A Chicken Guinea Onam!

Onam is a special occasion for Mallus (people who hale from the state of Kerala in India) Try google and you might find thousands of articles on this J . Most of the mallu’s try to reach their hometown and enjoy the festival, which spans across a week or so. It’s the festival of prosperity, joy and peace. Therefore, I had a handful of plans this time when I boarded the jam-packed train to Kerala along with my family. My little cutie had an amazing talent of running from one end of the train to other, which kept us awake until late night. People who have traveled in southern railway of India would know how skillful it is to run while the train is in motion J

I landed at Ernakulam, the port city of Kerala and had to rush straight to attend a friend’s married after taking a pit stop at my in-laws house. I felt as if I am in an oven, thank to the humidity, a trade mark weather condition in Kerala J By late afternoon, I was home after the marriage function and it took a couple of beer to finally get some relief from the heat before heading for bed.

Next day, I dropped my friend and his family, who accompanied us – to their in-laws house. It was raining cats and dogs and I could hardly differentiate between a small pond or a gutter – thanks to the communist led government in Kerala. Guess they might be allergic to tar as the inventor of the same might be from a capitalist country J Thinking it wont be a nice idea to venture out on a rainy day as the fever epidemic is still lurking around, I decided to stay put at home.

Thanks to the heaven, it was a sunny day next day morning and it was the day of the main festivals of Onam. I took my car out and tried reaching my friends on their cell (thanks to the large telephone towers which, has become a common feature on almost all the hills in my village). From them, I could get to know only one thing – there is no celebration in my village this time for Onam. I still remember the days, not so past – only a couple of years back, when for all four days of Onam we had fun filled games and sports in my village. So this was kind of shock for me who have traveled not less than 600 km to enjoy my Onam holidays!!

Pizzed off, knowing its not gonna workout this time, I went to one of my friend’s house and happened to talk to few elder people in their family. And the story was shocking

1. There is hardly any house left in my village where atleast one member is affected with chicken guinea. (My dad was down sick with it and he is the only person at home in Kerala which makes our fever index 100%. Hows my maths ? )
2. A particular breed of mosquito spreads this particular decease. Can you imagine a world without mosquito’s? No you can’t. US tried to get rid of them once and failed miserably.
3. Once affected, the victim will have severe body pain and swelling. This sustains even after the fever is cured. For most people this stays from 3 to 12 months.
4. This mostly affects the elderly and they recuperate slow.
5. There is about a 300+ casualties (deaths) and the toll might rise high.
6. There were about 5 committees set by the national government and as per the last team, they have confirmed the presence of chicken Guinea. Rest of the commities didn't get enough time to investigate as they were busy sight seeing in Kerala
7. Recently the IMA has confirmed that this time unlike last year, the outbreak was so deadly because of the genetically different type of virus (not a good news for science geeks I suppose)

So, I just realized that there is not going to be any Onam celebration in my village this year and same was the case for my neighboring villages and even few districts in Kerala. It wouldn’t make sense to prepare a 32 dish lunch on Onam when all or few of the family member is down sick. Desperate to shoot atleast a few good snaps of some nice flower decoration, me and my friend set off for a ride in our car in search of a glimpse of any sort of celebration. It took us about 2-3 hours and few gallons of petrol before we decided to call it a day. Disheartened, we let off all our desperation and frustration in a Toddy shop in our village and finally set for home with dowsed eyes. Rest of my days just flew by as I visited few of my relatives and thanks to TV :)

It was not just our Onam celebration, which was affected by this outbreak. Rather, people are struggling to engage their day today activities in few districts in Kerala. They can’t work, neither would they get any labors to work. Agriculture sector, which is the backbone of my village, is in shackles and people don’t even have enough funds with them to survive.

Its sad and pathetic to see how bad is the situation and our beloved leftist government led by CPI and CPM is busy fighting for their chairs while the common man who this time made a big mistake of letting these idiots rule them is dying out of this decease.

Its only us to be blamed for the poor hygiene we keep and for polluting our earth. I wish I could see a better Onam atleast next time …… with all those smiles the jovial mood back in my peoples face….