AppRoach

Why is it that sooo many of my posts revolve around my entomophobia? Maybe 'coz of the phobia itself.. But whatever the reason... the insects, especially the one starting with C have wreaked havoc in my life at many important moments showing themselves at places they are least welcome.. like the wedding.

So, we were done with all the thaali tying.. and for anyone who's observed the typical TamBrahm wedding (or been in it themselves), they know that the homams all involve the men primarily and the bride has nothing better to do than symbolically hold hands once in a while and stare at the crowd to catch the many familiar faces and nod thanks to all the pouring congratulations. There we were.. seated in the pristine setting among a blazing fire, melting ghee, many veshti clad vaadhiyars and a lot of smoke and sweat. And the vaadhiyar pulls out the dried varati (cow dung cakes) to feed the fire... and guess who's seated on top of that? None less than 5 huge cockroaches. While they scatter in all directions (3 in mine) from the heat, my panic surges in a microsecond and I realize that I have lost my voice... The priest is trying to calm me down.. and I am caught in the dilemma of fleeing the mandapam lest they get into the madisaar and of drawing some significant attention which would do something to rid them. My F-I-L was shocked at my panic and S (busy with all the homams) hadn't a clue why I was screaming frantically and half jumping on his lap. They dispersed without much ado. Thankfully they weren't the muchad variety. Even then I marveled at their making their presence felt shortly after the most important moments of my life... Some species just don't get that they are never wanted... Hmph.