Wednesday, August 12, 2009

THE SWINE FLU SCARE






“ACCHOOO”…. I sneezed and apologized to my fellow passengers in the 12: 40 kasara local. They looked at me with utter disdain and in a flash covered their faces with masks, handkerchief and the nearest lady’s duppatta. Feeling like an ostracized whore, I quickly exit at my station and curse that speck of dust that dare enter my nostrils.

What is it with people? The media hits a ‘BREAKING NEWS’ and suddenly people are conscious of the air they breathe. Not minding the fact that we have been breathing Tuberculosis bacilli, chicken pox viruses, second hand cigarette smoke, sulphur dioxide, methane from the neighbourhood tabela, ammonia from the urinals ( or roadside) and God alone knows what for the past decade.

Everywhere people are frantically covering up their noses and mouth with masks which the chemists are gleefully selling. This is the same generation that thinks twice before wearing a condom to prevent AIDS and other STDS.
‘Roche’ the company that markets TAMIFLU must be laughing all the way to the bank already.

The only thing we need to fear is media hype (the very ones that run after tantrik babas and the neighbourhood cat that fell into a drain and calls it BREAKING NEWS)
The media generated mass hysteria is creating fools out of the already fear stricken lot and we are surely to blame.

All you have to do is keep your resistance hig by eating good food , sleeping well and living a carefree life. dont just run to the nearest testing centre because you sneezed and overload the already burdened medical centres.

Ps: There is a 1.8 % chance of dying in a road accident, so please stop crossing the road.
There are high chances of getting complicated malaria and dengue fever, so please sleep in an armored truck.
Also there are high chances of lung cancer due to pollution, so stop breathing.

REMEMBER: THE ONLY THING WE NEED TO FEAR IS FEAR ITSELF

5 comments:

Prajakta Thanekar said...

the other day i recd a sms saying :
90 people got Swine flu,and the whole world wants to wear surgical masks,
but 20 million people have AIDS, and nobody wants to wear a condom

Arun Kumar said...

Awesome article dude..
hilarious n thought provoking...
am still laughing..

ashwin said...

thanks a lot guys

Anonymous said...

good article..

Unknown said...

Ashwin you should publish this article in the newspaper. very nicely written.