Rat Fight!

Prologue: There was a 'kebab mein haddi' in the peaceful domains of 11 Kalyani. A till then unsighted rodent had been wreaking havoc in our abode, chewing up soap, closed doors and making passes at our potatoes. That, in the world of a South Indian, scrubbed clean household, is about as personal as it gets... Dearest mom had claimed to have spotted the miscreant once (giving detailed explanations about its size and why it shouldn't be in her kitchen) and yours truly had heard its squeaks in the cookery as well. But we were still unsure so as to where its realtime position was. Then came Sunday morning.


The fight begins.



The damage done to our kitchen door by the rat, in its bid to escape.


We'd closed the kitchen door tight, thinking that the menace might have escaped to the piping in the building (home CID had determined that as an entry point previously), but this morning I awoke to see the bottom of the kitchen door bearing heavy ratty influence - as is shown by the wooden shavings above. The creature, obviously bugged by the tight food security measures we'd taken had tried to escape and literally chew its way out of the kitchen door. We knew we had a trap on our hands. Which meant...


Its go time!

We (me and mom) scoured the attic, in the process getting rid of a lot of unwanted junk (and hence really doing what we should have done years ago) but the rat eluded our scrutiny still. We could feel it though - it was just the pulse of our kitchenous surroundings, but we could sense it. I was on the stool when mom uttered a shout and jumped back remarkably quickly. The rat wasn't above us, but was below us, behind the gas cylinder!

Sticks were brought out as the melee began. It was two very frustrated soldiers against an experienced harper of the dark. What a fight it was.

(Match of the extremely early morning - Mom vs. the rat (not in picture))
(Snap deleted due to persistence of the subject)

I had a stick in one had and narrowly missed the rat as it scurried past me into another corner. I grabbed a large tub and had, in a single moment - an epiphany of a fantasy. I would trap the rat in the tub and quietly sit on the tub till we could decide what would be done with it, yes, that was it!

The rat used its pace and cunning against us, cramped us we were in our confines. It never gave us much room to maneuver. Me and mom took the lead in turns, generally ceding when we'd been reduced to screams and random stick banging. All of a sudden, we sensed its absence. We cleared up the whole kitchen (and I had to wash everything that existed there) but there was no further sign of the blighter.



We still think it escaped from behind the Ganesh statue out to a window. How can the tusked one forget his companion? All is peaceful now, as I sit, squeaky clean and rat free to record this incident.

Once again, may peace exist. Always.