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WHY SHOULD
MOSQUITOES ENCIRCLE
TAMIL NADU'S
CHIEF MINISTER
Miss JAYALALITHA ?
MOSQUITOES ENCIRCLE
TAMIL NADU'S
(© 11 May, 2012: Dr.V.M.Palaniappan, Ph.D)
(If you are a person who would enjoy reading pleasure-giving write-ups, you will certainly enjoy what I have written here! Just relax, and it in full.
On the other hand, if you are business-minded, or too busy to relax, you may want to read just what I have highlighted in RED colour - and you would have got what you wanted out of this article)
I read in
today’s newspaper Malaysia Nanban the following news:
It seems, while
the Tamilnadu (in South India) Legislative Assembly was on session yesterday, several
mosquitoes encircled the Chief Minister Ms. J. Jayalalitha .
This could be a
very trivial news to many.
Let me ask you
this question:
Why do you
think the mosquitoes were trying to ‘attack’ her, and not others there?
I don’t think
any of you can answer this question, giving proper scientific explanation.
Let me
‘enlighten’ you on this. Please read it, and this may prove to be useful to you
‘one day’, when you are attacked by such ‘warrior’ flies.
************
Way back in
1972, few of us (Academicians / Ecologists) took a group of B.Sc. fourth year students to a real dense rain forest reserve in Pasoh, located close to a small, but beautiful town called Kuala
Pilah
We camped there
for a week, educating the students on various aspects of Ecology.
Being an
undisturbed* and thick forest, it was infested with a lot of leeches and
mosquitoes, besides various other wild and ferocious animals.
(* Many overseas critics claim Malaysia has been destroying forests. May I invite them to visit Malaysia, get special permit to enter into our reserves, and see the wondrous nature of our forests - totally undisturbed, and very well conserved!. It is absolutely beautiful!!)
(We found several 'world-famous' "TONGKAT ALI" plants here. The root of this plant is an aphrodisiac - a sex stimulant, and is very, very expensive to buy in the market places. For more information on this, please read my book: Sex Problems: Causes, Cure and Prevention: Chapter: Sex Suppressors and Promoters Pages: 81-132)
Even before
entering into the forest, we normally give some basic training to our students.
Such training
includes as how one could protect himself/herself from the leeches.
This is so
because, by the time you move ten feet forward, many blood-sucking leeches* would
have ‘landed’ over your legs and arms.
(* Once these leeches cling on to your skin / flesh, they 'spit' their saliva, which prevents the clotting of blood. As a result, the blood keeps on flowing into the leech. It will be hard to pull it out. However, on pulling it, blood will keep on oozing out without clotting.)
By the way, do
you know how to escape from such leech invasion?
It is simple:
Just take some tobacco that is meant for chewing, or break open a cigarette,
and rub it all over the exposed parts of your body. The leeches will not like
you any more!
In addition to
the above, you should also wear very thick stockings, gloves if possible, cap
over the head, and also thick clothes.
Did you notice
one thing?
Unfortunately,
we never taught the students any protection method against mosquitoes!
Not that we
wanted the students to suffer from mosquito bites. It was so simply because, none of knew the method to prevent mosquito attacks.
That was at
that time!
This thought
has been haunting me ever since we entered into the forest, until I found the
correct cause that was behind it.
*******
While writing
the following, I don’t have any prejudice against anybody or any culture. It is
just matter of some useful discovery!
That is all to it!
********
Among the four
academicians, two of us were Malaysians. The other two were English people.
I knew for
certain the two of us have been taking shower twice daily - once in the morning
and a second time in the evening. That is the norm for people in Malaysia, all
the time.
I know equally
well that one of the two British men has been taking showers once daily.
The fourth
person, in the course of conversation, used to emphasise that there is no need
for humans to bathe (or take showers) daily, and that he was taking bath only
once every week!
(I have lived in
Liverpool, England, while doing my Post-Doctoral Research on Nutrient Ecology
with A.D.Bradshaw, the famous Professor of Ecology.
During my stay
there, I have observed many locals there do not take showers daily. Instead,
they would bathe once in a week or even longer periods.
