Facing the flu:   The fear is palpable; as one of the television channels in India put it, “the fear of the unknown”. The emotion seems to have held the entire world in its grasp, or so it seems. As someone said, “even reading about it gives me goosebumps.”

Swine flu made headlines around the world this past one month for the rapid progress it has made in spreading across 168 countries at last count, since its outbreak in Mexico in mid March this year. The death toll has been slowly climbing with kids and elderly people being at most risk of the fatality of the H1N1 strain of the influenza virus.

What compounds the general fear is that the flu vaccine has been in development stage, and the available antiviral drugs of Tamiflu and Relenza are reported to have complicating side-effects in children. Even the World Health Organisation has advised that the drugs be administered only in severe swine flu cases in children. The country is receiving expatriates this month, returning from their vacations abroad. This is already leaving a lot of residents edgy about their personal health during the period.

Abu Dhabi has already taken the first step by imposing a one week ban on pupils returning from a holiday abroad. School managements in the capital will have to ensure that, when the new term begins, no student who has travelled abroad during the holidays be allowed to attend school for a week after their return to the country. This comes in addition to the federal order making it mandatory for schools to vaccinate students to prevent a large-scale outbreak of the flu. The vaccine is expected to be ready by the time the schools reopen for the new academic year. There has been a mixed response to this move with some parents expressing concern over giving their kids the flu shot.

However, another cause of concern for parents is that while government schools will be shut till the end of Ramadan, it is the expat schools that will have to decide whether to delay the beginning of the new academic year or not. While preventive measures are being prescribed to keep the flu at bay, the true test will only begin once the school sessions begin this month.

No getting over this - Comedy is serious business and you get a taste of it from ‘The Hangover’. Filmmaker Todd Phillips seriously knows how to give the audience a good laugh. For the one month that it has been running in the UAE, the film has attracted audiences who don’t seem to get enough of it. At one such screening in Dubai, movie goers had come to watch the film for the third time. The reason, “we just want to let our hair down again.”

The film itself has been a subject of controversy with accusations of being ‘offensive and insensitive’ doing the rounds. The accusations don’t stand unfounded, though credit must be given where it is due. The end result is without doubt a belly-full of laughs and a wide grin on the face. Quirky as it may sound, it was difficult to recollect the film after a midnight show, pretty much like the lead characters in the film fail to recollect anything of the LA night bachelor’s party. The success of the film is not just in its ability to throw you off the seat during the screening, but it is also in the laughter that it succeeds in creating when you recollect the scenes. It is the stupidity of their acts that is laughable; it is the unimaginable situations that make it an engaging watch.

There was never a moment through the film, when the audience was silent. Yes, there are tender moments in the film mostly involving the character Alan Garner played by Zach Galifianakis, but that is brutally cut to pieces by the director’s choice to keep it purely comical. So the audience is both moved by Alan’s innocence and purity of thought and dumbfounded at his stupidity (though he saves the day for the rest in the finale).

While there is a section in the audience who say that only men would enjoy the film, that argument does not stand much ground. Notwithstanding all the “men talk”, the film is a joyride for all those who know how not to take things seriously.