The Scary Flu

Swanking around the handkerchief across the face, gives no real feeling of being in a comfort zone. But the scare of Swine Flu has gripped the entire city with fear. With already 14 deaths across the country & increasing (& nearly half of them in Pune), the concern for the communicable flu is genuine. The city is being percieved as the epicentre of the disease with more number of fresh cases reporting everyday. Infact, the terror of the disease is causing more pain than the flu itself. Swine Flu is in the air & everywhere in the minds people & also somewhere in the lungs & throats of a number of affected ones.
Anywhere in the city, you will see mask in place of a face. & beleive me, the reaction among the common crowd is far too exaggerated. Its true, "Prevention is better than cure" but it holds more meaning if done in the right way. Its more about maintaining a better hygiene & following clean living practices, rather than only covering a sheild on the face with little knowledge of the side-effects of the masks. The normal masks are not full-proof for prevention against the deadly H1N1 virus, & what more, if not disposed properly after use, it too can become a source for other common bacterial & known viral diseases.
Yes the masks are not doing too bad atleast in terms of business. Suddenly there is spurt in demand of the high protective masks, which normally are meant for use by chemists & lab assistants or doctors. The black-marketing of the N95 masks (yes the mask model & the not sophisticated handset by Nokia) is news across the TV Channels. My friend Ronnie was fumed at the prospect of an illegal business carried out by greedy shopkeepers in times of a National Pandemic. Who else to be blamed, except for these people & the helpless common man?
And not to highlight more the role the media play in times of such criticality. The media's perception of the viewer is that a common man is a hapless, ignorant, illiterate, & frenzy crowd.
And thats the simple reason, they take the common man for a ride & show anything according to what they feel is correct. Be it over-hyping a common subject, or showing only side of a story, or promoting only the news they feel, will increase their TRP, least bothering to showcase the article, a common man should be aware of. Its quite the case with Swine Flu, too, for if you see the case, you are more likely to get scared of the disease, instead of gaining any knowledge.
A number of deaths occur everyday in India, due to the common disease like fever, jaundice, acute cough & cold, but these hold less appeal for the media. Or for that matter, the number of people dying in road accidents annually. Message is simple, this is India, & everybody is busy in making money, be it the sales-man, the media, the opportunist and even the Goverment. And guess who is the one at the receiving end? Yes you & me, the Mango-people, the common man, the aam-junta.
Hopefully, the era of the deadly virus will subside (like historic case of SARS, Bird Flu) & lets hope the vaccine is out soon, before the H1N1 becomes a roller-coster topic to inspire Hollywood to invest for an Oscar-winning thriller.