THE PANDEMIC

My brother and I used to have a very close relationship when we were younger. While of course there were numerous fights every now and then, we always moved past it and focused on having fun.

However as we started to grow older and had more responsibilities like school life, we started to have less and less time to bond and hang out like we used to. Although this distance may not have been obvious at the start, it became painfully obvious when we look through old photos of our younger selves. Additionally, I had based a previous project on my brother, and being able to talk to him through the project had really made me emotional and reminsce our close relationship.

After being diagnosed with his condition, it did not affect me much. For the most part, I would just occasionally ask him questions about his condition and that would be the end of it. However the pandemic rolled in, and the coronavirus was wildly spreading. I was no exception.

I remember being very sick one night, having major headaches and runny nose. My father and I made our way to the clinic, expecting it to just be a normal fever. To our surpise, I had tested positive. I remember testing my sense of smell, and realised that I couldn’t smell. I went home and had to quarantine myself. Along with my lack of smell, I was not able taste food as well. During the period when I had this loss of taste and smell, it made me think if this was my brother’s everyday. Not being able to fully taste food, and only finding it bland and plain.

It allowed me to step into my brother’s shoes for a week. I had also taken advantage of my lack of smell and taste by trying foods I don’t like such as pickles or eggplants and since I couldn’t taste, the flavour of pickles and eggplants that I hate so much wasn’t there. While this was one good thing about the lack of smell and taste, I also could not taste or smell the foods that I loved.

I was happy when I got my sense of smell and taste back, it also allowed me to understand my brother’s condition a bit more and I was able to empathise with him. I had a small chat with him about this topic and it was like we were back to having that fun casual talks when we were younger again.

While having the coronavirus made me feel very weak and tired all the time, this was one good thing that came out of that experience.