Why the pesky makkhi is suddenly making headlines
It's hard to swat, slap or shoo away a fly — that exasperating housefly. It will either take flight or squat on your face out of the blue — just like that Salman Khan kick that lands on your chest straight out of a Race 3 fight scene. But, in all likelihood, it will buzz its way back, to your annoyance.
On rare occasions when your whack is sharp enough to bring it down, believe me, it's not a sight you would want to remember. The corpse — Oh my God, what have you done — those tiny wings that were flapping a moment ago are listless now, the claws dismembered, its mauled body now replaced by a thick pale discharge oozing from what was once its abdomen. The yellow ooze is actually its digestive tract and blood, and perhaps a few tiny eggs, if it were a female, that you have crushed.
Well, if the buzz was annoying, the silence that follows the cold-blooded murder could be traumatic.
The faint stain on the table top as you lift the dead body is enough to remind you of your sin for days to come. The remorse could stay for months, the murder scene playing out in your mind every time you hear that distinct buzz, growing louder and louder, reminding you of your intolerance, your pettiness and that inherent disgust for the creature.
But then, it's not your fault entirely. Even as a child, you were told to maintain a distance from the despicable flies. You were told you are different from them, belong to different worlds with different cultures, different food habits — their food is our poison, after all. Never touch the food those low-lives lay their claws on. You just can't trust them, they breed too fast and they are always conspiring to wipe us out with cholera, dysentery, tuberculosis and what-not.
So, why should that one swat bother you so much?
Why should it make a monster out of you?
It's not your fault. Didn't the fly ask for it by entering your home? It never belonged to that plate of salad on your table, or on the rim of that tea cup.
Yet, you are made to feel like a murderer.
The one who was out there to destroy your race is actually dead now. But even in death, it doesn't stop troubling you.
By now, it has become a martyr and successfully crushed your self-esteem, your illusions about yourself of belonging to a 'superior' race.
You know, my friend, you have already sinned enough, and no amount of alcohol is enough to wash away those stains left by the oozing yellow pulp.
The fly has become immortal and will keep buzzing.
Yes, that's true. In the not-so-debated supremacy between the housefly and the mighty human race, perhaps the 'creepy', insignificant fly is winning — and making headlines too.
Suddenly, trying to tell us not to underestimate the power of small and pesky beings.
A single fly recently destroyed an "epic" world record attempt. According to this report, a German team was attempting to break a record for miniature dominoes. But a fly triggered a premature chain reaction. More than 600,000 domino tiles were brought into a gym in Nidda, Germany, as part of the bid to topple a number of records. It reportedly took the team of 20 people almost two weeks to set up for the stunt. But the fly ruined their attempt by landing on one of the mini dominoes, thereby setting up a chain reaction, resulting in the fall of the dominoes. Given the tiles are really tiny, the set up was extremely meticulous.
“The fly triggered the chain reaction prematurely. There was no more time to set up all the little tiles again," said a dejected Patrick Sinner, organiser of the event.
But the team still managed to break three out of the five records they set out to beat — building the largest domino wall, the largest spiral and the largest domino cube.
"So it wasn’t a not a total loss, but it would certainly spark a deep-seated, lifelong hatred with flies," said the report.
'Deep-seated hatred'. Sigh.
It's strange how the human mind works — cruel and yet guilt-ridden, arrogant, yet full of humility, merciless, yet full of compassion, confident, yet jealous and insecure, so insecure that we set out to crush everything and everyone that we feel is coming in our way.
The pesky fly is just one of them.
By the way, did you know why these houseflies keep coming back to us? Apparently, the humans ooze a sense of warmth and nourishment just like some of the things that houseflies love — faeces, stale food and rotten flesh.
Disgusting, eh?