Swine Flu in Pune

To sum it up so far… my rhetoric…

Pune has the highest number of postive cases in the country. Till very recently, only Naidu Hospital was authorized to conduct tests, then Aundh Chest Hospital was added to the list. Now 15 more locations have been authorized to collect samples. It took one death (the only one in the country) to wake up the administration.

However, from what is being said, the administration is still not conducting tests unless a link to the infected people is established. Sad. When my daughter was suffering from high fever, body ache, cold and sore throat, we called up Naidu Hospital to ask if we should take her there. They didn’t feel it necessary to conduct any tests on her, even though 15+ students of her school had already been detected as positive cases. The poor girl who lost her life, too, was apparently not in contact with any of the infected people. We never learn…

It took 13 positive cases to convince the management of my daughter’s school to down shutters for a few days. That too, they initially declared 4 days off, mockingly, as though they were doing us a favour. (They later extended the favour by keeping school closed for another week.) The meeting they had called for the parents, along with the Corporation Health officials, was more of a Press Conference, complete with photographers, videographers and journalists. Oh, and did I mention politicians too? And the chairman of the managing committee smirked throughout… Sick attitude. Well, they got their moment of fame… the highest number of cases detected in any school!!!

My condolences to Rida’s parents… and hope the administration takes concrete steps at least now.

The Guru is Supreme!

Stwabbit’s school re-opened yesterday. She’s a big girl, now – she’s now in Class 2…

However, something she said last night makes me wonder whether we’ve been stretching the “Guru” concept a bit too far:

“Papa, my class teacher’s name is Almighty teacher!”

Alcohol and Civic Sense

This morning, I stopped at a traffic signal. I was on my way to drop off the Missus.

A rickshaw stopped beside the car. The driver had blood-shot eyes, and it was apparent that he was sloshed.

The rickshaw driver knocked on the car window, and brought it to the Missus’ notice that she had forgotten about her seat-belt. Feeling embarrassed, the Missus quickly complied…

The rickshaw driver then turned to the car on the other side. The driver of the car was not wearing a seat-belt either. The rickshaw driver tried to educate him about the necessity of wearing the seat-belt, but the car driver ignored him.

Offended, the rickshaw driver started hurling the choicest abuses…

Moral of the story: Alcohol increases one’s sense of social responsibility!

Cheers!!!

All About Love…

“Mom, I love H.”, exclaimed Stwabbit one day, on our way to the daycare.
H. is a 5-year old girl, who also dotes on Stwabbit. Currently, they are “best friends”.

“Do you love her enough to marry her?” I asked in jest.

“Come on, Papa, it’s not that kind of love”, was the reply.

“How many kinds of love are there?” I queried.

“Basically, two. One is when you love someone, like I love you, and mamma and H.”, she replied. “The other kind is when you ‘fall in love’… the kind that leads to marriage!”

An Observation…

How come beauty products don’t work wonders on the consultants who peddle them?!!

An Eco-friendly God

Stwabbit Speak:

People don’t die… they get recycled.

Anti-Smoking Drive

“Papa, you should stop smoking”, Stwabbit advises.

“Why?” I ask.

Stwabbit: “Because, it’s not good for health.”

Me: “So, what happens if I keep smoking?”

Stwabbit: “You will die!”

“And, what will happen if I die?” I persist, hoping to get some emotional jazz from her.

“Who will drive us around, then?!!”

Adoption Gyaan

A couple we know is considering adopting a child – they have a biological child, and wish to complete the family with an adopted girl child.

Stwabbit broke this news to me.

“What does adoption mean?” I ask her.

“Oh, when people have children and are unable to take care of them, they give the children away to people who can. That’s adoption”, she replies, in a matter-of-fact manner. “Just like in the movie Juno.”

Profound wisdom.

Pearls of Wisdom…

Stwabbit Speak:

Never judge a book, without its cover.

Parent-Teacher Meeting

Stwabbit’s teachers are a frustrated lot. Here’s what they had to say to the Missus, at the parent-teacher meeting…

1. She is EXTREMELY talkative. Though she sits on the first bench, next to the quietest boy in the class, that does not deter her from yapping continuously. The ‘quietest boy in the class’ is no longer so – she has taught him the joys of yapping, too!

2. She loves “object talk”. She delivers a speech to the entire class, every hour…

3. She talks to the Disney characters on her pencil-box. She also makes all her classmates greet her pencil-box every day!

4. She’s been giving fashion tips to her teachers, expecting them to be meticulous in the way they dress…

5. The teachers thought she’d control her yapping if she were made monitor of the class, so they gave her the coveted post for a fortnight… in gross abuse of the position, she would go to every desk and chat with her friends. That put a hole in the theory!

I feel bad at having missed the session – I’m going to make it a point to be there, the next time around!