On the Road- Part 1

The last two weeks have been exciting, intense and scary all at the same time.It has seen me traveling to Mumbai for a project.

THE SCARE
Having stayed in the city for over 18 years at different points in time, I should have felt at home.and Yes,I was very much at home for the first couple of days until the first signs of change hit me.I was working out of the client's office and almost the entire day was spent attending workshops and meetings. On my second day in the city,I was at a Mall close to the client's office waiting for the cab to pick me up.(Cabs take a minimum of 45 mins to pick a passenger and I decided the mall was a better place than sitting idle in a conference room).
I noticed this gentleman walking on the road with a mask on his face. I looked around and noticed a few more people walking around with handkerchief/duppatta covering their face.Vaguely remembered seeing lot more people on the road the same morning with handkerchief/duppatas on their faces.I had thought it was because of the foul smell in the locality.I wasn't very sure of the reason as I was in an AC cab! The swine flu had managed to scare a few people it seems!!
Having been in Bangalore for the last few months and the AC buses that come from the international airport being my most common mode of public transport, I found it quite amusing the way the normal mumbaikar was reacting! I dont know about 26/11 as I wasn't in the city, but during all other calamities including bomb blasts and other terrorist attacks, the average mumbaikar was never scared.You would rarely see any reaction on the faces of the passengers or the guy on the bus sitting right next to you.

This was different. By time i had reached the guest house, 'swine flu death' was the breaking news! In India, the news was 'breaking' for the next five days.In couple of days, schools,malls,theatres had all shut down. My plans of meeting up with old friends/colleagues on the weekend went up in smoke. I was getting badgered to buy the N-95 mask by my parents.I had friends in Bangalore, where it was still normal, buying masks and canceling their plans of watching movie over the weekend. Despite my protests, I gave in to the demand to keep out of 'crowded' places.That also meant not taking the suburban trains and buses.