Surrounded by Chaos

Following multiple mosquito bites in a official guest house, we fled away to a place 77 kms away though we very well knew that we had to travel 154 kms (77*2) daily. However damage was done and this mosquito attack, and food quality took its toll on yours truly. I somehow managed to get myself packed to home



I was guided on the wrong path due to wrong diagnosis by a homeopath, then went to a novice doctor who is just 2 years elder to me. Then I was told that it was Amoebiasis aka food poisoning.I had no other option but to continue with alopathy though I am not a firm fan of it. However, my body temperature was not under my control. I go in hot sun and I feel like Johnny, The Human Torch of Fantastic Four. I get inside AC and felt like Sub-zero of Mortal Kombat. This was very annoying and I even tried to get myself baked in hot sun and see if I was sweating. The experiment was a complete failure. The doctor then suggested me to get hospitalized so that he could study this body temperature fluctuation. Long needles were plugged into my left wrist and bottles of glucose and lot of injections went in for two days. In the course of my hospitalization, the temperature fluctuation was attributed to a national epidemic, Malaria. My blood report taken a week before this discovery shows that I have no malaria symptoms. Apparently, the parasite takes six months to show itself in blood tests till which it remains hidden. Thankfully, this was detected by the doctor early. And this I believe makes this a national epidemic. The fact that there are 4 different parasites causing this disease makes it even more difficult to diagnose.Again, my doctor gave a wonder injection, kill-all-parasites type due to which finally my body temperature came back under control but not before undergoing 3-4 nights of terrible shivering.



The real chaos was seen only during my recovery period. News of Swine Flu spreading deaths across the country. The way these news channels portray it makes it look like Lord Yama has come down on an onsite assignment titled "Mass Mukthi Project (MMP)" through this virus. In hindsight, I couldn't agree more with my colleague's observation on Sun TV. "Hundreds die daily of TB, Pneumonia, Cancer, etc. Why do you people bother only about Swine Flu?"





I read on Sunday magazine about situation in Mumbai where public run for cover when one sneezes on road. I don't know when Mumbaikars started giving equal importance to terrorist attack and a person's sneeze. It sounds terrible. For a couple of days, I was skeptical and would scramble for my handkerchief to close my nostrils. That was due to my low immunity post malaria. I see people with these masks and am only reminded of Mortal Kombat characters more than Swine Flu.





I also see a general trend in these deaths caused so far. The victims have been small kids or old men or those who have had some troubled medical history. Till we maintain clean habits, I guess we should be okay. But the same can't be guaranteed for others we interact with. I've had to miss 2-3 weddings (even at this moment am missing one) and have missed the opportunity to catch up with some college mates. But this is a situation wherein I am helpless. Till my immunity levels reach the old level, I just can't afford to take a risk with outside people, especially those who have crossed ocean to reach these shores. And I'm very pessimistic about the thoroughness of Swine Flu tests taken at our airports. Right now, it feels like I'm a jailed bird but like Arnold says in Terminator-2 "I'll be back" :-)