The Attack of the Roaches... (A short story inspired by a true story)

The other day, I was working rather late at office and had a zillion things on my mind that I had to do before going home. So, as soon as I left work at around 3:30 I planned the remainder of my evening accordingly. I reached Grant road station within an hour and realized that I have ample time left to complete my chores. So, I headed towards the electricity dept. to pay my humongous and already-late bill. Since I was short on cash and had to still go to Fort to run some more errands, I went home (5 min away) and went into the kitchen, drank water, emptied my bag and collected the money. In fact, I’d reached the door, when I realized that I hadn’t collected the money. Anyway, then ensued a nice journey to Fort on the BEST bus, where I was reading my much-cherished Malory Towers. I completed my errands and was home within an hour.

Yes yes, there is some purpose behind my relating this entire Raam Kahaani, and that is to bring to your notice the time difference between the two instances when I went home in that day (and I confess, also to keep you in suspense).

Okay before I go on to the highlight of the day, I would like to emphasize that I am cockroach, bird, and any-huge-insect-that-flies phobic and I jus can’t take dirty, creepy insects in my house. Also, I’m a cleanliness freak and clean my kitchen thoroughly everyday (much to the consternation of my roommate!)

Anyhow, getting back to my story, when I came home the second time, I went into the kitchen to have water. The moment I entered, I saw this huge, almost-two-inches flying cockroach on the floor. I freaked, but immediately took the can of “HIT” and sprayed the damned insect (though “smothered” would be a more likely word choice). Then I saw another one of the same size and did the same thing again. I left them there to die (sadistic ol’ me) and closed the door and went in to the room. After a while, I opened the door again and saw around two more cockroaches scurrying about, trying to get away from the cloud of HIT. But they couldn’t and they too died. By the time I sent an SOS to Pragya (my roommate), I had counted almost 12 cockroaches. I couldn’t, for the life of me, comprehend how so many cockroaches could have been there in the kitchen considering I had jus cleaned it (very thoroughly I must say) the previous day. Then I saw that the drain below the sink was slightly open and realization dawned that this entire khandaan of cockroaches had come out of there (for a picnic, perhaps??) and ended up being massacred. Soon we swept the floor of around a little more than TWENTY cockroaches and closed the drain. Aaah, it was a nightmare come true for me. I felt like I was in an ET movie.