Wash your hands, avoid crowds, stay indoors if you have a cold, bla bla bla. Such are the pious recommendations of the Indian government probably having seen how other countries have handled the swine flu outbreak. Unfortunately as usual they have missed the most important and potentially the most deadly source of spread - the food industry. Ganesh chaturthi, Dussehra, Diwali, the festival season is upon us. At this time tons of sweets and dry fruits such as cashew, almonds and walnut are distributed as gift. Unlike fruits and vegitables they will not be washed or cooked therefore any organism on these food items will survive. All sweets and dry fruits are packed by hand. A visit to any shop will show young fellows taking out laddoos and burfis by hand and packing them into boxes following which they wipe their hands on a cloth black with dirt. They scratch, wipe their sweat and noses and then use the same hands for serving customers. In north India people are so barbaric that they may even be serving with their left hands. The government should have used this opportunity to pass a law compelling all shopkeepers to use spoons, ladles or gloves. However laws are formulated by criminal politicians and chamcha kleptocrats and not designed for the common weal. If fortune is against us we could see the mother of all pandemics come october.