Last week, I went to the airport to receive my parents and it was a busy night out there. There was the renovated arrival lounge with hundreds of people waiting for their near-dear ones to come to Mumbai. Some were carrying bouquets of flowers. Anxious parents were waiting with a searching gaze towards the terminal. The drivers were waiting for their frequently flying bosses to come and spoil their brief vacation. A few burkha clad women were awaiting their gulf settled husbands, who would come for a week and return next year.
They were waiting like a prowling army, as soon as the fresh batch of passengers emerged from the terminal, they attacked in full fury! I could hear the cries of 'fresh meat' in the air. The white people wore skimpy clothes, hence a larger surface area was available for the attack. They were hungry since a long time and their bellies were grumbling. They kept on biting and sucking plane cooled- sweet blood of the foreigners with impunity.There were noise of incessant clapping all around the airport.Everybody was trying hard to swat the probing mosquitoes away! The plump mosquitoes were having a feast at the arrival lounge.
After the initial bites, we realised that constant motion by moving your limbs up-down and sideways like an aerobic instructor was the only way to dodge them but they just left us all alone when the foreigners arrived, who were well bred and lived in non polluted lands and a richer blood flowed in their veins! The white skin attraction was not limited to human beings alone, even mosquitoes were influenced by the skin color and readily rushed towards them.Our blood was of a less palatable appeal to them! The whites were unused to this persistent attention and painful adulation, began smashing them with their bare hands clapping away to glory, high and low like some Qawaali singers. This provoked the mosquitoes further and fresh reinforcements were called in by them to bolster their attack.
The government has spent crores of rupees on the airport renovation but sadly, has not been able to tackle this mosquito menace. A few blower fans could shoo them away, but who cares? This is the recurrent theme of all government related projects where basic facilities like hygiene and sanitation are overlooked. I could see paan stained gutters all teeming with mosquitoes at the arrival lounge.It was a sad sight for me and an object of ridicule for the whites who wanted this all dirt, portrayed in their tabloids.
Seeing them clapping fevently, I thought maybe they were practising to be famous Qawaali singers, rehearsing their part to get a feel of India and the mosquitoes were government secret agents who had the onus of acquainting Qawaali to the white tourists.
Maybe, the claps were the sound of applause from the whites who were given a great welcome by the mosquito army along with the stench and the heat.
The whites were applauding-- Wow India Wow ! Keep It Up.
My parents came after a full 24 hours flight across three continents all the way from USA, they were looking less tired than me.
I was clapping the mosquitoes, headed their way!
They were waiting like a prowling army, as soon as the fresh batch of passengers emerged from the terminal, they attacked in full fury! I could hear the cries of 'fresh meat' in the air. The white people wore skimpy clothes, hence a larger surface area was available for the attack. They were hungry since a long time and their bellies were grumbling. They kept on biting and sucking plane cooled- sweet blood of the foreigners with impunity.There were noise of incessant clapping all around the airport.Everybody was trying hard to swat the probing mosquitoes away! The plump mosquitoes were having a feast at the arrival lounge.
After the initial bites, we realised that constant motion by moving your limbs up-down and sideways like an aerobic instructor was the only way to dodge them but they just left us all alone when the foreigners arrived, who were well bred and lived in non polluted lands and a richer blood flowed in their veins! The white skin attraction was not limited to human beings alone, even mosquitoes were influenced by the skin color and readily rushed towards them.Our blood was of a less palatable appeal to them! The whites were unused to this persistent attention and painful adulation, began smashing them with their bare hands clapping away to glory, high and low like some Qawaali singers. This provoked the mosquitoes further and fresh reinforcements were called in by them to bolster their attack.
The government has spent crores of rupees on the airport renovation but sadly, has not been able to tackle this mosquito menace. A few blower fans could shoo them away, but who cares? This is the recurrent theme of all government related projects where basic facilities like hygiene and sanitation are overlooked. I could see paan stained gutters all teeming with mosquitoes at the arrival lounge.It was a sad sight for me and an object of ridicule for the whites who wanted this all dirt, portrayed in their tabloids.
Seeing them clapping fevently, I thought maybe they were practising to be famous Qawaali singers, rehearsing their part to get a feel of India and the mosquitoes were government secret agents who had the onus of acquainting Qawaali to the white tourists.
Maybe, the claps were the sound of applause from the whites who were given a great welcome by the mosquito army along with the stench and the heat.
The whites were applauding-- Wow India Wow ! Keep It Up.
My parents came after a full 24 hours flight across three continents all the way from USA, they were looking less tired than me.
I was clapping the mosquitoes, headed their way!
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