I don’t get sick very often, so when I do, I like to make the most of it. I am just recovering from a three and a half day cold and I have some wisdom to share.

Drink a lot of soup. I made two batches. The first one was so good everyone else in the house had to have it too, forcing me to rise from my bed of affliction a second time to make more for THE REAL PATIENT.

Recipe:

Chop onions, garlic and ginger and fry in a small amount of olive oil

Add vast amounts of whatever veggies you have on hand (I used carrots, gobi, eggplant, mushrooms, green beans and cabbage), stir well

Add a handful of pink dal, washed

Add three litres of water and three Maggi soup cubes

Let it boil for several hours, strain the whole thing and drink the soup as hot as you can stand.

(If you can make some whole wheat bread to go with it, it’s perfect, but if you can, then you probably aren’t that sick and you should go back to work. This logic didn’t work with me, but I am the boss. I made the bread.)

In-between sips of soup, lie about languidly, thinking deep thoughts. One that occurred to me while my nose dripped and my head pounded and my eyes itched and my body ached was this: people must have colds in all sorts of awkward situations. During earthquakes. On their wedding day. While campaigning for office. While being held hostage.

How awful. Colds should be given their full importance.

Here’s another: while a cold is considered only a slight inconvenience, in the middle of one, it is all-consuming. The sneezing, the baskets full of tissues, the sighing and groaning through the night as your aching sinuses keep you from sleeping. When entered into in the correct spirit, this gets you out of almost anything you would rather not do. And the things you DO have to do can be done with a genuine martyr’s air of resignation and piety.

And finally, hot mulled wine in the evening: essential for relaxing and getting ready for another sleepless night.