This
observation may not surprise you if you had read Bernard Shaw’s
works, wherein he describes the bathing nature of people there.)
**********
Anyway, the
following formed the important observation:
My
fellow-Malaysian and I were ‘bitten’ by mosquitoes, as if we were their primary
enemies.
The Englishman
who took showers daily evening was attacked to a lesser degree.
Whereas, the
gentleman who took bath once a week was almost never attacked.
He slept very
comfortably, while we were beating up ourselves, in our effort to kill the
mosquitoes!
*********
This above observation gave me an insight into the behaviour of mosquitoes!
*********
In humans, the outermost part of the skin (outer part of epidermis) dies and peels off on a daily basis, and a layer of new skin forms underneath.
(When such a thing happens
in lower animals, itt is called ecdysis.)
If we take showers
daily, a few layers of the skin gets removed when we apply soap and rub (or scrub),
thus leaving our skin THIN.
Whereas, in those
people who do NOT take a shower daily, or in those who bathe once in a week or so,
numerous cellular layers are left intact on the outer side of the skin. As a result,
the skin becomes really THICK.
If YOU are a mosquito,
whom would you choose to ‘bite’?
(The mosquitoes have
long blood-sucking mouth called proboscis.)
If the skin happens
to be THIN, it would be easier for them to ‘penetrate’ the skin, reach the blood
vessel, and drink the blood at ease!
If the skin happens
to be THICK, it would be harder for them to reach the blood vessels.
This appeared to
be the exact explanation for the differential behavioural pattern in mosquitoes.
***********
Wanting to ascertain
my hypothesis, I STOPPED taking a shower from then on, for next FOUR DAYS - we were all still camping in the forest.
I was amazed!
My hypothesis proved
to be correct!
I was ‘neglected’
by the mosquitoes, and the other two continued to be the victims.
So, I established
the moral of the story:
That is, if you
are ‘thick-skinned’ you will not be vulnerable to mosquito attacks.
**************
Let us now apply
the above findings to the current story related to the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu.
She probably had
a clean and thorough shower just before coming to the Assembly.
(No, I am not implying
that all others in the Assembly did not take a shower before going there!)
There could be one
more ecological factor related to the performance of the mosquitoes:
Skin in women are tender and THIN-TEXTURED.
Men are naturally thick-skinned!
This could have
been the second reason why the Lady Chief Minister was so desirably invaded by the
mosquitoes in the Assembly hall.
*************
If only the care-takers
(‘house-keepers’) of the Assembly Hall burnt some INCENSE (Chambirni in Tamil) there
- may be the previous night or earlier in the morning, the mosquitoes would have
either flown away, or would have died, thus leaving the Chief Minister to concentrate
in ruling the State, rather than getting her attention deviated.
Another help: The next time you eat an orange fruit, please keep the skin.
The skin can either be sun-dried, or just left in shade to dry up. Store it for later use.
Whenever you wish to DRIVE AWAY (but not kill) the mosquitoes, just burn the skin.
The skin will not burn well. It is OK. If you wish, you can use a camphor tablet to burn it.
The smell that accompanies the little smoke will be very pleasant to humans, and is harmless.
However, ALL the mosquitoes would fly away from the room / hall.
You can then sleep peacefully without any disturbance from the blood suckers (and also because of the thought that you have not killed any organisms)
**********
Suddenly, some other
thought is coming into my mind:
When I went to India
last time, I found nearly all the places there were infested with mosquitoes.
The ‘current’ mosquito
invasion could have occurred to remind, or bring to the attention of the Chief
Minister to take serious and immediate action to eradicate the mosquitoes from the cities of of Tamil Nadu.
(I felt there is a greater and urgent need to educate the people there on methods of preventing mosquito breeding.)
OK, friends, I hope
you too will protect yourself from the mosquitoes in a ‘natural’ manner rather then
poisoning yourself by burning all kinds of toxic substances.
(I often tell my patients to fix mosquito nets over all their windows and entrances - that forms an effective way to keep away the mosquitoes.)
With best wishes,
Dr.Palani, Ph.D.
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