Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Food for Ants

Into physiotherapy now, flexing with 1 kg weights. Am in level 1 of 5. Long way to go. Am kind of walking without support. The bones should be fully strong by July 22nd. I happened to read Taitreya Upanishad last saturday, when I wanted to discover the source of frequently quoted Annam na nindyaath. I had to keep on remembering that whenever I had my food. Some old paatis still preserve their kaimanam, but mom’s old age has transformed her to a forgetful disillusioned baby carrying on living out of habit. I should soon take charge of kitchen to give mom her much deserved rest. Food rests on food, this body is created out of food, respect food. No wonder, this body too is food to many other creatures.

Samy came home and I continued reading, watching Knowing and The Firm in parallel without talking to him. I just smiled when he came and slipped inside the bedroom quietly. Don’t know what is happening, am watching TV the whole day and all my planning has gone to the dogs. Need to finish TMH in a fortnight.

I can usually sense any tiny ant (around 3mm in length) if it moves on my body. Even if one climbs up my leg, I can feel it and kill it (only the small red biting ants). There were years, when I used to gently lift the biting ant and let it go thinking that I should follow principles of ahimsa and not take another creature’s life, even if it hurt me. I would watch my steps, so that i would not step on a petal or other small creatures. But later had to crush the ants. I can just blow away a black non biting ant, but its hard with the biting red ants.

Later, I decided to murder only those ants that moved on my physical body and not the ants that were on the books or the sofa I was sitting on. I was watching JayamKondaan in KTV and Casino Royale in parallel and suddenly I felt a sting in my suture line below my knee. I jerked and got up to find not one or two, but dozens of red biting ants all swarming around my suture line. The sofa was almost in the middle of the room far away from walls and corners. The suture line above my knee on my thigh is thrice in length, yet has healed nicely, but the one just below the knee is still reeking flesh smell, that I believe attracts these flesh eating ants. I quickly brushed them off and applied povidone iodine gel over the suture. I had stopped applying it after the 4th day of suture removal and now the ants have compelled me to keep on applying that gel.

And on Monday again, in spite of applying gel, I found a small group of ants on my knee. The last time the red biting ants had lined up to my leg was after 2007 ilizarov (Taylors struts) same June month. I was sleeping on the bed, when the biting red ants woke me up. They were all around one of the external pins sticking out of my tibia that had dried blood around it. Only in these 30+ years old quarters and hot quarters ecosystem, these ants reign because, without help, mom is too old and am too lazy to clean up thoroughly unlike previous company’s serviced apartments where uniformed folks do it twice every day.

The biting ants reminded me of convict’s death in Papillon and new born pig tailed baby’s death in A thousand Years of Solitude. Thank god the bigger biting red ants just stick to the mango and tamarind trees and don’t march inside the quarters.

After Ants Episode

The morning, after the first ants’ episode, I decided to scrub bath with double care. I applied dhanavantaram oil all over. After selective soaping, I applied the foam of dettol liquid handwash over the suture lines. My hands could not be still and when I started pulling out the scarred skin, and out came suture bit around 1 cm in length, that the doctor had missed taking out. Looking by the strong feel of the suture even after 25 days, I don’t think they could get absorbed / dissolved. There was one more suture knot in my thigh, that I could not pull out on my own. The sister pulled it out on Monday. And after i left the hospital, i figured out why ants are still swarming because there are 2 more suture bits left inside below knee. Have to ask the sisters once more tomorrow to dig it out. I wish I could remember the name of the ayurvedic herb, which would ease out any foreign body lodged in flesh without any pain.

Geography

My geography knowledge needs lots of bolstering. I don’t quite remember why I wanted to know where Kenya was. So wiki lead me to Kenya and there on to Kenya’s health and it went to FGC and I remembered reading Desert Flower in Reader’s Digest and this makes me cringe inside. Oh my god, what and all people have done to girls and women. I remember there was a guy with Bohra surname in the same account I was in. Oriental foot binding, Corsets, acids, dowry, burning, domestic violence.... Oh my god, can’t girls just be?

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