January 28, 2012
A few days ago we started suspecting chthonic activity in the house. The perforated steel drain covers in the bathrooms were miraculously being displaced. For my bathroom, I convinced myself that I was merely being forgetful about my own actions. Amma was convinced that Achan was the displacer in their bathroom. Later we noticed a leakage problem in the kitchen sink. The plastic threaded flexible tube that led to the solid pvc drain pipe fitted on the wall was chewed into. As part of the leakage clean up operation, all the bottom shutters of the kitchen cupboards were opened and vessels and utensils removed on Thursday. Then by evening, we found the manifestation of the supernatural force. A black, furry bundle scampered out of the kitchen close to my feet while I was drinking water. "Eli,eli, eli" Amma shouted and I noticed the tail disappearing under the massive wooden 'Aripetti' storage box.
I signed up for the "observer" post in the Operation Mousehunt that was immediately pressed into action. The observer could stand conveniently far away and needed to report only if all the broom movements under the box and later the refrigerator was forcing any rodential escape. The fridge was pushed around,the bench was overturned...still nothing! It had vanished into thin air. Hark back to the supernatural. Quick return to the scientific. The drain cover of the nearby bathroom displayed a displacing. Human intervention. Drain cover went back into position. A water filled heavy bucket was loaded onto it. We went to watch Kathakali at Kanakakunnu Palace.
After we returned, we could here the escape attempts of scratching and biting on the heavy metal for quite a while. The other end of the drain that opens into the backyard was opened slightly and ball of rice generously sprinkled with high octane rat poison was placed. Silent morning! Drain covers went back to their disciplined existence.
Rats are the largest pests we are dealing with but by no means the most prolific. The biggest assault on the house and area around it comes from the nearly invisible worms, insects and microbes on the garden plants. Even the fresh leaves of the newly sprouted long bean plants in the terrace are showing artistic spirals and patterns of the minute 'chitrapada keedam' (pattern making bug). The chili plants need to be guarded from aphid attacks. Ash works well against aphids and we have pressed pseudomonas biocontrol bacteria against most other pests.
Fertilizing must go hand in hand with pesticide care. So we went to the organic fertilizer sales center near Sasthamangalam. 5 kg of earthworm compost and 1kg bone powder for Rs 120. In search of dried cow dung made a trip to the pseudo government Agro agency this morning. They sell by the sack, we hadn't brought the car. Asked them to hold the bull shit for the while.
Achan told the officer about his pest peeves. "Rose buds quickly wither. Vegetables like spinach can't blossom into full health." The old bespectacled officer with browned hair at the edges from frequent hair dyeing led us into the fertilizer and pesticide room. I have never smelt anything like the air in that room before. It was like someone had lit an incense stick around plenty of at least a week old stale 'sambar'. Mention of stale food reminds me about the sad death of a laborer in the city today. Him and friends had scavenged the rotten, discarded fish near the beach market along with some crabs and cooked them for dinner. Manorama newspaper carried the sensationally stupid headline "Bengali dead" this morning! His native place was apparently what mattered most about the incident in terms of news value!
Anyways, coming back to the uniquely odored storage room at the agro agency, the officer handed us two higher grade pesticides. The milder one needs to be mixed one teaspoon per liter of water. The more potent one with big warning signs, manufactured by the Tata group, needs only quarter teaspoon for a couple of liters. I couldn't help wondering if the unfortunate farmers commiting suicides by the hundreds in different parts of the country were receiving assistance from this tightly sealed silver bottle. "Use it on plants only in the late afternoon," the officer specified.
Before leaving we picked up a pair of gardening gloves and a pack of okra seeds. Massive operation at dusk to spray pseudomonas on every leaf of every plant. There is a whole vibrant world under the leaves. I was reminded of the wonderful documentary, Microcosmos.
I was back at the Bismillah Halal meat shop this morning for another chicken. Saturday mornings are much less crowded compared to Sundays. Freshly cut up meat was still warm inside the polythene and paper packing. Across the street from the meat shop, two women run their own monopoly on the fish. Sasthamangalam junction's Ambanis. Tuna and shrimp were the offerings today.
The ad war between The Hindu and the Times of India newspapers has been most entertaining. In Kerala, TOI launching on Feb 1st, has tied up with Mathrubhumi newspaper and offers a Rs 50 per month discount if bought together. I doubt if they can make an impact in TN and Kerala. The kind of market they target are mostly people who are not interested in reading stuff. There is a limit to how much the Times can pretend to being a newspaper while actually being a cheap tabloid.
The Hindu used to suffer from the "consequences of erudite vernacular utilized irrespective of necessity" but nowadays such pompous, laughable language appears only in the "letters to the editor" section from the folks who still believe obscure and long words reflect intelligence. 'Consequences of erudite....' is an excellent paper from the Princeton University available online. Check it out and forward to friends if you have any who still suffer this communication defect!
Erstwhile judge of the supreme court and current head of the press council of India, Markandeya Katju, has weighed in on the recent Salman Rushdie issue. Mr. Katju opines that Rushdie is a substandard writer. I guess after retirement from the justice system he assumes he is qualified to judge anything under the sun including literature. In today's Hindu paper he writes that writers should be socially responsible. For starters, that is real bad news for science fiction writers and poets. I am sure Mr. K is infuriated by twitter and facebook status updates. He should soon ask for a law to ensure that any talking done in India should also be socially responsible. Being judgmental is the only form of creativity accessible to some folks!
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