Threat of swine flu and the parliamentary elections in Delhi

As reported in my earlier post, I was on a trip to Nepal and India from first week of May to the third week of June. In this post, I am going to talk about some of my experiences of the trip.

6th May 2009: It was around 9:30 PM local time when the Air India (Osaka-Hong Kong-Delhi) flight landed at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi. Throughout the journey, I heard people talking about the recent global outbreak of a new strain of influenza, called "swine flu", which is transmitted between humans. I saw many of them wearing mask even inside the airplane. While disembarking from the aircraft, I too was a bit worried about it. In fact, I was worried regarding two things - first, I had a fear that I might catch swine flu and second, I was thinking of the possible inconvenience after I heard that a tight screening was being done on passengers arriving at the international terminal round-the-clock. Not to my surprise, I saw a health desk (before the immigration counter) where few people (probably health workers) were sitting on comfortable chairs and wearing masks.

After my experience in India, I am wondering how the Nepalese authorities are 'screening' the possible swine flu cases at the international airport in Kathmandu!

We assembled in a long queue where we were asked to fill up a form stating whether we were suffering from cold, cough, fever etc. and whether we had traveled to the USA or Mexico recently. However, the way it was all being done there appeared too messy and unscientific as well. I don't think you can control or investigate any possible case of swine flu by just asking few questions! Soon, it was my turn and one of the guy in white uniform asked, 'do you have any fever or cough?'. I answered in negative but they had already put the stamp on the form well before my response and gave me back. I was surprised to see their 'thorough screening' to prevent transmission of the dangerous virus. After my experience in India, I am wondering how the Nepalese authorities are 'screening' the possible swine flu cases at the international airport in Kathmandu!

The officer took my passport and looked at it strangely as if he was going to find it forged or out-of-date! "Why you have come to India, how long you will stay in India and what are you going to do here???", the officer started interrogating me.

After the health 'check-up', I was queued up in a line heading towards the immigration counter. Soon I was standing before the immigration officer. I greeted the officer who barely smiled in response. The officer took my passport and looked at it strangely as if he was going to find it forged or out-of-date! "Why you have come to India, how long you will stay in India and what are you going to do here???", the officer started interrogating me. Few of the questions I thought were pointless to ask. Anyway, I responded to his questions almost in the parrot fashion! He looked at my face and then my documents quite a number of times before finally putting the stamp of 'arrival' in my passport. Now, I was on the way to claim my baggage.

I got my baggage and then proceeded towards the green channel (this has a big green board on top). I had been to Delhi airport before this but, today it looked quite different. Most parts of the airport appeared to have recently renovated. after I came out the green channel, I saw my relatives who had to wait for me a bit longer than they would have thought. I was obviously feeling very happy. Soon, we were on the way to my relative's residence. I could see several flyovers and other construction works going on that have changed the appearance of Delhi. In fact, I heard that Delhi markets itself as the city of flyovers! It was almost midnight when we reached to our address. We had some conversation followed by a dinner before we went to bed.

"Well, I don't really believe in voting. They are all Coke and Pepsi, man- a little difference! Why go out and vote for either? I mean, unless you really believe the advertisements, they are just sweetened, carbonated water. Terrible if you take them on an empty stomach!", he commented.

7th May 2009: I woke up early in the morning and had a cup of tea. I came to know that it was the election day in Delhi. The elections at all the seven parliamentary seats of Delhi was scheduled to be held today. It was good chance for me to observe the election process and talk to few people about what they think of the elections and democracy. I reached out to one of the polling booths. I wanted to take few pictures from my mobile but one policeman informed me that it was prohibited. I talked to some people out of which few had come out to vote and few were like me. "Why do you vote?", I asked curiously to one guy who was watching the whole process from a distance. "Well, I don't really believe in voting. They are all Coke and Pepsi, man- a little difference! Why go out and vote for either? I mean, unless you really believe the advertisements, they are just sweetened, carbonated water. Terrible if you take them on an empty stomach!", he commented. How true! It was one of the best answers that I have heard from someone who don't believe in our conventional form of democratic exercises. I remember one interesting comment made at this blog which reads, "The very basic problem is that there is no good leader who makes it up there to be voted by people. So, all those who compete for our votes are from the same lot - just the names and faces change. As a voter, I have 2 choices - not to vote (still one of them wins) and to vote for one of the jokers (still one of them wins)". Probably not the case with developed countries, but surely these sentiments reflect the prevailing scenario in countries like India and Nepal.

The couple finished voting and then came back to join their kids who were waiting patiently out side the polling station. The son hated it till he found a candidate with a cricket bat as his election symbol whereas, the daughter wanted to vote for the candidate whose election symbol was an ice cream cup!

However, there was another face to this notion as well. I talked to few extremely enthusiastic people who considered voting as one of their fundamental rights and they actually believed that it could bring change in their fortune along with the nation's fate. "Your vote matters — to the candidate, the party and, most importantly, to you and your country so why let it go waste?", said one of the guys who was returning back from the polling station. I happened to meet a group of people who were, in fact, neighbor of my relative. It was a complete family - a couple, their son and daughter (both minors). The couple finished voting and then came back to join their kids who were waiting patiently out side the polling station. They said that they took their children there just for the sake of experience. The son hated it till he found a candidate with a cricket bat as his election symbol and the daughter wanted to vote for the candidate whose election symbol was an ice cream cup! After all, election has different meaning to different people: it may be funny, it may be serious and at times, may be too serious!