Creating a no-fly zone for the royal guest
My husband’s aunt from Kapurthala had announced her visit in a week’s time. While we were looking forward to seeing her, we were also nervous about having her over.
She belongs to the Kashyap clan, that was at one time close to the king of Kapurthala. Being brought up in the realms of the royal family, she was an immaculate person. There was one problem. Everyone in the family knew that she could not tolerate the presence of houseflies.
So the endeavour was to keep all flies and mosquitoes at bay. Thus began our preparations to welcome her.
The entire household declared a war on the winged enemy. Our senses went on high alert and engaged in a combing operation to flush out every single trace of the flying predator.
We had seven days to go before she arrived, and to hold the fort for as many days became a daunting task.
Every time we opened the door, flies and mosquitoes would make their way in, much to our discomfort. My two children formed the rapid action force, chasing away the unwanted guests. We sanitised every nook and cranny of the house, leaving neighbours wondering why there was so much activity after Diwali.
We had become so sensitive to the sound of a buzz that we were ready to pounce on even the shadow of the intruder. A kind of guerilla warfare ensued whenever one of us spotted a fly. The cheeky one had the knack of sneaking away to an obscure corner to wait patiently and reappear when we were exhausted.
We tried all kinds of sprays. The house was fumigated as we sat huddled in a room like soldiers in a bunker.
Our next ammunition was the fly swatter. It was never long enough to reach the ceiling, where our smirking foe would be comfortably perched. Then someone thought of the tennis racquet-shaped electric swatter to administer a shocking treatment. This proved to be the biggest miss of all inventions on the planet for it hardly ever connected to a fly.
A friend suggested sugarcoated crystals that would kill flies once they sat on them. But the winged visitors were smarter.
The house help pitched in with his expert advice on seeing the harried family combating flies. He suggested we turn the room dark and leave a little window open for the flies to head out. The idea went for a toss. Our cat and mouse game continued. If there were to be a contest between the flies and us, we were losing. No amount of skill, swiftness and mental strength could measure up to that of the flies. God knows who trained them. Google tells me the ultra-nimble fly is capable of processing seven times the information in a second a human can.
The big day has finally arrived and all our efforts will be put to the test soon. We hope that not a single fly makes its way near our esteemed guest. Fingers crossed!
WE HAD SEVEN DAYS TO GO BEFORE SHE ARRIVED, AND TO HOLD THE FORT FOR AS MANY DAYS BECAME A DAUNTING TASK