Oru kozhaviyin diary

For those who don't know - a kozhavi is a honeybee.

Our house has always been the honeybee hub. Ever since I was little I remember the tiny kozhavis swarming the restroom in the chinna (little) room of our house. They used to bustle right up near the tiny window and build elaborate mansions which they would breed in and eventually abandon. Invariably we had the watchman clear the houses (hives) once the 'season' was over. Finally we netted up the window to prevent further incidents. But the kozhavis weren't to be fooled. They soon shifted base to the main window frame of the chinna room. I have always marveled at how hardworking the kozhavis were... They relentlessly brought in what I assume is mud and used some sticky body fluid to build their hives. (I have never seen any honey in the hive... it seemed just like a house for the bees to flock to every night). The structures got more elaborate and complicated as days passed. And soon we realized that not removing the hives earlier caused them to leave imprint patterns on the window or any other location which enabled them to find their way back again the next season.

The reason I remembered the kozhavis was that this time yet again they'd started building one at the same spot. My parents told me tales of how a large and very bustling colony had been constructed a few months ago. And due to an impending birth in the family, no one wanted to destroy the hive in case it rendered bad luck. This reminds me of a time when a bat found its way into the chinna room and lodged itself on the cupboard door. The poor thing had to be rescued from there and screeched in pain/terror till the watchman carefully set it free. And that incident of the other night when my bro was almost paralyzed with fear from the appearance of some animal which I have been fortunate not to sight. It seemed it was as large as a rat but looked like an insect and the watchmen claimed its nomenclature as a thundil on description. I can with no shame say that I would perhaps have fainted on such a sighting. Or the time a rat found its way in the house and we had no idea in which room it was - till we baited it by placing fruits in every room of the house and isolating it. It was the chinna room yet again. Back to the kozhavi - We had the housemaid dislodge the hive yesterday morning when the worker bees had all gone out. And we shut the window. Just when we thought we were done with them kozhavis, we saw one come in through the hall window desperately searching for its house perhaps. It is as my dad says - its the humans that need to be feared the most.

PS: We don't live in a jungle and our chinna room isn't filthy... But for some vague, weird reason its attracted almost all of the pests.