Friday, April 30, 2010

Tooth Extraction or Bangalore Traffic

Here is question for all the Bangaloreans who have got their wisdom tooth removed (yeah I know this is a weird poll but you will know why).
Which is worse: Getting your wisdom tooth removed or bearing the Bangalore traffic?

A few days back I got my wisdom tooth removed. My brother and a few of my friends had also got it removed and they had scared me to death of how painful the procedure would be. Me being the strong one, or so I think, enter the dentist clinic thinking it’s just a tooth it can’t harm me much. Yes it was just a tooth and it was out leaving just small dent in my mouth. Was I strong enough or was the dentist good which made the procedure so smooth. Well anyways I was done with my tooth extraction with no hassles. I was all smiles when the procedure was done but it was not over yet. I seam to have a lot of wisdom which is useless ;). I had two more wisdom teeth to be removed and it was schedule for today. Well I had got one removed and this is gona be just another one. But little did I know that it was gona be a surgical procedure. This tooth was so in love with me that it didn’t want to leave me that easily. It had to be surgically removed.

I entered the room, happily sat on the reclining chair, relaxed n waiting for the doc to administer the local anesthesia. The dentist dose his usual routine and told me that its just gona be a small prick nothing to worry and I nodded boldly, thinking its not even gona be as bad a mosquito bite. Well the anesthesia is on, my mouth feels numb and there he comes with some alien instrument. Darn!!!...I was like "No I don’t remember this thing going inside my mouth the last time". With no warning the instrument starts drilling inside my mouth. It was like a borewell drilling inside. Guess the doc read my thoughts, "Don’t worry the noises are normal", he says…."yeah like hell its normal" my thoughts reflected. I closed my eyes thinking it’s just a bad dream. Again the doc seam to have read my mind...Voice again: "Don’t close the eyes...relax the muscles, that make it easy"..Ah!!!! Hell it’s not a dream. Like this was not enough and one doc was not enough, there comes another one. Tell one thing why do these docs wear those masks. It makes it so worse. Why cant they just come without the masks and give a sweet smile...don’t they want the patient to be relaxed..yeah i had already started to feel like a patient. The two docs are glaring into my mouth as if there is treasure, which both of them are fighting for. Well 20 mins of drilling, digging, glaring n practicing their tailoring skills in my mouth, both of them had found their treasure. My night mare was over. My mouth still feels numb, atleast I don’t feel the pain. Now the doc dose is routine again, he gives me a huge list of DOs and DONT'S: no hot stuff, no rinsing or gargling your mouth, eat lots of ice cream (yepii....this makes all worth it), etc, etc…

Okies all done, I am out of the clinic. My cousin is waiting outside to chauffeur me home. Me relieve that the worse is over, sit back on the bike with a deep breath :). Yeah it’s over. Like every black cloud has a silver lining, my ice cream is waiting to welcome me home:)...

Darn! The bike stops. I turn around to see all vehicles honking in unison, a huge flicker of break lights, People dancing to the tune of horns with their subtle hand signals to “stop” or “wait a sec” or “go ahead if you can”...yeah it was a more or less a disco on streets:). This is Bangalore traffic for you. I told myself “it’s just a matter of few mins Hamsa relax we'll be home soon” (oh yeah I have to take the pain killer. the numbness will be gone is few mins and its no more gona be a painless procedure)...but like I said it’s just a matter of few mins, relax. Well I am relaxed enjoying the disco. The few mins of wait what I thought, seam to be just a little more than “few”..well its ok my mouth still feels numb as a long as it feels this way I can take it. Slowly the disco seam to fade away and the stage is turning into a chaos. It’s the same honking sound, break light n and the same ppl, wonder why I feel chaos around. Slowly it sinks in that it’s my mouth which is in chaos. The numbness is gone. I can feel my jaws, toung and of course the pain…The traffic still doesn’t give up. The pain is growing so bad that I had even second thought of parking the vehicle right there and walk home. I checked my watch and its almost half hr n we have not even moved a mile. It’s not too long since I though that the night mare is over, it’s back again. I feel the blood in my mouth, yuck its gorse, I want to spit it out but I am in the middle of the road, the pain is growing, traffic doesn’t help n my jaw feels like it’s gona burst out. Felt so helpless, I don’t see any medical shop near by to walk n buy the pain killer. My vehicle which chose not to join the disco has now decided to join the party. After nearly an hrs struggle I am home. I gulp the medicine and hit the sacks. I lie down and think which was worse, the tooth extraction or the Bangalore traffic?

Lessons learnt: Never get your wisdom tooth removed in Bangalore, unless the clinic is right next door :)