Epicenter of India's Swine Flu Epidemic: Pune

Just in the past week the city has gone mad with swine flu. And most of them don't have it. I mean, only 300 (out of 4 million) people have been diagnosed, under 10 people have died, but the response has been completely out of proportion.



Yesterday, the government closed down all schools for one week and multiplexes and malls for three days while encouraging people to "avoid public places." Obviously, this has decimated our attempts to schedule the final workshops for our cycling awareness program. :(


About 50% of the people you see on the streets or in shops are wearing facemasks (these ones were in a handicraft store we visited). The worst part is that we are being harassed for not wearing them! I was walking down the street the other day and a man started yelling at me, very excited, ran into his shop and came back with a facemask for me, held out at arm's length. The papers have been reporting that the swine flu is coming from the US, so everyone thinks foreigners are carriers (even though we haven't been there in 2 months!). Shopkeepers put on masks when we go in, and people cover their noses with their scarves when we pass by on the street. It's completely ridiculous. Yesterday, I gave up and wore a facemask on the bike ride home so I would stop being stared at or harassed by mask salesmen. I know that the media is blowing this out of proportion and that scientifically swine flu is not dangerous, but it's making me scared that everyone (including our program directors and Devaki!) is acting as if it is. Whatever happened to rational thinking?? I'm pretty sure more people are dying of AIDS in this city per day than swine flu!

Frustrating, and at the same time a little scary...

In other news:

Sari-licious! :)