It was one more hectic day for me at work... and as usual... to have my family updates ( As I am in London and my wife and kids in Delhi) Ramani with hesitation mentioned that Mithu and Swethu ( Our kids) have been asked to stay back home.. this was because that they had fever.... and the temperature never came down to normal which was hovering around 100 -101 degrees.instinctively I asked, had she not taken the kids to the Doctor, Ramani was furious, ( I was not aware of the situation there) blanketing her impulse- she asked me did not I see the NDTV and the media chaos about SWINE FLU ... I was blank to be sincere, though at work I am online but never had a chance to browse and get to know the world happenings, as usual I tried to evade the question , but she was persistent.. and I gave up mentioning that I did not.. with a note of caution she sad... " BANIYAN TREE HAS BEEN THE CENTRE OF MEDIA COVERAGE ".. I was taken back a little. Then while I persuaded to tell me the details , she quite discreetly mentioned one of the student who suffered from fever was later diagnosed by the physician that he is affected by "SWINE FLU".The media was given a scoop, which later became a national issue..( I was also equally upset as none of my beloved ones never had a courtesy to give a call to my wife who has been all alone battling it out..!!!!!, well Had to console myself that may be, they are not informed .. or rather they would have had no idea where my kids are studying..!!).
It was a co-incident that both Swetha & Mithran had fever and as a preventive measure Ramani had not sent them to school for almost 10 days, and Swethu in her 8th standard amidst her exams.. and that was the time my niece KALPANA was geting married.well another event were the position for me with my family had become quite starkly clear: I AM NO WAY NEAR ANTONE'S WISH LIST..!!!! I write this with a heavy heart.. once I had been darling for one and all in my family , now while you are away and Ramani and Kids alone with day to day happenings that are quite frightening.. I realized that We had none to confide within!!!! or even to rest on a shoulder to spell out our grief..!!! the life's essence becoming too materialistic.. and no room for sentiments and emotions.. may be I have to rewrite those words in my dictionary!!!!
Well the event in the school and the drama with media was picking up dirt and gravity.. and as days past, few more kids were infected and 2 of them had died.. I was really getting restless and Swethu & Mithu were suffering from fever that did not subside.. As Ramani was getting active with our VISHWASEWAK activities another stumble while things were getting smoother.
Now a days the Open House " in school has given an opportunity for the parents to see each other, For this issue at hand on of the kid's parent had called Ramani to voice the protest for the school management have not taken enough precaution.!!!!
It was quite evident that after the media's handling had blown the issue out of proportion and school management had to take the blow from either side. The parents had gathered momentum and were about to call in for a Ghero at the school. Ramani was little uneasy as She is quite known among the school teachers...!!!She scrambled to call the Headmistress of the Nursery school and briefed her about the issue and also shared her view by spelling her unacceptability in the manner the management had taken the steps without addressing the issue in the PARENT TEACHERS ASSOCIATION..( Another dormant identity).She without revealing the agitating parents identity informed the headmistress to take necessary action.
Meanwhile the parent called Ramani but now with a note of caution stating that , she was advised by the Doctor that it is seriously suggested that they avoid going to school as they might get SWINE FLU!!!!!!hence they have cancelled their proposal to ghero in front of the school and discreetly again confirmed with Ramani ," Will we be infected if we go there!!!!"
While Ramani mentioned this conversation to me... my thoughts trailed back to my childhood days where Chandra while she was in her high school and i was in my first standard , but , if not her I would never have touched my books or rather cultivated the habit of reading..!!!
She would read aloud the characters in " THREE MEN IN A BOAT! by Jerome K Jerome!!!where three friend setting on a sail for a vacation, with a medical book in hand , as they read the symptoms of each grave disease each would mention that he has the symptom and eventually certain that each has a serious terminal illness, assuming so, how they react, how they get frightened and eventually all of them cancel their trip and reach their physician for treatment.
She use to relate the story with events and we use to roar to laughter.. and one more thing we never would complain of any illness.. refraining to be a laughing stock amongst we brothers and sisters...
Later, while I was in Railway Mixed Higher secondary School at Chennai, my beloved classmates, Zubair, Vishwanath, Govardhan, Giriraj, Bala, Bhaskar and all, we had 2 Non Detail in our English subject ( 1-David Copperfield , 2- Three Men ina boat) While we all in our class on eleventh standard clubed together from various school.. it was a good assortment of characters.
Mr. Venugopal our English teacher proposed that he would have one class a week for David Copperrfield and another week for Three men in a boat. which meant on Odd week and Even week. After second class, he was on holiday for few days and we missed the sequence and also the project that he had given us.. to write an essay until the chapter he had taken in Three men in a boat.
The day he returned and his class was the first period. As he entered the class he demanded the essay which none of us had.. ! He was disappointed with us and amazingly Bala had submitted the essay . He was so rejoiced to see at least one student was sincere enough to do .He quite zealously made Bala stand in front of us and praised him and subsequently let all of us stand out of the class and took class with just Bala in the classroom.!!! we were all shocked and shamed.
Bala was so quite and mischievously laughing .After the class, we all hovered on him to know how he managed it.. On his way back Mr. Venugopal called Bala and advised him not to get along with us as we are all naughty and disobedient.
After a week while Mr. Venugopal came back for the Non Detail class he first called Bala to the dias, made him stand in front of us, with a note of grave expression he addressed the class , 2 I am sorry my dear students, I must praise you all for accepting the mistake, but I made a grave mistake, believing Bala, who submitted the a irrelevant paper as Essay to me and made me a fool.. My sincere advise is , Please be away from this guy!!!!" We all were shocked for Bala's braininess and did not know how to react.. later we all burst into rapturous laughter even Mr. Venugopal joined and excused Bala!!!
Well this all came in a flash into my mind when Ramani mentioned that the parents withdrew their proposal to ghero in front of the school as the doctor advised that they might get affected if they go out ..!!!!!!
It was a good relief for me whilst Ramani stated that Swetha and Mithran were fine it was just a normal; fever and nothing to worry about --!!!!!SWINE FLU!!!!
Later I browsed to know more about SWINE FLU, which I wish to SHARE WITH ALL OF YOU!!!
Prevention of human to human transmission
Influenza spreads between humans through coughing or sneezing and people touching something with the virus on it and then touching their own nose or mouth.Swine flu cannot be spread by pork products.The swine flu in humans is most contagious during the first five days of the illness although some people, most commonly children, can remain contagious for up to ten days. Diagnosis can be made by sending a specimen, collected during the first five days for analysis.
To prevent spread of the virus among humans - frequent washing of hands with soap and water or with alcohol-based hand sanitizers, especially after being out in public
Experts agree that hand-washing can help prevent viral infections, including ordinary influenza and the swine flu virus. Also avoiding touching eyes, nose and mouth with hands prevents flu.
Hope this gives a fair flash back to our schooling days on "Personal Hygiene, Good Habits"....
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