by Swetha Ramachandran
[box]When the rest of the world sleeps, the warriors of the night are wide awake and are in full action. Catch Swetha Ramachandran spinning an imaginative and cute piece on these nocturnal creatures and their activities! [/box]The trees sway gently, dancing to the tunes of the wind. The stars wink merrily in the night sky and pearly white moonshine lights up the world whilst its inhabitants are lulled into sleep. But wait! Not ‘everybody’ is asleep! Out in the wraps of the night is many a creature waiting to begin its ‘day.’ The creepy crawly insects, ugly-looking lizards and rotund little bugs are here! And the rats are back with a BANG!!! The species of the nocturnal world have just risen to begin their quest for food. Ho, ho, here they come out of hiding!
With no time to spare, these creatures venture into their search immediately! The cockroaches are out looking for those miniscule moths and the lizards are hoping to chance upon a bunch of lazy flies. On the other side of the ‘dark’ world, the mosquitoes are busy fighting for fleshy hands. After all their efforts to escape the wrath of innumerable mosquito repellents, it is only wise that they reward themselves with a plump, juicy hand! Meanwhile, the rats are on a noisy trail. Plates go flying in every direction and glasses get knocked down as they are on an expedition for that tasty-looking masal vada (crisp, spicy balls made of dal) and coconut burfi (sweetmeats made out of coconut), little knowing that it might be their very last meal and they may end up behind little wooden bars!
Soon enough, a war is declared as these creatures fight for food with their equally hungry counterparts! Bon appétit! Pincers poke through human skin and there is blood all over – in little pouch-like stomachs! Paper-thin wings flap actively to have a narrow escape from probing, sticky tongues. Squeaky rats try to master the mechanism of trap doors. The ants continue to store and search for edible things, (which may mean anything from a sugar crystal to a piece of rotting vegetable), not having run out of energy after toiling the entire day! These creatures, in spite of taking home huge quantities of food unfailingly, maintain their hour glass figures! The grass hoppers, unlike the ants, decide to dine out for the ‘day’ and camouflage themselves in trees to bite into juicy bugs and flies.
As time moves on, things are growing fierce in the battleground. Hence the ants play mediators, marching in between the prey and the predators in a perfectly straight line whilst the newborns of all the clans, having been left behind in the comfort of their ‘homes’ with growling stomachs, eagerly await their parents’ return! Few more hours of rattling and scuttling continue as beady eyes and long antennae search for something to fill their tiny tummies with! The song of the crickets hovers in the background as the lizards click their tongues in unison to the high octaves. Raids and racquet, searches and chases, fights and the survival of the fittest! Scurrying feet, groping antennae, watchful eyes and hungry stomachs; the many facets of nocturnal life!
Meanwhile, the night sky grows patches of pink and orange as dawn nears. The creatures of the night have just a couple of hours at hand to go back to their houses – those cracks and crevices and nooks and corners where they seek refuge. The battle will soon witness its end for the day! All is fair in love and war and this seems applicable in the ‘dark’ world too. The brave, the smart and the hard working of the nocturnal world return home exhausted and tired after winning a violent battle whereas the not-so-lucky and unfortunate ones do not make it back home but travel in bits and pieces through mucous lined digestive systems! The creatures of the night retire for the ‘day’, only to be back with more vigor, more strength and more noise!
Pic : Jean-: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jeantil/
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