Cold, chills, unable to taste masala chips: Kashyap-Saina’s road to recovery
Updated: December 22, 2020 8:20:04 am
P Kashyap and Saina Nehwal had tested positive for Covid-19. (FILE)
A packet of Masala chips progressively losing their crunch – and taste, proved to be more than a munching accompaniment during Saina Nehwal and Parupalli Kashyap’s recovery from COVID-19. While the two are back to training at an unused badminton court in Hyderabad after rallying back from their infections, Kashyap recalls the fortnight that saw them stay largely asymptomatic, save for the loss of taste and smell.
“Noone had fever above 98.5 degrees. Just some chills and cold at the start. But it was when we couldn’t sense the very strong taste of masala chips that we were sure even Saina was positive,” Kashyap said.
It started with the bunch of friends attending the wedding of close buddy Guru Saidutt, where social distancing and masking went for a toss. After fellow players Guru and HS Prannoy felt feverish, four of them had returned positives while Saina’s test initially came negative. “I tested because the others felt symptoms. There was cold and cough on Days 3, 4 and 5 and I lost taste on the 4th. It wasn’t the worst cold I’ve had (though I hadn’t had cold for 2-3 years) and things were back to normal by 6th day, though I was positive still on the 8th day,” Kashyap recalls.
Saina would isolate immediately afterwards, though she would lose sensory smell and taste after her initial negative test, prompting her to go for another re-test that came positive. “I could taste sweet a little – honey. But salty and bitter were completely gone, so everyday food, I had no taste of. Everyday we would have one chip from the packet. After 3 days I could feel the flavours on the chips so that was the cue. When we tested next, we got negatives,” he says. “But it’s different for every person.”
