Swine Flu Celebrations !!!!!!!!

“Aaaachiiii, Aaaachiiii ", (Stop, ask your mind not to search for a Dictionary word), a cute kid sneezed in the middle of a shop floor, predominantly a shop for the upper strata. She jumped into the pile of balls and the dust made her sneeze. The next moment she was in the lime light of the whole shop, everyone turned around, stared at her and the whole shop came to a stand still, she went back to play while everyone continued to stare, she stopped, again sneezed and the viscous fluid started flowing. The next moment, parents of the other kids came running and picked them up and ran back to safety (Some even had an expression; “I almost saved my kids life”). Our heroine in pink started weeping her mom in early thirty’s came running and lifted her up. The lady stared back at the crowd, a crowd which already had confirmed that this was the youngest possible H1N1 victim ever.

Though the kid did not sneeze after that, half the crowd walked out, the lady at the counter did not smile at the kid or her parent, instead tightened a two day old mask, which can spread much more dreaded diseases that H1N1. A reactive society at it’s best. Swine Flu has made things tough for a sneezing kid; Pandemic declared months back we decided to be careful after a few deaths and some hyped up reports on the front page. Reactive approach with a lot of aggression, aggression backed with very less facts, facts collected from vague sources, Pune the educational hub of the country responded to Swine Flu the Desi way, people believed that masks at the traffic signal is a life saver, shaking hands went out of the trend and “ Namaste “ was full on. Mails flying across workstations about the latest sensation, people checking websites for the latest death updates, Colleges closed, Malls shutdown and Movie releases extended, things changed, changed overnight.

Swine Flu season is over, people are back on the street, we would call ourselves, resilient, and the media even would come up with Photographs of kids going back to school with a caption “Nothing can stop them”. We belong to a country were people get killed in blasts, in floods, in road accidents, in epidemics like typhoid and malaria, here people die in riots, alcohol tragedies takes lives, calamities and terrorism kills people here. What is special about Swine flu that the government must take care of us, Actually Swine flu is nothing, it is better, at least a dignified death for a taxpayer, you die on a bed with your loved ones around. Your body is in one piece and last but not least your get a send off, even media would play a role (If you are the first, 25th, 50th or the 100th one, these numbers would be like a Silver, Golden and Platinum Jubilee). Life is good, until you are on your own, until you do not travel in trains (Bomb blasts), You do not drink water from taps (Malaria/ Cholera), Drive vehicles on the bumpy roads (Accidents) and Swine Flu has a new mantra for us, Until you do not breathe, until you step out of the home, and guess what we tried, but no choice could not sustain it for long!!!!!!!