The weather forecast, as I watch sometimes on BBC, predicts almost the correct details of the weather ahead and recently they have forecast rain in and around Chennai and this part of the sub-continent is shown to be bonny blue in color, which means that it is going to receive rain in the days to come. True to the forecast Chennai has experienced intermittent showers, and has brought about cooler days, a relief from the usual sticky and hot daytimes. But at the same time has triggered off mosquito menace. So much so that we are investing heavily on mosquito repellants and sprays which brings about some relief. Sometimes you get a cheap thrill when you successfully kill a mosquito, blood and gore. At other times the rains bring in their wake quite a lot of diverse insect-life, coming sometimes for the lights that you may have switched on at home. So, you have to deal with it by being one-step ahead and playing hookie with these insects and by rotating your lights as you switch on and switch them off and so drive them outside. Just yesterday, I was watching a live performance of a "catch-me-if-you-can", show between a common wall-lizard and a wasp. The wasp was as usual attracted to the tube-light and so kept hovering around there. But at the same time the lizard was trying it's luck and was wanting to make a meal of the wasp with some amazingly swift movements across the wall. Finally, the show came to an end with both sides calling it quits. Greater wisdom prevailed, the lizard perhaps felt that the exercise was more than it can chew and left for greener pastures and the wasp left for a brighter place to roost on. Well, the intermittent showers have also left their mark outside as you go for your morning newspaper or milk. The roads have become a chain of puddles and slush that you may have to negotiate and they naturally become breeding grounds for mosquitoes and other life. So, these showers are a blessing on one hand and on the other they can also be a harbinger of problems peculiar to this season. All you can do is to adapt and learn to be better equipped to deal with problems.
