Sidin Vadukut's 'Bombay Fever' narrates the birth of epidemic in Mumbai

Mumbai international airport are relevant to the plotAt the launch of The Great Derangement Climate Change and the Unthinkable author Amitav Ghosh spoke about how unprepared Mumbai is in the event of a natural calamity He painted a bleak but detailed picture of the outcome the inability of an alreadyburgeoning city to deal with the ensuing chaos Sidin Vadukuts upcoming medical thriller Bombay Fever Simon amp Schuster India paints a similar picture Except here the calamity is a mysterious and contagious disease that spreads quickly and condemns patients to a gruesome deathEveryone who has read the book has felt uncomfortable but it is a plausible situation says Vadukut over a call from his home in London The book is a departure from the office culture and humour that we encountered in his Dork series Im excited because it is a new book You can never get enough of complete public humiliation he says with a laughCusrow BaugThe birth of an epidemicBombay Fever is the story of a group of investigators health officials doctors and civic servants who attempt to make sense of an unknown disease that is killing people It starts in the courtyard of a Hindu temple in Switzerland and in three months time spreads to MumbaiVadukut has always wanted to write about the history of Bombay What intrigued me was that countless events in world history have cast a shadow over Bombay he shares Two years ago he wrote a column on the Spanish flu in India It was devastating killed millions yet no one took cognisance of it Estimates put the loss between six to 13 million he adds When the article was printed many wrote to him saying that they had never heard about itI asked myself what if something like this happens again I figured the best way to do this was not write about the mechanics of the outbreak but how people react to it he says Vadukut knew his book had to be realistic and educating Coincidentally this year also marks 100 years of the pandemicBombay Fever is told from the perspective of many characters a journalist interested in getting hits for her website a lead rapid responder for outbreaks a social medical officer a chef running a restaurant on the MumbaiPune Expressway smalltime doctors and of course the chief minister of the state and prime minister The story flits back and forth in time starting three months before the epidemic outbreakHaffkine InstituteBehind the feverVadukuts research threw up interesting points many of which find their way into the story A comment in a document on the epidemic was that the first indication was when absenteeism in offices started shooting up It was fascinating to see that it took absentees to realise a problem I read that when the news first broke people would run away from Bombay and carry the flu to a village and you would never hear of that place again When the Surat plague hit one of the first signs was medical staff vanishing from the city and depleting stocks of medicines he saysIn the book as the epidemic hits the city panic ensues Patients and families throng hospitals pharmacies are attacked corporate offices see a dip in attendance and people including topranking politicians flee The biggest chaos is caused by WhatsApp Weve seen this happen in the last few years When people dont have enough information they turn to home remedies and purported truths he saysSidin VadukutWhile Vadukut has tried to stay true to how hospitals clinics social workers and the government react to the outbreak he has introduced a few innovations a health programme based on a small social neighbourhood model sophisticated sample storage system and a toplevel response protocolIs Mumbai or any city ready to deal with an epidemic I dont think any city can We have not built cities we have let them grow They are managed badly and eventually this will come back to bite you We have to stop seeking solutions from New Delhi Bombay will have to improve on its own he says