Lessons in Policing from Fighting Mosquitos
And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music
You arrive in your new house at your first posting. No one has used it as a house before, so there’s a lot to get set up, like furniture and wifi. And there are so many mosquitos, but they don’t bite you somehow. Are mosquitos different in rural places? Are they less active than city mosquitos, charged up because of years of increased immunity with the constant spraying of insecticides? Are we forcing mosquitos to become aggressive? In any case, you have so much to do that you don’t bother with the mosquitos. So you just get an All-out installed. That usually worked pretty well at your house so you don’t think about it too much, even when you see a lot of them around. After all, they don’t really bite.
Your parents come to visit you, and they are shocked by the number of mosquitos. They tell you to immediately take steps to counter the mosquitos. Your dad reminds you about how there’s an outbreak of chikungunya in Mumbai and how he himself had got chikungunya a few months ago. How he is presently in so much long-term pain and he does not have a proper solution. He wishes he would have taken steps to stop the mosquitos. So, assisted by your parent’s experiences, you begin to combat mosquitos.
You first begin by trying to understand the source of mosquitos. There are green gardens all around and that becomes a breeding ground for mosquitos. Because you’re the only person living in the building, the mosquitos are attracted to your room. You stop waterlogging in the area, but you cannot get the grass cut, of course. The grass has some benefits too, and it beautifies the place. You tell the campus-in-charge to regularly do fumigation of the building. He does it a couple of times, but not very often. After all, your jurisdiction ends where your room ends. You can’t compell the campus-in-charge to act on your instructions. They do it when you keep reminding them, but they don’t do it as often as required. After all, the mosquitos don’t affect him.
Next, you develop a system to remove mosquitos from your room, by understanding their movements. Your mom tells you that mosquitos move about only after sunset. Afterall, the cover of darkness means people fall prey to them. So you should open the windows in the day and let them move out, and only close them around sunset time. Also, after you leave your room, you should spray Hit in the room and air it, to kill the surviving mosquitos. They also want to freely move about. Everyday, around 4:30pm, you should close the windows and ensure that no gaps remain. Your mom instructs your maid on how to do it. It works for a while, and certainly things are better.
One day, your maid forgets to shut the windows in the evening in the adjoining room. You use that room to eat or workout in sometimes. When you enter that room, the windows are wide open and the room is full of mosquitos. You get out your mosquito bat and zap the mosquitos you can see. There are so many, and you get an odd sense of satisfaction personally fighting every mosquito. You get to see where mosquitoes hide, whether is in the crevices in your shoes or under the tablecloth. You’re so tired and you wanna eat, so your husband says he will fight the mosquitoes while you eat your dinner. Both of you laugh as you feel like warriors when zapping mosquitoes. It’s fun, but it’s not possible for you guys to do everyday. It’s better if your maid follows the instructions, even if it doesn’t feel as much like a game. You might even go unnoticed if you don’t zap mosquitos yourself, but you keep the larger goal in mind. You are here to make your room mosquito free. You’re not at home all the time and you need to delegate to your maid.
Your father calls you and he’s worried about the mosquitos in your room. He suggested you install a magnetic mosquito curtain that your sister installed at her hour in Delhi. It’s so easy to install and purchase, he says. So you order it and install it. He also says he watched an episode of Shark Tank where there is a new product to fight mosquitos. It uses some complex system to break the life cycle of mosquitos. It’s new technology but your dad said it looks promising. He says, no harm in trying it. You look it up online, but it’s meant for an industrial scale so it’s quite expensive for just one room. Plus, you don’t know if it’ll work. You could put it up outside, and it would help for the whole campus, but then it would dilute the effect it would have in your room. Any in case, since your dad insists, you order one and try and see if it will work.
Gradually, you see some impact of all the measures you are taking. There are fewer mosquitos in your room. One pops in somehow now and then, entering sneakily when you enter the room despite the magnetic mosquito curtain. But you can easily defeat it with the mosquito racket. You wait for the new product your dad suggested to come from Amazon, because one day delivery isn’t possible when you live so far away from a large warehouse. But you don’t really know which measure worked the best. And you don’t have time or resources to do research on each method and reach a solid conclusion.
Occasionally, you feel a little bad for the mosquitos. It’s in their nature no, to bite? Isn’t that all they know, and all they can do? Male mosquitos don’t even bite, but you can’t differentiate between the two and they are part of the breeding cycle regardless. It’s for greater good, even though at some point, you will get a mosquito borne disease.But atleast you will know you tried. You have a lot of other things to learn too.
Am I losing my mind living alone in a small rural town? Maybe. But at least I’m not catching chikengunya. That can be my win for this week.
