Insects in the hostel, Frogs, Rats and Cats at home!!!

All of us MITians staying in Manipal consider ourselves to be very strong and tough. We have the famous ‘Mighty Mighty MIT’ which nearly has the status of a proverb in Manipal. We think we have answers and solutions to each and every thing under the sky. But we must admit one thing, and I am sure, most if not all of our seniors and super seniors will agree with me, that one problem to which we have no solution, no answer is the problem of pests and insects in our hostels. All those who have stayed in the ‘valley side rooms’ would very well know that. Students have been incessantly and insidiously been pestered by these creepy, slimy, dangerous-looking creatures since the first day of MIT itself.

And trust me, they do not only look dangerous but they can also inflict unbearable pain with all the stings and poisons the nature has empowered them with. The famous MIT bug is not unknown to anyone who has ever studied or is studying in MIT. No one has ever seen it though. But almost everyone has seen its awful stings and some poor fellows have even sustained them on their hands, legs, stomach, back and in the worst cases, on their faces. The dark blue, almost black spot on the skin from where the skins itself comes off in some days is a horrible and a terrifying sight.

After tackling and fighting with these bloody creatures for a whole semester, I was travelling back to my home expecting no such problems at my home. I was correct, partially. There were no insects here....I had rodents and living animals to face!!

The day I reached home, it had rained quite a bit and I was happy that the weather had turned pleasant and so were all the other living beings and I think they had decided to come out of their homes and explore the surrounding territories. That day I was supposed to sleep in the hall on the divan. I was watching a music video starring a super hot female on MTV when I heard some strange sound. But the model on the TV was too hot for me to get distracted by the sound. After a minute or so I heard the same sound again. But the model was still there and my eyes were fixed on the TV screen. After another minute and now the chick was gone from the TV screen, again came the same annoying sound and this time I decided to find out the source of the sound. After a few minutes of intent listening I figured out that it was an unexpected guest sitting under my divan .It was a frog...but where the hell did a frog come from into my home...I still wonder!!! Anyway, so he was sitting deep under my divan, well out of my reach. I set myself on the job of trying to send out the unexpected guest. But the guest was adamant and did not want to go. With a broomstick, some kerosene, a torch and a lot of help from my younger brother whom I had to wake up in the middle of the night, I finally bid farewell to Uncle Frog, 20 minutes after I ‘discovered’ him. I thought Manipal itself was better. There I would have immediately killed the insect with a smack of my hawaai chappal and would have got back to my business. Anyway I went to sleep feeling like a winner!

The next night again I was watching TV (no super hot female was there this time) when I was again startled by a strange noise very different from the previous night’s. Again some intent listening revealed that it was a rat. I thought of doing the same thing as the previous night but this time my brother did not get up and surely my level of agility would have proved to be completely worthless for any satisfactory result. So I plugged my ears with some cotton and went to sleep. That day, on the dinner table I had promised my mother that I would accompany her for a MORNING WALK. So the next morning my mother tried to wake me up at around 5. But being the sleep lover I am, I did not get up. A few minutes later, I felt someone tickling my feet with what felt like a soft brush. I thought it was my mother trying a new way out to get me off the cosy winter morning bed. So I opened my eyes to plead for another 5 minutes of sleep. But mummy was nowhere in sight and to my utter surprise the tickling had not stopped. Shocked and surprised, I immediately sprung up from the bed and got onto my feet and I saw a cat come out from beneath the mattress and disappear through the half open window. I was dumbstruck; all my drowsiness vanished. Cursing the cat, I went to my mother in the kitchen and told her what happened, only to find out that she was very happy with all this and she was actually blessing the cat for waking me up. Again, again I thought Manipal was better. There my friends would have at least sympathised with me on listening to my troubles and would have added a curse or two.

And that is why I had longed to go back to Manipal during the last holidays. Even this time, I am very, very eager to go back although due to completely different reasons. But we will talk about it some other time...........