Mosquitoes: The Little Devils and Their Nocturnal Warfare Against Human Sleep

 **April 2005**

Mosquitoes.

They might have some invaluable role to play in the natural scheme, but their utility cannot take away the fact that they are a great nuisance to us human beings.

If we calculate their nuisance in proportion to their physical size, then they emerge as the most nuisance-making beings on the planet.

This little devil buzzes its evil song in our ears, and that, too, when we need some rest after a hard day's work.

The evil parasite then sucks the drops of blood to nurture itself, while we toil so hard to nurture ourselves.

The monster is very swift and agile.

Thank God somebody invented the mosquito net!

Otherwise, I fear humanity would have been in great trouble.

But however expertly and stealthily one might try to set it around one's bed, one or two little brigands are bound to sneak in, almost magically.

And the moment you try to sleep, one of these odd intruders starts on its mission of destroying your sleep.

You are helpless.

In irritation, you just rub your itching skin.

What to do?

Prudence says that one should wait till the idiot is fed up and has finished its meal. Then, finding itself a night-long prisoner inside the net, it can be executed gleefully in the morning.

For, fed on your blood, these one or two devils are to be found relaxedly, languorously stuck against the inside of the mosquito net, especially in its upper corners.

Strike them with the softest of your finger strikes.

And see your own blood contained in that tiny belly.

You will be surprised.