Down-cast

I fell badly on my left foot playing basketball a week ago. Turns out I have a torn ligament. My foot’s in a cast now – on for the next 3 weeks. As always, there's something to learn from random events... this is my quota for this week:

• Me(n) is(are) dumb: Oh well, V asked me to get to the doc when the event happened last Sunday. I said, yeah sure, it’s just a sprain, will get fixed. And I waited and waited and waited… till Thursday to get to a doc, who gave it to me for waiting this long. Apparently, an untreated torn ligament can lead to unstable ankles and other unsavory fates. I recounted the story to a (female) friend – she gave me the cold eye, and said “You men! Think you’re all superheroes, no? This is what you deserve.” I thought about reacting and then shut up. No more sympathy from the women, I’ve realized.

• Medical innovations never cease to amaze: The doc put me in this fiberglass cast – it’s a 3M product, but apparently quite a few other companies make it as well. If you don’t know what it is, this is what mine looks like:

For one, it’s quite lightweight compared to the traditional plaster of paris stuff. Second, it comes on very quickly – the whole process took less than 10 minutes to complete. And most importantly, it’s a very cool blue – looks quite neat. Except that nobody can sign or doodle on this – oh well, given what the women will write, I’d rather not have that option.

• Broken leg can impede flight: Flying is quite a nightmare, partially because of the general pain and discomfort in the said foot, but primarily because there's always a line of people behind you mentally urging you to move faster. They are usually caught in two minds about swearing or sympathising, and end up saying "May i help you" with the kind of look that would make you wonder if "help" involves ejecting you from the plane at 25,000 ft. The silver lining, however, is that if you can hobble around and look like an injured hero, well, you might get upgraded to the more rarified environs of biz class. It happened on Jet Airways, where the ladies at the counter were far more sympathetic (of course, not telling story of not heeding gfriend's advice helped) than the old man at the Indian Airlines counter who looked at me as if I was some kind of lowly worm, who deserved to hobble.

The best part, of course, is that I can literally put my feet up at work - on the nearest chair!