Everyone would have had a tryst with a headache at some point in their lives. The headache may be physical or figurative. When someone exclaims, “He/she gives me a headache!” the word headache may mean stress or anxiety.
The real aches come in various forms like throbbing ones, mild hammering ones, one-sided aches, banded ones and so on. The reasons are varied and it takes a headache-prone person to understand the plight of another who is experiencing one. The head is the CPU of the human body and as a relative once commented, headaches make your daily routine come to a standstill.
I have been host to a few of the varieties mentioned above and can verily say that it becomes tough to get rid of an early morning headache. No amount of enveloping your head in steam or popping a pill into the mouth helps. The reason for the attack may have been the high-speed fan or the sudden dip in night temperatures, but the headache is there to stay till you retire again at night and have a fitful sleep. Till then you manage to go about your work with embers in your eyes that try to remain half closed most of the time. The onset of headaches during day time may be from exposure to harsh sunlight, or due to a long-time empty acidic stomach. A fizzing fresh lime soda can be the panacea at such times.
Political leaders as well as grassroots workers are to be commended for their gruelling schedules and the time spent in harsh sunlight with rumbling tummies during demonstrations and protest marches. They cannot be immune to the assault of headaches, as statistics indicate that over 50% of adults suffer from headaches at least once a year.
A headache can also be an excuse for a person wanting to avoid a meeting, although it may seem unthinkable between friends. But it did happen in a friend’s life recently: Her foreign guests pulled out of a minutely planned visit to her house, citing a migraine at the last moment! Would they have behaved in this manner in their own country, she wondered. I am sure there are many, along with me, who will travel and visit, despite a splitting headache, if the destination has a friend or an elderly relative waiting in happy anticipation. After all, the headache slowly recedes with shared laughter and compassion.
Sandhya Vasudev
Email: sandhya.vasudev@gmail.com