Bugland

What’s the first thing I hear when I step out of the room in the morning?

“Crunch, crunch, crunch.”

You wouldn’t have guessed. It’s the sound of dead beetles being squashed by my Japanese slippers. It doesn’t get any better when you actually walk out of the hostel into the corridors on the ground floor. There, you see them plastered all over the walls and piles of them on the floor. They actually remind me of the black pickled beans (is that what you call it?) you eat with porridge. And the smell. Oh the smell!

Well, the beetles are more of an annoyance than a danger. Then, what’s danger?

People, let me introduce you to Charlie.


Oh that’s one on my bed. Yay!

See the present they left me on Charlie Eve.


One on my arm.


And one on my thigh.


Oops. It’s dead. That’s my gift back to you. Have fun in hell.

A few days ago there were so many Charlies I could fill a cookie jar if I collected all of them. Every night about 20 of them will die in my hands (Bwahahahaha!). Killing every Charlie I see is not a hobby you know. I’d pray that they stay away from my room every day. But I have to admit. I did think of making a collage of Charlies. Perhaps an attempt born out of desperation? It started as a collage of bugs when I first came to this place. But I got lazy. And when Charlie infested my room, I thought, why not? They’d actually make a nice piece on the wall. Might even sell for a hundred bucks. No?

After that it started raining every night and they disappeared. There’s always one or two, but never 20. That’s when the beetles came. They stink so don’t even bother about beetle collage.

And now, it’s back to sunny days. Charlies are coming out to play. There are Charlie juniors and even mutated Charlies. The mutated ones have big butts and look like they cross bred with big ants.

Oh hullolejah. I’m now a certified entomologist. Had fun with my lecture?