“Keys for room number 209, please”, I asked the lady at the reception at Hotel Fidalgo in Panjim. I looked at the clocks at the reception which were displaying the time of all the major cities of the globe. Suddenly my searching eyes could locate the local time which said 7:55 for Mumbai. At the same time my colleague Mr. Kulkarni was also asking for his keys. The lady could find neither of the keys. Mr. Kulkarni excused himself for some time giving the lady some time to get it, he moved on. I was waiting for the keys, my limbs aching. To add to it the day’s work had left my upper back in excruciating pain that I go through almost every evening for the past decade in my life. But today it was hurting really bad. The onset of a viral infection could not have come at a worse time and I was feeling being eaten up by it. I could sense the ascending temperature in my body. Feeling weak, I mumbled to the lady “Is it going to take long for the keys?” to which she replied “I’m getting it” a...