B+: Covid-19 hat-trick with green bean soup & Milo

 

No, its not about being positive with Covid 19 or about Joe Biden's memed response wish to Donald Trump's catching the virus! Its been a personal hat-trick of being positive with whats the only antidote we humans have to help those succumbing to the virus.

Whilst being a part of curbing its spread by distancing ourselves socially, wearing masks & sanitizing our hands often (even at the expense of the skin turning rough at times) is a hygiene requirement in these times, another way in which we, the ones not exposed to the virus and healthy enough to meet the basic requirements, can contribute, is by donating the steady stream of red energy that runs through our veins.

Whilst enough has been said about the positives of how blood donation helps those in need, the requirement has been even more pronounced in these times when anything to do with a hospital is abhorred by normal mortals, lest they catch the virus whilst trying to help.

In the past 3 donations in consecutive succession of the next possible date, I've noticed the donors swell slowly back as Singapore has seen the virus numbers come under control.

Going beyond the moralistic need to donate, its the ritual of the follow up with a nutritious green bean soup bowl & a piping hot Milo cup (made even sweeter by the success of having donated), that makes my day every time the syringe has pierced through my hairy arm (the attending nurse once tried cleaning it with three alcohol swabs to figure out the hair on the outside versus the vein on the inside)

Whether it be the Parle-G glucose biscuits and tea back home in India or the green bean soup & Milo in Singapore, the taste of the mundane has always been elevated in the waiting room of a donation center, as though by a magical touch of the selflessness that these places evoke in us.

A letter from the red cross society recently has been like icing on the cake, acknowledging the positive impact my B+ donation has been making.

As we continue to curb & quarantine the virus rather than ourselves be quarantined because of it, this is one contribution we all can make, though I hope by my next consecutive donation date on Jan 2nd 2021, am not required to or able to donate if the virus decides 2020 has been its bonus year already or else travel opens to be able to visit home (an India visit entails a 4 month gap to be able to donate in Singapore due to some random malaria-linked connect with India).

Nonetheless, this is our chance to keep at it and contribute, whether it be for the selfless motivation or the immediate gratification of the green bean soup & Milo!

Stay +