Rain,,,rain and more rain!

A couple of weeks I had been musing whether the second innings of the Monsoon would delay construction work going on across the city. As the rain's back for yet another innings, the worry these days is on another direct altogether. The cloud of tropical disease is looming large over the state these days.

The war between man and mosquito has been waged since time immemorial with the tide of battle turning now and then. This is just another chapter and will not be the last, it is sad to say.

Trivandrum has had the best of it so far, with low infection rates. Rated as one of the cleanest cities in India, the State capital has primarily faced fevers racking its coastal areas where back waters and congested tenements have promoted the proliferation of the relentless mosquito. However, compared to the marshy terrain, poor sewerage and unhygenic conditions in the State's second city - Cochin - this is nothing. Although, the current epidemic has been concentrated on Allapuzha and Cherthala, the consquences of a full scale outbreak among the million-odd population of Cochin are too disastrous to contemplate. The first cases have alreay been reported and let's hope things don't get too bad.

Concerns have already been raised about the potential impact on the upcoming tourist season. While international arrivals to the State's tourist hub of Kovalam are unaffected so far, a drop has been seen in domestic traffic to the backwaters.

Forget political embezzlers, letter bombers, communal murderers and so on, the State's Number One Villain has become the humble Aedes mosquito! Watch out!!!