The Indian War Memorial, New Delhi
[Its hot this time of the year, even by Indian standards. The Indian War Memorial* blazes a bright red, its sandstone walls and structures blazing red under the bright sunlight. A very famous landmark before and a safe haven during the War, the Memorial now houses a varied collection of memorabilia, diaries, tapes, footages and everyday items made and used before and during the War, along with the original buildings and ramifications built by the survivors. Its also one of the 3 museums in the world where an active specimen has been legally kept on public display for posterity.
I am seated at the Head Curator's desk, the office holder seated right opposite me. Mr Himanshu Rana is an internationally acclaimed author, with his recent book 'My Neighbour and His Z Lover' already being considered for the Man Booker Prize.]
The issue since the beginning was always and always control. Control of the Lok Sabha** majority, control over public opinion, control over all the scams and scandals they were trying to hide…. The government only wanted control, since they didn't have any. In the years preceeding the Panic, India was going through this national awakening of sorts. Of course it was political, and describing it as revolutionary would be an understatement. Almost every man and woman had taken to the streets, demanding the resignations of every minister in the Sabha, and I have to say, we hadn't seen that kind of public unity and response since our independence.
I guess with all the scandal and scam leaks that had just happened, the Indian public had finally had enough, and was prepared enough to act. That's where we lost our focus. We were all so busy focusing on the problems at home, we never realized what hell was brewing in our neighbour's territory. We only did realise when they'd already arrived in India, right inside our capital's heartland. Had IGIA not happened, I am sure we'd still be sitting snug inside our homes, with the Zack knocking on our front door (laughs) .
According to the various reports I came across, IGIA was just the initial scare that prompted the government to take initial action, but I still don't have the whole story. Can you elaborate on the incident?
Indira Gandhi International Airport used to be the Indian Heathrow, it was always so busy. I mean it had to be, it was this one airport that was serving the entire National Capital Region. It was November I think… (takes a pause) Yeah, and some initial disturbance was reported in Terminal-3, some scuffle or something that had broken out between some passengers.
At least that was what the news outlets reported. The videos that were being circulated through Facebook and WhatsApp though told something entirely else. People running helter skelter, people being chased by more people, people biting into others, the army stepping in….. That's not how scuffles work. That's not how anything we'd yet seen worked.
This one video, it showed a middle-aged man bent over a girl, or rather her dead body, and literally tearing into her neck with his bare teeth! Another video showed Airport Security shooting at this 20-something woman, or whatever she'd become. She was running towards them with a devil's frenzy, bullets flying through her like anything. She should have been dead, but there she was, on tape, still running like crazy! A headshot ultimately finished her, but that video was enough to send shivers down every viewer's spine.
Yet, none of this ever came up on mainstream news channels and papers. All we got as news the next day was 'a minor scuffle'. That didn't explain those cannibals. It didn't explain why the army was called into T-3. Shit, it didn't explain anything!
But the consequent actions and measures undertaken by your government did in fact clear some things up, I believe?
You bet! Considering the scale at which the IGIA Incident was underreported, you'd imagine the government was working to make it just disappear and not become another 'scandal' or 'scam' that would topple them off their seats. But their actions from thereon were so swift and effective, I have to say, I think they needed a crisis like this to save their face (snickers).
Within a week of the incident, they closed off T-3 indefinitely, and from thereon, only T-1 was kept in service. And this was just the IGIA. All airports in the country were suddenly beefed up with security, with an army battalion stationed at each, along with a 'screening desk' right at the arrival gate. It became mandatory for all arrivals with health-ailments to submit proper health certificates at these desks. At first it was just the airports, but soon this arrangement was put in place in all the railway stations and sea ports as well. I think this was the primary reason why the arrival of Solenum was comparatively late here, seeing how close we were to Ground Zero. And that wasn't it. The government started this Aushadi Prayog Yojna, or the Essential Medication Plan, which sold Phalanx at highly subsidised rates to the general populace as soon as word of African Rabies started doing the rounds. With the vaccine available to almost everyone now, the disease stopped seeming as big a threat.
It felt so distant, it didn't seem like it would affect us in any manner. We started doubting if it would even arrive at our doorstep.
[Mr Rana slowly stands up as he answers, and beckons me to follow him. Exiting the room, we head on to wherever he's leading me.]
But arrive it did.
Yes it did. It had to. These measures put up by the government were effective to an extent, but not the permanent solution. The boat was sinking, and the government was trying its best to use the available buckets to throw water out, but ultimately the boat had to sink, and it did.
Some months after IGIA, we started getting reports and posts about Chinese people arriving in droves through the Arunachal border. While most trekked through the dense forests with seemingly nothing except the clothes on them, some managed to get in with the help of countless trafficking agencies operating in those parts. And these immigrants weren't individuals looking to escape poverty in their homeland. The arriving convoys would have entire families, including uncles and aunts and all other extended relations. And most of them didn't seem poor. In fact I remember a news coverage, there was this Chinese family who had suitcases loaded with Chinese Yuan notes and family jewellery when they arrived at Itanagar.
All this immigration was quickly put to a stop when the army increased their presence in the jungles. But the damage was already done. Soon, reports of unconfirmed outbreaks started coming in from the North-East, even from as far as West Bengal. Here too the government was quick to step in. Mainstream media was as usual silent about all these developments; we were aware of the truth because of all the buzz on Facebook, Whatsapp and some independent channels on the radio. They were the ones that reported the culling of an entire tribal village in Arunachal, forced kidnappings of migrants and civilians, and compulsory medical camps, all done at the behest of the Indian Army. Yet without the aid of national dailies and news channels, all of it was still unconfirmed. But unlike IGIA, this shit wasn't home, so like most Indians, I honestly didn't think much at the time.
So it was the border that got compromised.
Yes and no.
While it did get compromised, it wasn't just the border that led to the eventual outbreaks. In fact, the damage there was minimal. Remember all that heightened security at the airports and railway stations and the ports and every other entry point into India? In a country where people share basic moral ideals and ethics, this idea was actually bulletproof and could have actually kept the nation this is India. Even before all this, it was already the 81st most corrupt nation in the world- with fake certificates and a few bundles of crisp cash, the screening desks were nothing more than toll gates for the arriving infected.
Yet, while the desks were compromised, the stationed personnel were always on the lookout. Anyone with the slightest sign of an injury was immediately detained and screened, yet someone or the other always does manage to slip through. But still it wasn't as big a scare. We were all vaccinated, right? I have to say, that reporter was brave to out Scott for the fake son-of-a-b**ch he is, but by the time she announced that the vaccine was fake... well, it wouldn't have mattered anyways. Only when the undead had come knocking on the front gates of the Rashtra Bhawan did they finally start to act, those good-for-nothing sickos. Even that was of no use. Our strongholds- Mumbai and New Delhi, fell like dominoes to the virus. While the government took off to the safety of the Himalayas, it was common people like us who bore the brunt, and in turn created all that is present in this building.
*The Indian War Memorial, formerly the Delhi Red Fort, used to be a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a famous tourist spot before the War. Serving as one of the many survivor fort-camps during the war, it was home to around 5400 people at the War's peak.
**The Lower House of the Indian Parliament, it was the primary decision-making body of the Indian Government.
***The Nizamuddin Outbreak was officially the first widespread outbreak of African Rabies in the country. One of the busiest railway stations in the National Capital Region, the official death count stands at 126,592, though it is widely believed to be more than 200,000.