Nerve Endings Firing Away

If anyone who has missed me the most, it has to be the Panvel mosquitoes. Few years ago, when I was doing the initial analysis for my undergrad design dissertation I conducted a snapshot survey in the town. One of the questions asked the respondents to identify the identifying characteristic of the town of Panvel and one of them actually had mentioned mosquitoes. Now, you wouldn’t want that displayed on the ubiquitous welcome banner on the national highway.

Mosquitoes in Panvel have to be seen and lived amongst to understand the full impact of their dominance. Come evening and you must, without fail, close all doors and windows and if by accident you leave one open, you are almost sucked dry by these giant-sized pests. I still remember not only using Good Knight mats in the machine at night but also burning the used mats to drive them away (I wonder if that was carcinogenic).      

We must have employed all sorts of anti-mosquito treatments but Darwin
is repeatedly proved right here as the hardy pest evolve to overcome
all forms of control. If you are driven crazy and resort to smacking
them between your palms, you will soon be left with bloody hands
covered in your own blood. Alright, it isn’t that gory but last night I
chased one mosquito all over the room until I had his (I am assuming)
innards splattered all over my palms. I am still smacking a few as I am
typing this. I still remember almost a foot high buzzing column of
mosquitoes just inches above everyone’s head at dusk; even back then it
looked scary. Greenery was offered as an excuse for the presence of
mosquitoes but I guess, nowadays the open drains are self-explanatory.

Now, an interesting tidbit; mosquitoes in Panvel are larger and more in
number as compared to those in New Panvel (across the highway) but
those in the new township are somehow endowed with malaria-inflicting
powers. I guess residents in the older town are rendered immune from
malaria simply by living amongst the mosquitoes. I never once have had
malaria but my college friends living in the hostel in New Panvel
always had an annual bout of the debilitating illness. Or the floating
population in New Panvel might be to blame. I wonder if the Bill and
Melinda Gates Foundation grants to combat malaria have reached these
parts yet. The town sure could use some.

So people, if you are coming to Panvel and plan to stay after dusk, be
ready to ‘give them a big hand’. They sure can sense fresh blood and
will not hesitate to give you a stinging welcome.