Of Mosquitoes and Flies

        Along with every dusk , arrive the mosquitoes to feast on my blood. It's been a practice so long that I really miss them during the winter months. Though having been branded the carriers of numerous diseases they tend to hurt you just twice -first when they sting you and the second when they withdraw- very much like the injection given by the pretty nurse at the clinic. They are very much sure of what they are doing. they leave you alone once they have their fill. It may not be nice to have them around but far better than having their distant cousins- the Flies.

          I can't think of anything which irks me more than a fly. More than its greater capacity to transmit diseases, it is it's displayed greed and ambiguity that irks me and that too in broad daylight. A fly can be rarely found in the less-lighted part of the day. This characteristic of the fly makes it irksome and more harmful as it tends to play with my sensitivities. The irritation caused by a fly to my sensitivities is most likely to be passed on either as a verbal or physical action. So quite obviously,I prefer mosquitoes to flies.

          Now, why am I talking of mosquitoes and flies? Obviously it is relevant to the present turmoil the country is witnessing. We, the ordinary citizens who have no say in whatever happens in or to the country are the flies and the routinely fresh controversies doled out by our leaders(not only politicians, they include imminent persons of the society as well who are looked up to for solutions) are the leftovers given in parts. During the independence, it was about Muslims, then Pakistan, China for a brief period,back to Pakistan again, then Bangladesh. After depleting all the external resources, we have now started pointing guns at those within the the boundary of the country- courtesy the leaders.

       Every time a leader raises a slogan, the people echo it without even giving it a thought and strangely it isn't the uneducated people who do it but the educated urban middle class who has of late become the synonym of the “common man”. The same “common man” who time and again elects the same person to represent him in the parliament, who throng the public meeting like flies to waste in the form of the same old tall promises. And thereafter protest against the actions of the representative once he is elected.

     The elected people, being from the same ambiguous “common man” too act with the same ambiguity. They continue with the same fly like behaviour, the “common man” being at the receiving end this time. They cause the same irritation as a fly by their actions- both verbal and physical whose instances are numerous.

        For the conditions to improve in this country, the electorate have to be sure of what and how much they want-much like the mosquitoes and elect only those who can matter. I know its an utopia,but who knows dreams may turn true.