The literal Hindi translation could actually imply 'My murder' as in a murder I committed or my own murder committed by someone else. I know gets to the point where I may have to be committed. Whatever that means.
But this is not really about anything drastic like that. Rather a satirical view of this annual ritual we wimps in the US have come to follow in the form of an annual check up at your friendly neighborhood doctor's office. First you get that appointment. Typically you want to shoot for an early morning chit chat since the blood suck has to happen after you have fasted for at least 12 hours since your last meal.
Last supper notwithstanding there is nothing holy about this experience. You have to drive on an empty decaffienated tummy to the docs office and expect some strange person who might or might not look like they just stepped off a boat from faraway lands stick needles in your arm. This while putting on a face that is ready to make small talk like weather forecasts and traffic nightmares. You don't want to upset the boat person when they are attempting to drain you of the vital fluid - aka blood.
The extraction begins after the extractor stares at both your arms to see which looks juicy enough to yield the Khoon quickly. Once they select the winner a rubber band is tied at the upper arm tight enough to make the donor section more juicy and eager to squirt.
Then comes the longish stainless steel that like an Anopheles at a buffet smoothly glides in to the artery and starts filling up the glass tubes at the rear end of the needle.
Several test tubes later they snap the rubber band off your arm and proclaim you are free to go.
Then you wait to see your khoon's quality assessment. Depending on how fragile or ailment ridden you are there can be multiple tests ordered on your juice and the results are made available within 24 hours. At least if you are a person on his last breath you have the pleasure of going online and looking at what you were made of.
Our first foray into Central America. That elongated isthmus that forms the geographic boundary between two vast continents of North and South America. Specifically landing for NYE 2026 in San Jose, Costa Rica. Capital city for this region that does not have its own army, instead relying on its big bro the Estados Unidos to the north is a metropolis of approx. 500K people. Largely wilderness and with both a Pacific and Carribean/Atlantic coast the country is rich in bio diversity. In Spanish it means the rich coast so named by Columbus landing in early 16th century and being mesmerized by the local tribes sporting gold jewelry. Our stay included visiting the foothills of a large strato volcano called Arenal and enjoying the naturally heated thermal baths for a while. Lunching amidst lush forest and watching indigenous species of avian noise makers fly overhead. Toucans, some sort of pea hens, multiple song bird species completed the spectacle. Iguanas and a lonel...
Is ek boond khoon ki keemat tum kya jano, boat mein se nikle hue prani...a variation of a famous recent dialogue.
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