Day 274- Rat!

30th August, Chilling!

O diary, the house has been ransacked! If we didn't know better, we would have thought a giant creature came and stomped through the house. From the droppings, Mama told me it was a rat. Maybe two. Right after she said that, we both gave a loud yelp and clung to each other, looking for a high place to stand. We were both trembling with fear and I felt sick in my stomach.

Looking at the devastation around the house, mainly just the ground floor, the rat must have been a huge one. Lion size even. In the living room, he managed to topple Mama's stack of embroidery and shifted the low table . He must have knocked over the food cover first before dragging the table, overturning it . Weirdly, the food on that table was left untouched. OM joked that the rat must have been enraged when he saw that the food was terrible, so he went on this crazy rampage . I didn't think that was funny. I was frightened out of my wits and worried to death! The kitchen was an even bigger mess but the rat also did not touch Kivachi's platter or Sindhi's persimmons.

But all our greens were gone. Not a single chilli or lady's finger was left for us, except for some stalks. He even ate every one of our cucumbers. We found two half eaten potatoes which he obviously did not enjoy. This must be the first vegan rat we have had the pleasure of meeting. Mama and I refused to go into the kitchen till OM checked and made sure that no rat was found. We were fretting so loudly out on the porch that Sindhi came over to see if someone had been murdered!

When she heard what happened, Sindhi went home and returned with a tray of purple brinjals. Take these, she said, they are not green so the rat won't want them. Mama was so touched that she gave Sindhi a  tight embrace, nearly choking her. Sindhi then passed us a head of cabbage which was obviously more than a week old and was beginning to brown. I looked at Mama and she looked at me and I was just thinking of saying something polite like we could use it for curry when Sindhi quickly explained that it was for the Rat! Green, see? That means rat's, she said, you have to give it something or it may start eating your green sari, lady. Only Sindhi giggled at her own joke. Mama and I both thought Sindhi could be right.

So we left the baskets of vegetables back in the kitchen and we  cleared up the mess. Mama put citronella scented cotton balls and a hundred moth balls all over the house. There were at least 10 traps laid too. 

Now, we wait....

4th September

Just a quick note, Diary, to let you know that the rat was caught this morning. The citronella balls worked only for one night. The rat came back the day after and ate more green vegetables that Mama had replaced. He did not touch the brinjals but he also did not want the cabbage. A very crafty rat, he sidestepped all the traps. Mama finally called the rat catchers who taped our traps down . Now you know why our traps did not work! The rat was caught after that. 

I did not dare look but I am very sure it was lion size.