Somebody Didn’t Get The Memo

Fighting on the blood-stained deck of his wrecked ship and asked to surrender John Paul Jones, the naval hero not the rock star, famously said: I haven’t started fighting yet. Hearing which one marine said “There’s always one son of a bitch who hasn’t got the word.”

Much the same can be said of the Madras Mosquito. While the city corporation has said that it is “happy” with a recent report that says that the mosquito menace has been brought under control (The New Indian Express – City Express May 13) nobody seems to have told this to the small bombers.

The reason for this complacency seems to be that only ten complaints regarding mosquitoes were registered in ten days of March against the 87 received in the corresponding period last year. 

Don’t ask me who. I too am flabbergasted that somebody actually expected action and took the trouble to complain.

Unfortunately for the Corporation, data suggest otherwise. A sample survey - undertaken by the Indian Public Health Association (IPHA), Tamil Nadu chapter, on mosquito species in the city - revealed a high density of the Armigeres species in several pockets of north Chennai.

It may be of little comfort to know that these mosquitoes do not transmit diseases like their Anopheles and Aedes kin since the study warns, “their bites are painful”. Like we didn’t know.

IPHA also had other helpful factoids. “The Armigeres mosquitoes are a little bigger than the usual ones. They are six millimetres long and have a flying distance of 500 to 750 metres. They can fly up to 500 metres high. They also make some kind of a noise which can disrupt sleep, especially that of infants.”

Yeah right. Sleep disruption is our main worry considering that the City Corporation seems to be talking in tongues, much like one touched by the divine hand of insanity.

Before warning on the perils of dengue and giving hints on how to spot it, its website warns that the city “has become an endemic area for malaria since few decades. Nearly 70% of the malaria cases recorded in the State of Tamil Nadu is occurring in Chennai City alone.

“The problem is more acute in North-east coastal areas like Tondiarpet, Washermanpet, Royapuram, Harbour, Muthialpet, Mannady, Sowcarpet, Elephant Gate, Periamet, Pattalam and Pulianthope.

“These mosquitoes were also found in abundance in several parts of north Chennai, including Korukkupet, Washermenpet, Otteri, Mint, Pulianthope, Vyasarpadi, Pattalam, Tondiarpet and Kasimedu,” it says.

Unfortunately for us, Madras saw short spells of rain in the last three days which have already left small puddles in and around houses and on the roadsides. 

With three major waterways and sixteen minor drains heavily polluted, Madras is hoping that the 40 degree heat wave that has been indicated will turn out to be a blessing in disguise, drying up the stagnating pools. 

Better to sweat and stink than be cool and dead.

When Sight Is A Handicap

There is a famous story about a chap called Nunez who goes climbing in the Andes and gets stuck in an isolated village. He sees things like houses without windows, curious paths with curbs etc., but only later realises that all the villagers are blind.

Like all of us he figures in the land of the blind the one-eyed man is king, right? Wrong. For he soon finds out that explaining visuals to the blind lands him in big trouble with the locals concluding that what he terms as “sight” is a sickness of the mind. 

There are different endings to this tale though I like the one where the locals remove his eyes to cure him of his insanity.

Much like Nunez Indian voters have a bunch of clues in front of us but are either drawing the wrong conclusions or indulging in wishful thinking.

With less than two weeks to go before the poll results are out, the BJP has begun to reveal more and more of its stripes. Which should worry all of us.

Calling Varanasi Kashi, proclaiming a “glorious future for the ancient city” and promising both the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya and binging about Ram Rajya are disturbing to say the least.

But even more worrying is the impudence and volume of the strident attacks on anyone criticising the BJP in any form. Anybody daring to say anything anti-Modi is shouted down, often abused in raves and rants across social media platforms.

Students made to shout anti-Pak slogans, Modi vowing to rid West Bengal of “infiltrators” or Amit Shah declaring Azamgarh as the base of terrorist operations are not exactly conducive to a secular India.

Police officers in Tamil Nadu say that the bomb blast in Chennai Central is only indicative of troubles ahead as ISI has got a foothold in Sri Lanka and will pursue a “very active” role in the future. And it is still not clear whether the anti-Christian massacre in Assam is part of these troubled times.

Safely ensconced in our little islands in the sun we tend to see the glass as being half-full, comforting ourselves in the knowledge that roses are indeed growing as India marches forward. But to those who are closer to the ground it is not the smell of roses but that of the bullshit under that is all pervasive.