I don’t know what it is with July, or in a lesser way, the month leading up to it, June. Other than the fact that they both begin with the letter J, they don’t seem similar to each other in any way. All I know is that they have it in for me. Before I forget, let me add, January (also a J!) is another of them.

By the looks of it, the three of them are in cahoots with Ms Migraine who has been a regular companion of mine since log. It is only recently that I noticed this affinity of the J months to her. Not that the other months are innocent babes in the wood, if you know what I mean. They sneak her in too, the only difference being the innocent demeanour they present.

“‘What?” they ask when I try to bunch them with the J Gang and call them names, uncomplimentary ones, mind you.

“It’s only a couple of times that we slipped up and let her in!” they declare plaintively.

Of course, I am not deceived by their (innocent) demeanour or (plaintive) declarations. I am too smart for that. I know they are all in this together with the villains of the piece. The three Js.

The thing is, I am not too fond of pill-popping. So I wait to see if Ms Migraine will go off on her own. But no. Nowadays she is persistent, an unwelcome guest refusing to leave. So my days are wasted. I walk around aimlessly, doing nothing productive, unable to think clearly, till finally I give up and pop a pill.

One strange thing about my migraine is that I am unable to rest. I envy people who can just take to their bed when a migraine hits, after drawing the curtains and soundproofing the room, and then go blissfully to the Land of the Nod, to wake up refreshed hours later. With just the two of us at home, it would have been easy-peasy. But no! I have got to be different there too!

My thing when this unwelcome guest appears is to move around aimlessly. Walk, walk and keep walking, seems the prompt she has scripted for me. So I walk. Up and down the hall, in and out of rooms. If it’s early morning or late evening, I can walk outside. But in the rain or bright and hot and sunny kind of weather we have , walking outdoors is out of question at other times.

One thing that happens as a result of all this walking though is that I get my ten thousand steps in, in no time at all. That’s no small consolation, I suppose. 😉

©️ Shail Mohan 2025