If you step into any typical Kerala home during dusk, you can see some of the best innovative techniques of mosquito annihilation at work. True to the maxim,’ necessity is the mother of invention’, malayalees have put on their thinking cap to come up with some of the weirdest ideas you could think of to ward off these winged devils. From dabbing herbal concoctions and nauseating home made lotions all over their body to burning incense and coconut husks and more, you can see some of the strangest rituals on earth – all in the name of mosquito eradication.
While the modern day homes have shut off fresh air by opting for mosquito proofing the old fashioned continues to be confined within the mosquito nets. Even dinner plates are put to the best use in trapping mosquitoes. Children like to chase the mosquitoes with plates smeared with cooking oil to trap the mosquitoes. Did you know that even competitions are held in country sides to spot the winners who could trap the maximum mosquitoes on their plates? There is an endless list of coils, matts, bats and liquid repellents that work on electricity, which can notch up your power consumption even if they fail to bring respite from mosquitoes. These winged monsters have long developed immunity against all these procedures and you can even see mosquitoes resting on these repellents after a heavy meal!
When the news of vector related diseases such as the dreaded Dengue fever and Chikunguniya grab the headlines, the administrative machinery also springs up into action by undertaking fogging (using foul smelling diesel and other chemicals) which can set off a spell of sneezes among the residents though it seldom affects the mosquitoes! Cleaning the drains is another activity on the agenda; the silt is removed and deposited it on the roads, which does nothing other than making the roads stinky and dirty.
Whatever said and done, mosquito menace continues unabated and every kochiite falls to sleep after a hard day’s work to the humming lullaby of these blood suckers. No light seems to be in sight for the luckless residents of this city who are destined to share their abode with these ultimate predators of contemporary world.
