A Fever a Thousand Miles From Home

I rarely get sick in my life. Rarely. Every 6-7 years, I’ll have fever once and it will last less than a week but it will be the most grueling days of my life because I just can’t digest sickness.

The blocked nose, the way your forehead feels weird and hot, and your insides feel weak and foreign as if you’ve lost some control over your own body? Yeah, that’s not my thing. These days my mother would be my savior. My whole family would support me and take care of me but my mother the most. So now when I’m a thousand miles away from home, in another land without a single blood relative by my side, it’s reasonable to feel absolutely terrified of a fever. But going through it, it hasn’t been so bad.

I’m currently living in kK13 which I thought would be the worst place to get a fever since I don’t have a kitchen therefore I can’t cook the meals I need, I don’t have a hot shower, and I don’t have a comfortable bed to rest in. Despite everything, KK13 has its own blessings, and it comes in the form of the amazing people that live here (including me, of course). The first day I noticed my symptoms, I felt the urge to clean everything. I put all my bedsheets, blankets, pillowcases, and clothes in the washing machine. Although my bedsheet dried fast, my traditional Bengali blanket didn’t. My friend let me borrow her clean blankets which she didn’t even unpack before this. She also gave me herbal tea and detox tea made from her mother’s company back in India.

The next day, my friends fetched citrus fruits and guava fruit for me from a nearby mall to kK13, Jaya One. And my roommate from Bangladesh gave me even more tea packets in various flavors and functions: detox, peppermint and lemon, green tea. My room neighbours gave me honey for my throat. Honestly, I’m scared to invest in honey out of fear for ants but it’s truly one of the best things to have. My other roommate also gave me some magical balm to apply in my throat that once you inhale, your respiratory systems feel clearer and calmer. It was very soothing.

By the third day, all these hot water, tea, honey, balms, and my mom’s packed medicine truly helped because my throat was clear. But I still have a light fever. My roommate bought vitamin C supplements for me. My roommate's love language is rooted in actions like this, not words of affection or physical touch. It’s not a love language I’m quite used to but now that I’ve tasted it, there’s no going back. The art of noticing and showing up for people is a beauty that I can’t explain in words.

My Malaysian friend brought soluble panadol from her home when she was there during the weekends. I think my fever should be scared of how determined I am to get it over with, and how kind and supportive the people around me are to get it over with as well. My parents have been calling me every now and then to ask for updates and give instructions. Their prayers are with me all the way from Saudi Arabia. My brother has also been chipping in for updates and sending funny reels to brighten my day (although my reels are undoubtedly superior). There’s no way this fever can win against me and my army of lovers all over the world. But I am proud of myself for crashing out so minimally, and taking care of myself so fiercely, and finding friends that feel like I’m in their embrace, even when I’m physically not in their embrace (because I’m sick and I should practice distancing and as should you all if you’re sick).