Good Cockroach Night Poem by Bashyam Narayanan

Summer vacation
I was on a holiday stay
In my aunt's house in Madras, now Chennai

It was rental accommodation
And was a make-shift arrangement like shelter
Carved out of an unused garage

Well illuminated and ventilated hall
Of about 20 feet long and of about 12 feet wide
Kitchen was an annexure on the side
Bathroom and toilet were outside in an enclosure

Theirs was a family of four plus two parents
Three sons and one youngest daughter
Eldest son was employed
The middle sons were to leave for some destination
To spend vacation in a day or two
Their daughter as four and she would stay with her parents

Vacation was spent visiting places in the city
As my dad would come in between and take me around

We all slept in the hall
Under a ceiling fan
And breeze therefrom reached all
I had nothing to complain and was comfortable till that night

All had gone into deep sleep
I was disturbed by the illumination of the tube light
And sat up
Only to watch my uncle chasing something
And beating the floor with a broomstick

Curious, as I turned, I became fully awaken
Went near to see as to what it was all about

He was banging a cockroach to death
I realized he had already eliminated more than a dozen of them
He looked at me
Without a word spelt he got me another broomstick
Expecting me to perform similar action

I understood now
I had to chase cockroaches as they started surfacing
And beat them to death
With this lethal broomstick

I could not believe as I saw
Cockroaches kept on appearing one after another
From the crevices on the wall
From underneath the mats over which we were sleeping

We did not talk to each other
Rather, we could not
As the elimination operation was continuous
With no stop in between

But, what was amazing was that
My cousins and aunt did not show any sign of
Being disturbed and were in great sleep

I became tired in between
And was cursing myself for having got up
And involved in this war against cockroach

We heard street security knocking our door
My uncle went up to him to explain what was going on
The security left the scene smiling

We were on the battle all over again
What was still incredible was
That once or twice I scuttled on the legs of my people in sleep
But not a problem, as they continued to be in slumber
Here and there we would have flashed the broomstick
Very close to those sleeping
Still they were in sleep

I had no clue for how long our operation lasted
Hundreds cockroaches had been killed
With none to mourn over their departure

We have to sweep the mortal remains
Of these brave soldiers
Onto a dust tray
My uncle emptied the tray over the compound wall into the street
He might have done this final rites to the cockroaches
A number of times

I did not know what made him a declare a truce
May be he was tired and feeling sleepy
Or he was sure that most of the invaders got killed
The light was switched off

My uncle said that it was enough for that day
And it was time we went to sleep

Must be very early in the morning

I could not sleep immediately
Was wondering at the courage of the creature
Which dared dreadful conditions
And managed to survive and multiply
Even in dangerous and threatening circumstances

I was trying to sleep
But each time I closed my eyes
I saw upside down beaten up cockroaches
Kicking their legs with sharp projections
Trying to stand up on their legs

I wished that I would never spend a similar night
With the mission of cockroach hunt

Thank God, it did not happen again