An unusual morning walk!

It is awful to fall sick but then we do fall sick sometimes or the other. So it was with me and I had to remain in a hospital for a brief period.

After the hospital stay, the medicines had to be continued for quite some time.I waited in queue to get the medicines from the hospital pharmacist.

When my turn came I handed over the prescription to the pharmacist. After putting the medicines in a packet, he felt it his duty to explain how to take the medicines. The doctor had already explained this and the prescription was also quite clear, but the pharmacist was conscientious and he would not allow a school boy to leave his shop without understanding how to take the medicines.

Without heeding my claims that my parents and I had understood the doctor's instructions, the pharmacist indicated the drug and told me that I should unfailingly take it immediately after waking up in the morning. "You must take this medicine the first thing in the morning, else it will not be effective." As a further explanation he added with a wink that the troublesome germs in my body came out of their hiding in the mornings and that was the time when the full-scale war against them had to be launched. "They go back into hiding later on and, so, the medicine will not be effective if delayed," he said with a grin.

I tried to picture an army of microscopic germs coming out of their hiding for their regular morning walk. It was not picturesque.

I thanked the pharmacist and returned his grin with a broader one.

Although I knew the pharmacist was pulling my leg, the instructions and the picture of germs on a morning walk remained unforgettable. The medicines were scrupulously taken in the mornings immediately after waking up and the result was that I was my fit self within a few days.