I don’t mind sitting at kitchen table and watching Fox News or OSN on my plasma and being served yummy food or just sitting there in an air conditioned atmosphere reading books or writing recipes but that’s all I like. I don’t like working in the kitchen. I am really thankful to my husband Wiki for doing all the veg-cutting, dish washing and ingredient-fetching from different corners because without all this, there is no way I can stir spoon in the pot.
For me, working in the kitchen is like working on a battlefield. It’s horrifying. One out of many of my dislikes is being a kitchen slave. I think I am lacking women-hood.
Since I live in Defence (DHA), which is a coastal area in Karachi a city in Pakistan, we have a whole uncountable populace of insects specially termites, cockroaches and spiders due to humidity. These tiny monsters’ first choice is always kitchen. May be because there is a fresh supply of food available at all times. I also have them in my kitchen hiding somewhere not easily found. Now don’t take me wrong; I am not disgusting. I am a cleanliness freak. I am cleaning my house and kitchen non-stop. I keep these places dry and lit in order to keep unwanted ‘inhabitants’ away but they still love to crawl in. I really don’t know why they only burden third world or developing countries where there is already extra population and poverty.
Cockroaches would startle me out of a blue when I am convinced that Friday night regular fumigation must have worked. They would pretend being scared of me when I open a cabinet and both of us would run away screaming in opposite directions – well I can’t hear them screaming but I am quite sure in their world of tiny-ism, they go pretty loud. It is hard for them to resist the sink cabinet. Since my trash can is there, I am bound to open it. Someone told me donkeys years ago that keep a covered trash can to avoid roaches. I did. Sadly, it doesn’t seem like that it worked. Now I collect the trash in a plastic bag on the counter and wait for Wiki to transfer it in main disposal. Thank God we live in Pakistan where we can afford house maids and cleaners at very low cost. Unfortunately, all the cleaners I have hired so far misunderstood the cleaning package. So I find Wiki the bravest of all. Astonishing is the fact that no one has ever seen these wanderers in my kitchen. They only show up when I have to be in there. It’s like a battle; who owns this place first. Surely them because they were there first when I moved in.
My daughter’ EmQue’s room is next to kitchen. Somehow, these little amiable creatures have discovered the way to her cozy place. Once in a while, there is a shoe out of place in her room on an awkward spot. That is quite a bulk load on one cockroach. EmQue has even stopped using her beautiful bathroom. Evidently, some lizards take a stroll inside through the exhaust fan. Now what should I do about that? These reptiles are becoming so possessive and hostile that once I opened the door on my daughter’s complaint and there was this extremely unattractive lizard on the floor that opened its mouth and jumped forward. Yeah, that’s true as is it. After that, we never opened that door.
Spiders seem very peaceful as they stay in one place like forever and then disappear leaving their skeletons behind. I think they die because of their laziness specially when they think that food will be served to them as well just because they chose the kitchen.
Termites, on the other hand, are always playing their magic; a shelf fell off all of a sudden when I only put an empty plastic bag on it.
I am still unable to understand that why God created all these insects. Food chain could have worked with just a fewer insects around.
Thank you Tracey for your comment. It is very motivating.
The photo tiles are breathtaking. I love them. You have somehow created poetry from bugs. You have awesome talent.