Bloody Swine! (No, I'm not swearing!)

The sights are bewildering. Everywhere I go there are people enveloped in extreme paranoia, they are donning huge masks - some are equipped with the pricey N95 and some make do with the poor man's equivalent of it (which is so thin, its a joke) - hoping that the paltry strip of sponge will shield them from the dreaded virus - the swine flu virus. However, it is not the virus itself that has created so much furore and hubbub - the sole point of discussion dominating our jumpy news channels (do they need an excuse to go all berserk? They'll even run a 'breaking news' segment if the local stray dog pisses in a ditch), morning meetings with colleagues & chai-time conversations with friends. The culprit is fear, so much so that it has turned into a contagious mania - an epidemic of fear. Schools are shut, collegians are told to go chill at home, cinema halls are shutting their doors (damn! I SO wanted to watch Kaminey) and the National Health Minister has proclaimed that 1/3rd of Indians are going to be infected with the virus by the end of 2010. Someone should go slap him silly. We have more people infected with AIDS in this gawd-help-us country. We don't need statistics, Mr. Minister. We don't need to hear the death toll every morning, Mr. News Channel Editor. What we need is you to STOP dishing out fear, mania and useless statistics. The virus will run its course, like millions of more dangerous viruses do - it may cause deaths for some or it may wane away for some . All we need to do is stay clean and healthy. But please don't spread fear with this incessant broadcasting of doom and gloom. Leave that to RGV and his factory of frighteningly horrifying films. And you don't need an expert to tell you THAT.