Body Pain

At the seminary, class attendance is required. If you want to take leave, you have to fill out a “leave form” and the warden has to sign off on it. On the leave form, you have to indicate the reason why you’re taking leave. If you’re sick, you can’t just say “sick.” You have to say what’s wrong. A common ailment people write is “body pain.”

When I hear “body pain,” I think of the pain you feel when you’re running a fever, or about to get a fever. But “body pain” means something else here apparently, because these guys are not running a fever, nor do they eventually get a fever.

I always get annoyed when I hear that someone took leave because he had “body pain.” What does that mean!?! Have you ever gone to the doctor and said “I have body pain”? Or when in high school, you felt sick and wanted to go home, so you called home and said, “Mom, I have body pain”? No one has ever said that, I bet. Is this a symptom people only get in Kerala? I asked one of my classmates this question. He laughed and said, “No, it only exists in this seminary.” So you can guess why they say they have body pain.

But now I am suffering from body pain. However, I think it’s because a fever is coming on, not because I don’t want to go to class tomorrow.