“through the act of living, the discovery of oneself is made concurrently with the discovery of the world around us. . ."

Sunday, March 4, 2012

The Female of the Species



Lying beneath the ceiling fan that pummel me
With gusts of hot air that refuses to leave my room;
Sweating, half-asleep, I swap at the mosquitoes biting me.

It is midnight or so, but I wake up; my skin burns and itches.
Switching on the light and switching off the fan
I scan the room for those bloodsuckers and hit
At one or two which lie on the floor.
I have the immense satisfaction
of crushing them with my toe
Leaving a smear of my blood on the polished tiles.

Sitting on the floor cross-legged, in the nude
I watch a mosquito landing on my thigh and stick its proboscis into me.
I could imagine her stomach billowing with my blood.
I could feel it, I could feel it, the needle breaking into my skin and the pain
Like the catheter of angiogram shooting up through my nerves 
And into my brain.

Watching the risen little bump  morosely
And scratching at it sullenly,
I wonder
Why only the female of  the species suck blood.

******** Balachandran V, Alappuzha, 02.03.2012





6 comments:

  1. The last question in askance, Bals may not go well with some of the fairer sex. It may be taken a blasphemy and a statement from an MCP. The colour of the lines may not be noticed.

    Well biologically , has any one got the answer .

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  2. @Anil: Can't help it, Science says so! :-)

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  3. cannot fight nature!


    Aloha from Honolulu
    Comfort Spiral

    >< } } ( ° >

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  4. Hmmmmm ! Because the protein in blood is important for the growth of their eggs ,so basically they do it to create a new life.
    Too many mosquitoes in Alleppey eh !lol!

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  5. Haaa....sad about the swarm of mosquitoes! But yeah they have to! to nurture :)

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  6. Few people realize that mosquitoes rely on sugar as their main source of energy. Both male and female mosquitoes feed on plant nectar, fruit juices and liquids that ooze from plants. The sugar is burned as fuel for flight and is replenished on a daily basis. Blood is reserved for egg production and is imbibed by females less frequently.Females do not require blood for their own survival, but they do need supplemental substances such as protein and iron to develop eggs.

    That being another story,I think the males are kind hearted among them as well !

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