The year 2021 is proving to be worse than 2020. Mankind is in throes of a pandemic and nothing appears to be going right!

The year culminated in rampage by protesting farmers against the farm laws passed by the incumbent government. Then from February onwards, we witnessed an upsurge in Covid cases! Although my parents living in Mumbai could not escape the virus onslaught and are recuperating at the hospital (fingers crossed) our repertoire has been replete with several mini heart attacks which I would like to recount!

Last year we dealt with a nerve-racking colony of ants who irked us no end with their omnipotence and omnipresence!

With the onset of winters last year we were perturbed by the arrival of an unwanted guest-a rat! Although there was just one- dealing with it gave the sensation of ones head spinning in a blender at optimal speed! All attempts at trapping the troublesome creature went in vain. It’s favourite hangout spot was my daughter’s room which disastrously happens to be our favourite hangout spot! To make things worse the once cute looking mouse had metamophosed into a grotesque looking rat with multiple lesions across its face! Perhaps, it was a result of an electric shock, or an injury or some disease, only God knows!

It had the knack of hiding into tiniest of holes and crevices when being hunted down! After a few days a few others, though relatively small joined in. Sometimes they were witnessed climbing atop curtains, at other times on shelves and still other in cupboards. The irksome rat even chewed away my phone’s USB cable!

No sooner had the rat menace subsided when we were appalled at the advent of monkeys who stormed in looking for bananas! They were shooed away, at least for the time being! We were simultaneously dealing with mosquitoes who despite all the insect sprays sprang up here and there like reincarnated demons!

Recently, I also got stung by a bee and had a painful swelling for a couple of days!

Besides, recently there was news that a mammoth sized asteroid is about to stride past our planet which if it struck the earth, could do damage similar to the deadliest nuclear bomb present! Are these ominous signs hinting at an Apocalypse? Maybe maybe not, but I’m having my fingers crossed!

On a lighter note, the silver lining to the story is that today morning the vexatious rat got stuck in the toilet and was flushed away!!

Moral: No matter how hard the road, we must flush away all negativity and be thankful to the Almighty for keeping us alive and safe! Wait! I can witness a swarm of bees heading towards my room! Enjoy the story till I fix things right!!!