Ants

Having adjusted to my new surroundings I am beginning to live like a local and life is once again becoming routine. 4 days a week I wake up early and walk to the gym. Returning about 7:45, I shower and get ready for work. After dressing I head to the kitchen for breakfast, which is always accompanied by fruit and juice. Following breakfast I brush my teeth, take my vitamins, look in the mirror and tell myself how good I look, and head out to meet my driver, waving at the guards as I go. Routines are perfect, unless of course something disrupts them as it throws off your entire day. Going to the gym, showering, and brushing my teeth like scripted the day was going well. It remained that way until I leaned down to spit the tooth paste out of my mouth. The marble countertop in my bathroom seemed to be moving, these Indian spices must me the real deal. Leaning in a little closer I realized that randomly throughout the counter top there were nat sized ants crawling around. Looking closer I also found them randomly throughout my closet, but it all seemed to be populating around the sink drain. Tracking down Stella I asked her to look as I did not know how to translate “ant” into Hindi, turns out the proper translation is “ant”. “I will call today sir, fixed by tonight”. Not happy and hoping it was true; I headed down to my now waiting car.

Returning from work I also follow a routine. Uday drops me off at the front gate, I sign the papers acknowledging how many kilometers we drove today, and wave at the guards while heading to my flat. Once inside I set my “box” from lunch on the counter and head to my room to lose the dress pants for gym shorts. Waving at the guards I was only hopping the ants were gone. Though services are cheap in India they often take many days to resolve a problem. For anyone that has visited Mexico it is very similar to the Mexican minute only over here it is called IST or India Standard Time. Opening my front door I was smacked in the face by what smelled like diesel fumes. I had a feeling the ants were gone. In fact I was not even sure how I was going to stay here tonight. I quickly set down my things and opened all of windows as well as turned on all fans. Not only did the diesel smell not clear out, but now my entire place smelled like burning leaves and diesel fumes.

Unable to figure out how to clear the smell I moved to the living room as it was much less potent in that room. Consuming a few stiff drinks I decided I would sleep on the couch and hope I make it through the night. After all, the smell of curry should get rid of it tomorrow.

Blake