In Times of Swine Flu

I don’t know if I am being politically incorrect here…but have you ever tried reasoning with a dimwit? Well, I am not sure if this is a meek attempt to achieve the impossible. Coz I have tried logic with a dimwit. And quite pointless to say, I have failed miserably.

What is it about dimwits? What is it about un-reason? What is it about the steady marriage between religion, blind belief, and stupidity? What is it about putting bona fide faith in an ambiguous All Mighty, without doing something about an issue, mortally?

Perhaps it is a coincidence that I am in the South of India; Chennai, to be precise. Situations like the ones I face on a regular basis, I force myself to believe, might have unfolded anywhere else in this country, India being such a sentiment-over-logic place. But however much I want to shake off any prejudices that some of my Tamilian friends accuse me of having, such situations affect my perceptions on South India quite inalterably. What remains are some bitter dregs…perceptions on the average South Indian character…conceited and completely closed to North Indian (whatever that is) suggestions.

Now let’s come to the point. There is an outbreak of Swine Flue in this country (The pigs finally got back to us, after humans spent centuries feasting on honey glazed ham, yummy sausages, and roast suckling pig). India being such an obscenely populated country, it has become a pandemic already. But people who want to save themselves from Swine Flu have their jobs cut out. Fight with dimwits!

Sample the following conversations with dimwits:

Conversation 1:

Human: Hey! I see you have fever, a running nose, cough and cold. You should stay at home and not come to office.

Dimwit 1: Who are you to tell me to stay at home?

Human: Well, just wanted you to exercise some social responsibility. That’s all!

Dimwit 2: I think this Swine Flu thing is much over-hyped. It has been done by the media to promote Tamiflu and encourage people to do tests which cost ten thousand bucks.

Conversation 2:

Human: What are you doing to save yourself from this outbreak?

Dimwit 1: It is the holy month in the Tamil calendar. Nothing is going to happen. Have faith in God.

I give up. For the obvious possibility that I might die of Swine Flu soon, consider this as my last post. Also consider this as an appeal to everyone to weed out dimwits.