Of things big and small: A Termite Tale It was a damp day. It had rained for hours.

In these equatorial rain forests, the showers are simply mesmerising. One can just sit/stand and watch the rains poooooooooouring down for as much as your meandering mind would allow. On one such morning when the rains gave a reprieve, I wandered into the woods nearby our homes. Water drops from leaf-tips dropped and slid down my spine. There were twitters of unseen birds and sounds of the modern world could be heard no more. In the clearing ahead, there stood a tall, brown tower of mud. It was a termitary. Perched on this two-meter tall tower was an insect, pearly white in colour. Two pearls, one small and other smaller, formed its torso and the head. Four shiny wings fluttered and the creature spoke. Welcome to wetland towers. I was surprised and curious. Who are you and what is this tower of mud? I am Karayaani, the angel of white ants. And this is one of the modern termite settlements. Would you like to see the insides? I nodded still trying to believe what was happening. Suddenly, the tower loomed in front of my eyes like a sky scraper. I strained my neck upwards to see the top of the tower. Karayaani was by my side and she appeared moderately big. I asked, What happened now? Karayaani said, You have been miniaturised so that you can walk through this termite settlement. Now, close your eyes and open them slowly as we descend into the tower.

A draft of warm air hit me as I fell through long tunnel. Karayaani held my hand as we whooshed in. The air was damp and cool as we stood in the grey darkness.

I said, It is so dark in here. How do you see anything? Karayaani said, You feel the darkness because you have eyes. We have no eyes and so we do not feel the darkness. But we can sense everything around us with our vibration sensors and a strong sense of smell. We communicate by pheromone-sensing and as we touch each other when we pass. Now, we are in the lowest cellar. The temperature and humidity are maintained almost constant by regulating the air through the chimneys, tunnels and tiny holes on the tower. We actually came in through one of the chimneys. You see the tunnel to the right.that leads to your house. You mean termites are present in my house which is a good three to four hundred metres away from this termitary? Yes. And if you dont terminate the termites, they can finish eating your house in about three years. Dont worry; there is still lot of time. By the way, termites hold the record for building longest tunnels in shortest time. Now, let us go to the royal chambers. Karayaani led me through a maze of tunnels where termites teemed in great numbersrushing, colliding, jostling, and climbing on one another. There was a flurry of activity all over. We made it to a large room where a large termite was surrounded by hundreds of smaller termites. Karayaani started dancing and singing.. We have a king and queen,

Her body of pearly white and oily sheen, She is full and her fecundity has no match, As she lays two eggs a minute to hatch! Karayaani! At this rate, termites must be multiplying into billions? Yes, but only the queen breeds and lays so many eggs. So the king has a busy job. From the new born, some are selected for reproduction and starting new colonies. Most of the other termites are asexual. The soldiers have large pincers the other worker-termites have special skills to build and grow food. Why do you need soldiers? Oh we have our dangers ant eaters, birds, lizardswhen required our soldiers sacrifice their lives for greater common good by forming barricades with their bodies. Come, I will show you where we grow food. From the large, dark chambers we moved through many tunnels where termites were busily moving about and reached an area with intertwining pathways. These are our gardens where we grow fungus. This provides protein-rich food for millions of termites. Otherwise any wood would do..paper.booksfrom scholarly text to seedy glossies.It is food for us. What if there is a flood.big rainsforaging animals? We make this mound with clay and soil dug up from earth. The cement we use is special from our saliva and our excreta. With difficulty, your crowbars and shovels can damage this .not the rainstorm or animals.

Phew! That is some civilization you have there. So, what is your life expectancy? I teased. About 15 years. This was turning out to be an education. My first encounter with termites was when I was in school. Then, I was really thankful to the termites. During one of my summer vacations, they had finished off the Wren & Martin High School English Grammar (It ended my torturous grammar exercises). The termites had a feast of Tamil and Telugu literature also.. Ananda Vikatan story collections (torn from the magazine - stitched into a book), the Telugu version of Sangita Sampradaya Pradarshini and other scholarly delicacies did not mean much to me then. In my subsequent encounters, I only witnessed some post-termite-effects in two houses we lived in. This is quite a close encounter now, with Karayaani as my guide. I told Karayaani, Do you know that men have formulated very strong, toxic chemicals that are injected into earth which finish termites and their invading clan? Maybe, in times to come, termites might become extinct and Hollywood will be making termite-terror movies. Karayaani laughed. She said, How old is mankind, a few million years? We evolved in the forests during the Jurassic age almost 200 million years ago and watched the dinosaurs roam. Floods, ice ages, asteroid strikes, and volcano eruptions.all these could not wipe us out. You men will kill each other, pollute the air.pollute all the water and die. We adapt well to the changes, we draw our strength and systems from the nature. We will outlive you and might even conquer you. Have a nice day. I was back again in my backyard and my Isaac Asimov-ish miniature form had gone. I stood staring at the dense growth

of the equatorial forests and could feel the termites at work. There was a strange silence. I shuddered in the slight rainchill but I was not afraid. Given the non-trusting, quarrelling nature of men, Taliban and the tiresome way the nations are administered, it is better to let the termites take over the earth, I concluded. Nowadays, I sport a T-shirt which says, Termite Triumphs. I have even started a movement called, Thinkers for Tender Treatment of Termites. Want to join?

Rajoo Balaji 11 April 2010