Just recently I was reminded of our experience during the swine flu scare that we had last year. Albeit unpleasant and tedious we did manage to find things to laugh about and cherish for the rest of our life.
In the peak of the swine flu scare any ordinary flu like symptoms would almost always look like the feared flu itself. We too fell prey to this stream of thought. But, sometimes a lot of good comes out of our expectation to see and find good no matter how terrible the situation. What follows is all about that.
Early in the second week of August '09, Uthkarsh came down with flu like symptoms. His temperature highs touched 104 deg F and it was such a herculean task to bring it down every time it rocketed. We were dosing him with Crocin, Ibugesic and Meftal alternatively and sponging him round the clock for five full days (nights included, nights are part of the day when a baby is unwell). Luckily around the time he was just about beginning to fall sick we had a few extra hands who we planned on retaining until all this was over.
Being very responsible citizens we made sure that whatever it was we would take precaution and not allow the virus to spread - be it human or the animal kind. So we decided to stop visiting anyplace and also told all new contacts not to visit us until the ordeal was over. That was our first step.
But, we did have to go to shops and visit doctors. So, we had to think of something workable that would enable us to uphold the title of responsible citizens. And that led us to our next step - wearing masks. All of us wore masks everywhere we went, even when we were sitting in our car. For starters it was such a head-turner. Four adults and a baby sitting in a car, all wearing masks is not quite the run-of-the-mill scene that you see very often on the roads of Chennai.
Meanwhile, Uthkarsh's temperature peaks were not coming down and it was accompanied by the proverbial adamant cough and annoying running nose. So, his pediatrician had no other choice but to ask us to have his throat swab taken to rule out H1N1. So, off we went to King Institute of Preventive Mediceine Guindy. That was the only official Swinu Flu Testing and Treatment facility in Chennai declared by the Government.
There was a huge queue for testing at King'g. A couple of lab technicians who almost resembled Neil Armstrong in their attire were doing the tests. They were fast and extremely efficient at their work. Else finishing that serpentine queue would have been next to never. Uthkarsh was asked to be brought in for the test by one adult. So, Kumar decided to do the honours while we were all waiting outside anxiously. One minute he went in quietly and in the next second there was a loud scream continued by some crying and that was all. In exactly two minutes he was out. It was that fast and that smooth. I was in awe of our government's arrangement for testing and treatment of swine flu. It was impeccable to say the least.
Though the result came back negative, we continued to wear our masks wherever we went. EVERYWHERE from shops to buy groceries to the beach - just everywhere. Apart from being a head-turner, it was also a conversation-churner. Everyone who saw us and happened to be an earshot away started talking about the swine flu and how fast it was spreading and how no one is responsible these days and how many people were dying (some random numbers thrown in) everyday. Seeing us with masks people took it for granted that we were confirmed cases of swine flu and hence kept a safe distance from us. Everyone who saw us would move away from their trajectory that would have probably led them to us, so that they could avoid contracting the virus from us. It was so funny to see the moral dilemma in their face - to move away or not to move away. This actually worked to our advantage because wearing a mask helped keep people at bay!! We also met some who boldly walked up to us to point blank scold us for being out and spreading the virus! Some others thought we were out there to deliberately scare people away.
On the whole it was such a hilarious experience to watch people from behind the safety of our masks. I guess doing something like this once in a while can be a lot of fun. See if you can bypass the embarrassment of being seen in a mask just for a day and see the kind of experience you can have. I guarantee it will be nothing short of cartloads of fun.
Can you muster the courage to mask it?
