Mosquito Menace

How best to deal with the deadly mosquitoes?

The warm, welcoming rays of the morning sun emboldened us to return to our favorite spot for exercises in the Garden. It was a big blunder. The receding monsoon had left behind a thick carpet of wet, untidy grass that had become the breeding ground for a host of gnats, mosquitoes and such assorted flying and stinging insects. Ideally, we should have continued to exercise on cold concrete, close to the China Hut and allowed the grass in the Garden to dry, if not be cropped.
Before long, the blame game began.

Negotiating the dense foliage

The ladies accused the men of being irresponsible and leading them to the soggy soil to get the bottoms of their salwars and track pants wet in the moist grass. Shekhawat argued that it was for their benefit he had chosen the wide open space with fresh air as they had all along been complaining of stuffiness and Nafisa Sayyad, in particular, used to keep fanning herself. “She is still fanning herself,” Yusuf Rassiwala pointed out. “Now should we install a pedestal fan for her out here?”
The ladies continued to grumble and shift position constantly. Santosh Tyagi had difficulty balancing herself in the soft, spongy grass while Razia Khan, who was conducting the exercises, lost her patience with the salwar bottom which had turned wet and muddy. “You should provide us with skirts,” she demanded. “From tomorrow, we will all come wearing skirts!”
“What is your problem?" Jagmohan Papneja intervened. "What do you fear?”
“There’s nothing to fear,” Sardar Teja Singh said comfortingly.
“Machhar,” shrieked the ladies in unison. “The mosquitoes are everywhere…”
Indeed, swarms of them hovered around in clusters all over the place. Monthi Serrao presented a comical sight as she literally tip-toed into the Garden, one step at a time and sending up clouds of insects on her way across the tall, wet grass. With the ‘dengue alert’ on in the city, we were exposing ourselves to a very clear and present danger in the middle of the Garden.
Srichand Arora from Singapore:
My suggestion is to request Jagmohan-ji to get a mosquito net fixed all over the Garden through Celebration Club.
Jagmohan Papneja:
Razia's secret is exposed: She fears insects. That's what terrifies her more than anything. Insects.