That Swiney Feeling

Three days back when I woke up with a sore throat and fever, the first thought that came to my mind was “ I may feature on news bulletin as the first case of swine flu from my locality” but it turned out that my excitement was short lived as it was a case of normal throat infection. But the three days of illness were filled with surprises and sense of realization. The moment I messaged my manager that I have got cough and cold and will not come to office as precautionary measure, he called up to find out how am I doing. Not that he is an insensitive person who is not worried about my well being, but I suspect that the trigger words were cough and cold, after all he sits just next to me in office. I decided to consult a physician to make sure that pigs have nothing to do with my condition, the moment I entered her clinic with my symptoms, at least 4 pairs of eyes looked at me as if I have just committed a daylight robbery, there was more anger in those looks than pity for my condition. I sat down next to a middle aged lady, who gave me can’tyousitsomewhereelse looks and covered her mouth with handkerchief, I was sure she must have made a mental note of buying and wearing a mask next time she visits doctor’s clinic, and I was not even sneezing or coughing.
The moment I sat on the examination chair in front of the doctor, she asked, cough & cold? and I meekly nodded yes. Just then I realized how bored she must be by now with all the patients coming to her with symptoms like 3 sneezes in a day or coughed twice in one hour, things we generally don’t even bother about or take homemade remedies for, but now this is not limited to our households but a matter of international concern. I am sure that an average person walking on the road doesn’t know how he can prevent AIDS to spread which is incurable and 1000 times deadlier than swine flu, but he knows that while in public place he has to cover his face with a mask. Talking of these masks, they have added some fun and color to our boring lives I must say.
Normally, you will find four type of mask wearing people on the road, first ones are those who are medically aware and are wearing the so called 3 layered mask to protect themselves, I don’t know how many of them know that it has to be changed after every four hours, but at least they have chosen the right attire for the occasion. The second type are those who are wearing what I called the Donald duck masks, yellow in colour these masks make you look like Donald duck and gives protection equivalent to a “Khadi Condom”, but the person wearing them feels safe and protected. Third types, follow a ritual, every morning they dip their handkerchief in the Nilgiri oil and tie it over their face, I don’t know whether that is killing the viruses, but it will surely kill me to smell that pungent smell almost daily in the bus. Fourth type are the ones who keep their masks hanging in front of their face, mostly at neck, actually they are the people who believe in symbolism and think that virus will not attack if it sees that the person has the symbol of protection hanging from the neck. I know there are many other varieties also but they are very rarely seen on road.
There was the time when if someone fell sick people used to visit and give advise for free on do’s and don’ts along with their good wishes and get well soons. Times have changed and I realized this while chatting with a co-worker on my office messenger, when I told him that I am at home coz I am not well, pat came reply, good, stay there only. This made me think that is this pandemic so bad or so serious or have we made it like that. What are we more scared of, the disease or the thought of catching that disease. Because we know that this is entirely curable still we are behaving as if it’s like plague which can kill in 24 hours. Its good to be alert and take preventive measures, but to be paranoid is not advisable. Now the question is who is more responsible for instilling this fear in us, our so called news channels who in the name of educating public are making money by running the non-existent stories or our government who has not been able to show any concrete measures to tackle this problem and when the health ministry failed, they put the blame on state governments coz that’s one thing we all can do most efficiently, passing the buck. Yesterday, I read that all the projects related to commonwealth games are running way behind schedule, and in my throat infection induced feverish state I thought that if we are not able to manage something which has a clear cut agenda and deadline in front of us how can we even think of managing a virus which we can’t even see from our naked eye and which spreads through air. If you know the answer, please let me know also….till then say “bless us” when you see someone sneeze near you.