August 9, 2021. An appointment for 03:00pm was set up for me and Mum. There was just one glitch. Mum was out of a proper dress. So I took mum to our nearest clothing store, Reliance Trends. But we were sent off saying the billing was offline( whatever that meant) and we can’t buy rightway. Disappointed, we left for Pantaloons. Luckily, the car parking spots were empty.

They din’t have anything more an XL ( Unbelievable). Call it disappointment or Mum’s luck, We ended up buying a T-shirt and two palazzos for mummy. It was 01:00pm, had lunch and waited till 2:45pm. My office work was put on hold till 04:00pm.

03:15pm, Appa dropped us. With thoughts running, I made it into the building. After getting our temperature checked, We were directed to the second floor. We made to fill up a mandatory form which involved our appointment details.

Our Blood Pressures were checked and noted. Then Mum paid the bill for both of us. It was time already. There’s not backing out now. At the corner of the huge hall, awaited our appointment. Mum made it out quick. I went it, took special seat. Finally, one of the two nurse asked my age, to which I replied, ‘Take it as 25, tomorrow is my birthday anyway’. She smiled and wished me well. But now, the nurse was ready with the shot, I did not bother to even look at the syringe. Head turned fully right, I closed my eyes for a jiffy, only to realise I need to throw a facade of a 25 year old, so I bravely opened.

The nurse was done in a minute but felt like half an hour. She asked me to take a pill at night if I wanted to celebrate my birthday. I’m pretty sure they were smiling behind the masks, cause I was too. That moment I realised , it’s been a while since I saw a stranger smile. It felt like my social skills was revived from that small conversation.

Appa greeted us with a cake and biscuits. Upon reaching home, I had a bath and sat for work. Time flies when you actually work. It was 17:45pm, when I was given tea. Half – sipping and Half-coding, It finally got over at 20:30pm. By now, Appa had gone out.

He came back with 6 acrylic canvas board (birthday gift :D) and also bought dinner.

T’was a good Vaccine day!