evening', you might enjoy that one]
Normalcy is highly underrated. I realised it the hard way today. The day was like any other day in my home in Goa. Wake up at 530 thanks to a friendly lick by my dog Cheeni, head to the beach with the dogs so they get their long walk, play and good exercise. 7 am, come back, release the five chicken from their coop; they are hungry and at least one of them wants to lay an egg! Grind the precious Third Wave coffee beans for twenty minutes and make a brew; I love this slow process, I smell the coffee way before it is made. Water the plants and note things ready for harvest, usually squash, brinjal, chillies, papaya, guavas, or bananas. Feed the chicken. French press the ground coffee powder, drink the coffee, again slowly. And then on Tuesdays, leave for a Jiujitsu session.
Jiujitsu has changed my life over the last year. A game of body-chess, it teaches me to not panic in adversity. Big guy, 90 kg heavy, sitting on top of me and me going breathless; no problem. Keep breathing, make the frames, break the posture, slide in, sweep the guy down! Sounds basic, but took me a year to learn to stay this calm. It is a bit like scuba diving, the calmer you breath, the longer the oxygen tank lasts and you can enjoy the view. Replace those with lungs in Jiujitsu! Anyway, we drilled some moves for 45 minutes at the Lighthaven gym today and it was time to roll, the part in which you remain calm but assertive with the body. I look forward to the rolls in every session at the gym; its the time to practice what we have learnt.
One roll done; each roll is about 5 minutes long, which feels way way longer during the roll! I was on to the second one and within a minute my leg got entangled, knee got twisted and then the leg got locked, I could not straighten my leg anymore. I excuse myself from the roll, apologising to my partner and sit out the rest of the rolls; thanks to Jiujitsu perhaps, I don't panic. It was time to go home and get this damn leg straightened. Asked my friend to start my TVS XL100 bike since I could not kick the bikestarter with the right leg and ride home, 17 km away! This has happened twice before in the last year, and usually after a few hours, the lock unfolds itself and I am fine. So I have been and am calm and got home back to more chores.
Limping around the house, I feed the chicken again at 330 pm. Could not walk the dogs in the afternoon, so I opened up the home gate and being such nice dogs, they went for a stroll by themselves and came back, one by one; I am very proud of them. 5 pm, cook the dogs food, 7 pm feed them. Still limping.
At 730, I am hoping that by the time I post this, my leg is back to normal and that I cherish the importance of normalcy, and I would never again underestimate it! Rex, my big dog never left my side today, he probably knows something is wrong with me! Its impossible to know what can and might happen in the next moment. So I will cherish every mundane activity and conversation as much as possible and live in the present—all this is obvious but I realise it much more on a day like today.
Cut to 9 pm and I was able to click the knee back lying on my bed facing down and straightening my leg. The leg is back in position and life moves on again. I feel normal and this is so precious. Thanks to the leg lock I read several pages of the 'The ghost eye' book by Amitav Ghosh, and focused on reading or writing. And I wrote this article to remind myself about this day! Tomorrow, back to the usual schedule again. But I look forward to it!
I will for sure wake up smiling at 530 am, and wonder what the day holds. I am expecting definitely less pain than today! As I tuck myself in at 10 pm, I think to myself, 'What an atypical Goan day'!
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