Of Mice, Me & Olivia

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It is 3 A M Saturday. Quiet night. AC Bedroom.

After blogging a ghastly KGP story earlier in the evening, I was in the mood to relax over a glass of cool buttermilk and the Day's DC.

Yet I had to get up and re-blog. There is a limit to human endurance.

Circa 1994. Qrs B-140, IIT KGP. 9 P M.

My 12 year-old son and I would be playing a game of Carom awaiting the call for Dinner from the kitchen.

Instead we get a squeak and a howl.

We spring into action. We have a technically crafted and perfected mouse trap. Fail-proof and benign.

My son would fetch it quickly and I would fry a peel of onion just so in ghee. And hook it ever so gently, yet firmly. Open the trap-door and set it to perfection. Switch off the lights. Go back to play. Within minutes there would be a loud 'pphutt!'. My son springs into action and watches the trapped mouse fascinated. His eyes (Jerry's) staring wide open, ears twitching, whiskers praying. He (my son) wouldn't let me proceed.

When he (son) is done mouse-watching, we give him (Jerry) a free scooter ride to the Tata Steel Stadium. Get down, open the door and watch him (Jerry) run for his life and vanish in a second.

Hundreds of times in a decade.

Maybe from too much 'Tom & Jerry' or doing Ganesh Puja every year, both of us have a soft corner for mice. Not for rats or bandicoots.

Almost everyday in DC there is a Health Report which I avidly read since it is my duty to keep in good shape. With an IIT Pension around Rs 30K, I am a cash cow for the family and why not?

Within seconds I encounter mice and turn the page. Just now it happened twice in 10 minutes.

That was too much.

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Page 8: Bold Headlines: "Red Wine Limits Brain Damage" (or what is left of it). Washington, April22

Report:

"The researchers have discovered the way in which red wine consumption may protect the brain from damage following a stroke.

Two hours after feeding mice....."
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I turn the Pages to Op-Ed:

Bold headlines with the cute slanting face of Olivia Judson: "Fat Facts about Brain"

Report:

"Being fat is bad for your brain......

Diet may also play a role, too. Studies in mice have shown....."

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I scowl, get up and blog.

Am I being reduced to Jerry or vice versa?

Depends

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