THE ENIGMATIC ANT-TRAIL

                         Ants, the tiny social insects, fascinate me from childhood. Their workaholic nature, division of labour and above all their discipline impress me much. It was delightful to watch ants carrying a load of food many times their real weight. As a school boy I would  quite often follow the trails of red ants or black ants to know where the destination was or where the trail led to. My curiosity to know about them had often forced me to crawl in to bushes or climb on to trees to locate their living world. My invasion into their privacy was perhaps not liked by them, so they had  retaliated against me many times with their sharp sting for daring to enter their prohibited zone for human beings.

                         Their ubiquitous nature really baffled me during my school days. They even lived  together with us at our home, which was quite interesting.  They were almost invisible all the time, but their swarm would immediately arrive sniffing at the smell of bread crumbs or a tiny piece of sweet that we children would inadvertently drop on to the floor. It was nice to see them carry away the food particles so nicely to disappear soon from my presence. Anyway, once while following the trail of hundreds of ants at my home had led me to my granny's tin trunk where she had carefully kept " Arisha Pitha" ( a type of round cake stuffed with grated and sweetened coconuts ). My euphoria of solving the mystery and enigma of the ant trail then had made me feel like the ace detective Sherlock Holmes, the fictional character of Arthur Conan Doyle's  eponymous book. Anyway, I have great fear of the black ants with their vicious bites. Their aggressiveness scares me .So, I respect them and their march of disciplined in a  line towards the destination they only know.

( Writer- Dr.Pradeep Kumar Nayak )