Quarantined

Quarantine means voluntary or compulsory isolation, usually to contain the spread of something considered dangerous, often it is related to controlling illness or disease but not always.

Of late the outbreak of ‘swine flu’ caused by the H1N1 virus has created a pandemonium amongst people. Though this is a totally curable disease, a small number of deaths of people who had contacted this virus and developed swine flu created a panic mindset in the minds of the citizens of Pune, where I live. People with mildest colds and coughs wanted to be tested for swine flu and hospitals were flooded with people wearing masks that hardly offered any protection. In fact people did not realise that they were exposing themselves to more threat of being infected by going to these crowded places.

School going children seemed to be most susceptible to this virus, and after one school girl died of swine flu, schools started to be shut down one by one as cases of swine flu seemed to be spreading. It was then realised that shutting down schools one by one was not the solution, so a decision was taken to simultaneously shut down all schools, colleges, theatres, cinema halls, private tuition classes. Hostels were being closed so students from out of town were forced to go home to their hometowns. Shopping malls, multiplexes and places where people might gather in numbers were asked to shut shop early; it was more like an unofficial curfew had been declared.

Even festivals like ‘janamashtami’ where ‘dahi-handi’ is a much awaited event and Ganesh utsav were being kept low key as those are situations where people might have gathered in numbers. People were hiking up prices of masks. Most wore the masks around their necks as they felt suffocated, that was a hilarious sight to see.

Slowly the city had a dead depressed feeling about it. Swine flu blues were hitting everyone. Children were being kept at home and not really allowed to go play with friends lest one was infected, nobody was going out to eat or shop, traffic on the roads was minimal. It was in a way very quiet and peaceful. That was a real plus point.

This quarantine created a welcome change in some ways. Since people were forced to stay at home, with not much to entertain them other than watching television or playing cards, carom, monopoly and other board games, it turned out that families actually started spending time together. At first there were symptoms of cabin fever, and people argued and quarrelled a little, but then they got to know each other better. My son who hates going to school is actually looking forward to going back to school as the unplanned extended enforced holiday has now lost its charm.

The quarantine has lasted for over two weeks now and hopefully will end by the end of August. It has been said that the H1N1 virus is not new and has been around a few years now and is treated with readily available over the counter TAMIFLU (oseltamivir phosphate), so nobody knows why this time around it caused so much hysteria. This outbreak cannot be called an epidemic in the true sense because the number of people who actually tested positive for swine flu was not too high as compared to the number of people who had what might be called regular flu.

Nobody knows what really caused the panic and the hysteria, was it the media or was it something else? No matter what, it did give many people a respite from the rush and stress of everyday activities. It was like nature was telling us ‘it’s okay to slow down, you are the ones that make life, not your work or shopping or schools and gyms. So take some time off and smell the roses.’ One could get used to the quiet pace of life once again. Like all challenges, this one too has a silver lining.