The wise mosquito

"It's the elephant", yelled the mosquito in what seemed like it's Eureka! moment.

"Sorry to be stallin' your train of thoughts" I interjected. "What's the elephant?"

"It's the elephant that causes dengue and malaria", the mosquito shouted at the top of its voice. "It's also the elephant that ate all the lions , tigers and other endangered species"

"What?"

"Believe me. I am a very old mosquito and I speak from the experience and wisdom of a life time. What I am saying is the truth"

"How old are you?" I couldn't resist.

"Very old. In fact the oldest and most revered in my tribe", the mosquito said without sounding vain. "But if you insist, let me tell you, I am almost a day and half old"

"But the elephant is probably thousands of times older than you. How do you know about it?"

"Age is just a number" smiled the mosquito wryly. "Is the elephant oldest in its tribe or did it finish almost 90 percent of its lifetime? If not, I am definitely older and wiser "

I struggled to understand the logic of the last statement. But prodded along nevertheless.

"Have you studied the elephant long enough to understand it's lifestyle? It's a herbivore and cannot eat any animal leave alone lions and tigers. It's so big and distant that humans cannot possibly get malaria and dengue from it. And anyways, it's proven that those diseases are caused by mosquito bite"

"Ah ! How silly", the mosquito's tone indicated incredulity and exasperation. "Why does one need to study when a life's experience bestows unlimited wisdom? Can't you see the elephant is huge and not endangered? And tigers, lions etc are relatively smaller and endangered? What do you deduce, Sherlock?"

"But how can you make such inferences without studying the elephant for some time at least? It's been on this planet for millions of years. It's a herbivore and stays away from human habitat"

"Humans are such fools", the mosquito exclaimed. "No point talking to you when you clearly cannot see what I, a wise old mosquito, can see in plain sight. And you talk about studying the elephant? Why should I when I can draw conclusions without so much as batting an eye? I wouldn't waste the precious little time I have on this planet understanding something that is obviously devouring tigers and lions in plain sight"

"But herbivores don't ....."

"Shut up and get lost"

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Ari - The dance or the Dancer?

Image
*Takeaways from a trek to Fungni Top with trekkenture * The desire for this, the lust for that  wandering of the mind hither and tither  Oh, the lure of gratification instant   And yet, should I indulge in the dance or focus on the dancer?  The cast in stone opinions and lenses of “my” hues  When challenged, causing uncontrolled rage and anger  Oh, the unbridled love for self-made world views  And yet, should I indulge in the dance or focus on the dancer? The desperate hanging on to relationships ephemeral,  Confusing between love and obsessive care  Oh, the letting loose of imagination feral And yet, should I indulge in the dance or focus on the dancer?  The clinging to things material  Accumulating more for now and forever  Oh, the meaningless pursuits of life unreal  And yet, should I indulge in the dance or focus on the dancer? Who else but I, claims the mighty ego  Busy covering the truth with masks superior  Oh, the love for me that wouldn’t let go  And yet, should I
Read more

The solitary reaper (of grief)

"I have nothing to gain" The woman was probably in her late fifties. She had kind eyes and a smile that can be best described as sad. She was reclining against one of the poles of a ragtag makeshift tent. A variety of pieces of cloth were laid on the ground with different vegetables arranged or sorted in no particular order. The place was literally the middle of nowhere, at least from my perspective. Somewhere along the way as I drove from one small town to another, places that were well away from Hyderabad to be considered remote though not too far from it. The winter sun was kind yet scorching and it was still early in the noon. As I drove through multiple tiny hamlets, I stopped at this lady's makeshift store hoping to buy some good quality vegetables that are farm fresh. I had to ask her if she got them from Hyderabad to sell because then they would be from some freezer and can no way be called fresh. "I will tell you which ones are fresh and which ones are not.
Read more

Trek it easy

Image
Open spaces.  It is always fascinating to venture into wild open spaces. More so when the current lifestyle is made up of a few restricted movements in a constrained space, called home, that is majorly occupied by fancy furniture from Ikea. Outside the home it is mostly a rush for the "driving in traffic" Olympic gold medal. It is all about navigating oneself thru intricate patterns made by a bunch of rapidly slithering crippled snakes, otherwise known as 'Vehicles', with names that make Greek Gods cringe. Where then to find peace and tranquility that one is supposedly destined to gather at the end of a frenetic day? "Onward ho" to the Open spaces then. It wasn't really an arduous Himalayan trek that one would be made aware of by all the new form of social media that normally makes a news item of anyone above forty climbing any height of more than forty meters. That too but the beauty of such an expedition lies in its obscurity, earthly simplicity an
Read more