DON’T RESORT TO VIOLENCE TO GET RID OF ‘PESTS’
All violence starts at home. If you accustom your child to killing ants, cockroaches, flies, spiders, lizards and whatever else you think is a pest, the cycle of killing only escalates. What stops the child from attacking everything that he thinks is odd or that he is told to be frightened of — dogs, cats, birds, large animals, animals in zoos; and from there, everything that does not fit in with his world view such as the disabled, the weak and the poor?
All this may seem unlikely, but in an overcrowded world where it is difficult to swing one’s hand without hitting another’s nose metaphorically, the most important principle that has to be taught is ahimsa.
When people use insecticides at home, few realise that they are actually killing themselves, not the pests. Insecticides contain so many harmful chemicals, such as malathion and BHC, that anyone using them stands a greater chance of being killed — especially with the sprays that send most of the poison into the air that is breathed by household members. There are many ways to keep insects at bay that are gentle, both for the insect and the human.
SOME POINTERS:
Start with mosquitoes, as these are truly troublesome. Neem oil is one of the best things to keep at home. Take a used mosquito mat (don’t buy them, they are very poisonous). Dip it in neem oil, and place it in the electric mat machine that comes with it. This is basically just a heater that will keep evaporating the oil.
If you don’t have a mat, take a fresh onion, cut it in two and place the halves on your bedside tables. Onions keep the most ardent lovers away — why not mosquitoes! Neem oil can also be rubbed on the exposed parts of the body. Another mixture — neem oil, coconut oil and white petroleum jelly — you can carry with you. But the smell will probably be grim. Another combination to apply on the body is clove oil mixed with Celastrus paniculatus (staff tree or vanhiruchi
/ malakanguni or atiparichram) oil. You can use the mixture to swab floors: make a paste of marigold leaves, mix in water and use with the mop. It keeps away mosquitoes and flies.
Mosquitoes hate citrus of any kind — even lemongrass. The lemon and green chilli that hang fresh outside the door in many homes is not to ward off evil spirits, as is supposed, but to keep away mosquitoes.
If you live in a major mosquito area, add a few drops of citronella oil in the last mug of water you pour on yourself when having a bath. If you don’t have citronella, use nimbu pani; no mosquitoes will touch you.
Mosquitoes come in at dusk, so