Hats off to the Rat!

Scene 1 :

4:30am, The Alarm goes on from the mobile. I get up, with sleepy eyes, off the Alarm and as is my usual practice, half asleep, tread off to the Kitchen, after brushing my teeth. The Dining Table has the Basket of fruits. Search through it, chose an Apple and a Guava, and walk to the sink, clean the chosen fruits, along with a dish, move towards the Hall.

Still a little sleepy, as  I pierce my teeth into the Apple, a faint sound, from behind the Table, where our good old TV used to be, before the technology made it hang on the wall. Suddenly I became Alert and the sleepiness vanished!

Since last some days, an intruder had made us irritated, frustrated, scared, alert, hygienic, all at the same time! We would attempt to search for it, with all the resolve and weapons in hand, but as soon as it made its appearance, everyone would be running for life, forgetting their intensions!

It was a BIG Black Rat!

We had seen it coming out of the Bathroom drain hole, moving in and out of the Gallery door, balancing superbly on the TV Cable outside the window and using that opening as well, and god knows how many more outlets it had as options to use, along with its amazing talents.

Scene 2: 

Now, with the Apple in hand, I again started going through those rounds of emotions, having an hunch that maybe the sound I heard was made by this same guest of ours. Over the period of last some days, we had accepted the fact that this creation of God, has come to our home as a permanent resident and it was impossible for us to convince it to vacate our home!

As 5 min. passed by, I heard the sound again, and as I kept my eyes focussed on the place, from which the sound came, in a moment, what do I see!!!! Our reverred guest itself, in its full form, behind the Table, staring at me!!!

That scene made me excited, scarred, ready to kill, thinking, analysing, shivering, at the same time! I kept my eyes steady at the Rodent and quickly finished eating the fruit, analysing as to how can I accomplish this huge, impossible task of trapping this animal.

Since, earlier too, I had gone through this experience, using every bit of that knowledge, I went to the Kitchen, softly, to bring a Jadu. Then I went to the bathroom to close the drain hole and keeping the lights on, I kept open the door of the bath, hoping that in my race after the rat, it will invariably enter the Bath and then, with a lot of courage, I too will go inside the bath, close the door from inside and trapping the mouse, will kill it with the Jadu in hand. Thinking of it, made me shiver, but I went ahead with the idea anyway.

I then closed and latched the doors of the Bedroom.

Now, I cleared the Hall of whatever small things, laid in it. With red eyes, heart thumping, legs shivering, totally alert, jadu in hand, I started my attempt of doing the impossible... of hunting the cleverest animal on earth!

Scene 3:

As I moved slowly towards the Table, the rat raised its big ears, became aware of my intensions and suddenly ran down the Table! I rushed towards it, it ran behind the sofa at super speed, I followed, it ran from one sofa to another, jadu in hand I followed, it escaped from that room towards the Passage, I thought now is my chance, as I ran behind it, it galloped towards the bedroom doors, finding it closed came back, now was my chance, as it came near me, I HIT, BANG! The jadu banged the floor, but the rat had escaped! Instead of going towards the Bath, it entered the Kitchen, I followed at super speed, it climbed the Kitchen platform, from there it went outside the Kitchen window! I had lost the race!

As I moved the sliding door of the window, BINGO! The rat again entered the room from the other side of the window, it jumped on the Kitchen platform,  from there to the floor, from there behind the Fridge, me in hot pursuit, from there again to the Hall, me behind it, again from behind the Table, to the 1st Sofa, to the 2nd, from there again to Kitchen, I continuously banging the jadu over it, continuously missing, now I am totally charged! No fear! Aiming hard! For the first time, I realised, the intelligent animal is short of ideas, is making some obvious mistakes, I was almost on the verge of hitting it! As it ran again towards the kitchen platform, BANG! The Jadu came down! I felt the softness instead of the hard floor! Confident, I hit again BANG!

I had done it! DONE IT! There it lay before me! Legs up! Lower part of the body facing sky! Eyes open but no movement! The Rat was killed!

I looked at the clock on the wall, it was showing 5:10! In about 10 min, I had successfully killed an enemy, who had entered our home without our permission, made our life miserable, made us scarred in our own house, shared our food without our acceptance and had the potential to spread the most lethal diseases in our place!

With the satisfaction of the soldier, who had won a war, I picked that rat and moved it to the Gallery, waiting for my wife, Sarita, to wake up. I wanted to show her the proof of my bravery!

As is the case, since joining Lifeschool, I started pondering, after this experience. The thought was, What did I learn from this experience?

As I contemplated, I came to the following inferences,

1. However intelligent the enemy may be, you can out-think him.

2. Even when scarred, if your focus is right, your mind is composed, you have the necessary skills, you have a higher chance of succeeding!

3. Nothing is impossible in this world. Especially KILLING a RAT!

It was 5:30 already, I then put on the music, having the feeling of conquering the world, sat for the meditation, as is my daily habit.

Seldom did I experience such a sense of Peace and Satisfaction.

Having deep gratitude in my heart, I thanked the animal for giving me a chance to prove my bravery!

Hats off to the Rat!