I recently heard a Radio Jockey recount his experience about creatures travelling from foreign lands. This particular RJ was returning from a trip to Sri Lanka and as he was waiting to check in, he saw this absolutely ginormous cockroach get into the bag of a passenger ahead of him. Now he was faced with a quandary as to whether to warn the passenger or to keep mum. He chose the latter (probably out of discretion) and was then voicing, the imagined shock that man would get when he opened his bag on reaching his destination. His objective was to ask us, his listeners, as to whether we had had a similar experience and what we would do in his situation.
As he was talking I realized that in Dubai we do not come much into contact with insects. Life here is much more antiseptic, as most houses are sealed from the elements for a large part of the year. We did have a recent incident with a lizard in the house, but that I will leave for another time.
Growing up however, we were surrounded by flies, bugs, roaches, grasshoppers, dragon flies, you name it, as we had a lot of greenery around. Our houses were open all through the day and night and hence would have to be deloused on regular intervals to get rid of pests. It was not uncommon to move a kitchen cabinet to find roaches skittering for cover. And hence with this proximity also came a certain familiarity, though never a sense of acceptance.
Anyway talking about insects reminded me of two seminal incidents in my life.
First Incident
The first incident was a long time ago during my Chartered Accountancy (CA) Final Examinations. These are high pressure professional exams for which one studied and trained for months and years with a very low pass percentage. I was in the midst of these exams and on exam days I would go to bed early (as always) but get up pre-dawn to revise for that days paper. Since it would still be dark and so as not to disturb the rest of my family, I used to study on the dining table in the living room. I would get up at 04.30 am, make myself a cup of tea and then settle down with my books. This was crucial study time, as I was rested from a good nights sleep and my brain was fresh.
We had a lamp on the dining table, by the light of which I would study. The lamp's base was a statue of a lady with the bulb being held up in her hand - something like the Statue of Liberty, with a rotating on/off switch at the base of the bulb holder. That day I turned the lamp on, opened my books and sat down to read. As I was turning the pages, I thought I saw the light flicker and looked up. There were two absolutely huge grasshoppers, sitting on the lamp not six inches from my face. They were balefully looking at me, with their long antennae twitching. And as they moved their limbs slowly to change position their bodies cast flickering shadows which had drawn my attention. For what seemed like eternity I was absolutely transfixed, as my conscious mind tried to come to terms with the size and position of the hoppers.
As I recovered from the early morning shock, I slowly eased the chair back, got up and went back to bed. In that moment I realized that no more studying was possible that morning and the examination paper to follow that day be damned. These were critical exams but I would much rather test my retention skills than my ability to shoo these massive insects off that lamp. And of course there was absolutely no chance of me continuing to study there, with the two of them looking at me as if I were a stalk of grass!!
Since that day I never turned that lamp on in the dark without first ensuring that no insect was lurking on or near it.
Second Incident
The thing about insects is that even when one sees them at a distance, we somehow picture them on our skin and our mind reacts accordingly. The second incident happened on a holiday with friends some years ago. We were in the Florida Everglades which has quite a population of insects and on the first evening were half bitten to death by biting flies that come out during sunset. They came out so rapidly and in such clouds that we had no recourse but to quickly get back in our cars. The Everglades are also well known for the size and distinctive coloration of its lubber grasshoppers.
Next day we were walking along a boardwalk in the Everglades when a friend spied one of these huge multihued grasshoppers attached to two long thrushes, below the rail of the walkway. As is common with juvenile males, he decided to see how far he could pull those twigs apart before the hopper bailed out. So he took the two twigs and slowly started pulling them apart. All of us were leaning over the rails, completely intent on seeing what the hopper would do. As it kept adjusting its position, I am sure we were all thinking about how it would feel if it just suddenly jumped onto us. Unbeknownst to us one other friend had crept away and returned silently with a long twig. He bent down behind his rapt wife and stroked her open ankle with it. You can imagine what must have gone through her mind as she let out a huge scream, which very rapidly emptied the Everglades of all life. The friend who was leaning over to play with the hopper nearly fell over himself. Out initial catatonia was replaced with bellyaching laughter as we saw the grinning countenance and realized what had happened.
Insects bring out such deep rooted fears among most of us - as they are the most alien of life forms that we normally encounter. Their variety itself is mindboggling, leave alone their capacity to survive and reproduce. Even a small insect can make a huge man jump back in alarm. Depending on the size of the insect confronting us we will either skirt around it or squash it. Our instincts are to try and kill them (actually exterminate is the word most often used), but...
"If all insects on Earth disappeared, within 50 years all life on earth would end. If all human beings disappeared from the Earth, within 50 years all forms of life would flourish." Jonas Salk (Biologist).
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