War between army worms and farmers

Many a villagers hold firm onto the superstitious belief that the outbreak of army worms (Spodoptera spp.) is a bad omen or a fore-teller of some natural catastrophes.  The crops that they have raised with intensive care fall an utter victim to the notorious invasion by the army worms.

With great difficulty, the army worms make a gradual ascend up to the awns of wheat and barley, many find an enchanting dwelling on the leaves of clover & some of the weed species. The gusty gales and the vigorous hands that shake them down to the earth pose a challenge to their climb up the slender stems to the top of the barley and wheat awns.

This warfare continuous until the farmer is tired of shaking them down. He may be successful in dropping a few of them on the earthy mud or less literally pick them up. But then his efforts becomes doomed as the other generations peep through the slimy mass of eggs, give a vying crawl with their fleshy stout legs, feed gregariously and voraciously on the crops that the farmers have raised with utmost care and lumps of hopes.

In fact, everything in existence has a reason or the worms as a living entity on the earth has its own right to inhabit the earth and to amplify the species of their own type. They possess the right to continue their generations as we the humans do. Neither do they bear any grudge towards our existence and the domestication of crops.

On the other hand, we the humans having been a civilized creature and a gluttonous feeder take the advantage of destroying their temporary rented homes. We maliciously succumb them to death before they could actually relish the taste of what is in store for them by the nature. Except for a few lucky ones, many of them give way to the pesticidal sprays that the farmers indiscriminately shower upon them.

We the humans are clever and witty enough to formulate chemicals that could disrupt the normal metabolism of these helpless creatures. And so they are. We the humans innovate new things (chemicals) and accordingly do they evolve. A few species of them develop resistance to the existing insecticidal sprays. On the other hand, the susceptible ones die and are eradicated completely. This indeed provides ample opportunity for the resistant ones to multiply rapidly and colonize the fields with the crops of their interest.

This phenomenon, called the Pest Resurgence is the reason behind our farmers complaining that the insecticidal sprays have little or no effect on the insects. I empathize and express my sympathy to the farmers who have incurred or are deemed to incur losses due to invasion by army worms and minor damages due to other insects like beetles, bugs, sucking pests,weevils, hairy caterpillars, etc.

Nevertheless, I am extremely glad that our Bhutanese farmers have not opted for the indiscriminate use of insecticides as is prevalent in India. This isn’t a trend as of now and it should not become one in the future for the application of insecticides is often itself the cause of pests outbreak. It rather augments the problem than providing a solution to it. This is due to pest resurgence.

On top of that, it may lead to problems like the pesticide residues which may cause many deleterious effects in our body. In addition, it will curtail the opportunities of our products being accepted in the international markets due to pesticide residues, which in fact should not exceed the maximum residue level (MRL).

The use of pesticides isn't a hard and fast rule for pest control. This is line with the fact that I have spotted many natural enemies or predators that would gradually do wonder in keeping the pest number at levels below those causing economic damage.

Among many, have I spotted  the lady bird beetles of varying shades and hue of red, dark red, brown and ashy grey with 5, 7 and 9 spots on their hardy lustrous elytra. Though their strength is comparatively lesser than that of pests, there is still a scope for us to mass multiply them in laboratories and release them on inundative basis.

Also, have my eyes caught a glimpse of spiders of various sizes and colours that are so absorbed in knitting their webs into immaculate yet complex structures. So lucky a chap is he for he can get his prey or food at ease in the trap that he has set.

However, my eyes might have missed some other natural enemies as I am certain that several others might have been hovering around. This is a mechanism that nature employs to maintain balance in the ecosystem. However, intervention by humans becomes inevitable in certain cases in order to meet the steeping demands of the ever increasing human population.

Verses to My Lord

O’ my lord!

When through the windows of your senses,

You find more enchanting clothes,

Abandon not the frayed clothes that warmed you,

Let them be your comrades for life.

O’ my Lord!

When distance plays a trick in our romance,

Let not your senses get diverted.

But hold firm on the knot of love, trust and courage we tied,

And endeavor to knit the knot tighter.

O’ my Lord!

When over the lofty mountains I strode off,

Let doth not me out of your mind.

But when cumulonimbus clouds intrudes your path to the earth,

Wait for it to dissipate.

O’ my Lord!

Saunter not a step away from me,

For I will have searched for you in every nook and cranny,

And rummaged the thorny bushes,

Until your presence becomes a reality.

O’ my Lord!

When through the smoggy fog I am gone,

Let not I wander in the empty sky.

But when I’m shriveled by the blazing sun,

 Bless me with wings to fly at my will.

Conversation with Nerium

Amid dusty roads thee stood,

Amid drought thee doth not wilt.

Amid scorching rays thee doth not shrivel.

Amid incessant downpour thee doth not drown.

Amid gusty gales thee flung but a gentle swing.

Amid dusty roads thee glees thy bloom.

Amid tiresome load of thy bloom,

Thee housed numerous pupae and their adults.

Now may I interrogate thee?

Thy exquisite blooms?

Thy waxy lush leaves?

Thy hardy firm roots?

O’ Lovely thee!

What have thee absorbed through thy roots that made thee explicitly lovely?

What made thee withstand the vagaries of catastrophes?

What inner peace thee possess that made thee smile always?

Can thee hear me?

Can thee see if I paint a picture of thy flawless blooms?

Let’s come to consent:

A painted picture of thee would I present before thee.

The same would I frame with verses appraising thy beauty.

This would I share with the people around the globe,

And so shall I make thee famous,

Make thee overtake the status of rose,

Make thy fragrance be greeted by every nostril.

But I need thy promise,

For thee to unfurl a truth to my long awaited quests.

The Sweetest Melody

 Here is this poor girl!

With nought but a purse.

With tremors in her fingers, tears in her eyes, accelerated beats in her heart;

Does she lift a paper, a paper embedded in the folds of her velvet purse.

This does she unfurl,

The paper in the realms of its four immaculately folded corners,

That enveloped a photograph of him.

This does she gazes at unflinchingly,

Gazing at the lips that played the blissful tunes,

The lips that motioned into varying indentations

To produce the sweetest, yet the saddest melody;

The lips that uttered the sweetest words.

She gazes and gazes and gazes…

To her heart’s content.

O’ my man!

The flute you played,

Had chilled my spines,

Activated my tear glands.

Melted and sealed my heart,

O’ my golden-lipped man!

The flute you played,

Took me to the serene foothills of the mighty mountains.

Thy sweet melody, the source of warmth on this wintry day.

O’ my sweet tongued romance!

The sweet melody still lingers,

In every crevice my brain possesses.

Thy blissful tunes, the seed of my bliss.

The Landlord's Fate

The landlord had his instructions to his trusted constable,

To have tamed his white-furred pony in the stable.

When he discovered that his lover eloped,

He had his white pony galloped.

Only in the far corner did he see a smithy,

Where a lad was at work in a hut that was grimy.

No other trails did his blazing eyes spot,

His wounded heart alone knew how brutally he was shot.

The rage that burnt in his eyes was fiery,

While the trudge across the slopes was weary.

Sprinting was he on his white pony,

With his darting eyes that looked horny.

At the rugged terrain had the rattling hoofs of his pony slipped,

It had the pages of his life story flipped.

The broken fragments did he try to repair,

 With his efforts in utter despair.

The crimson spotted exquisite bloom,

His only comrade wept in gloom.

Fleecy Snow

As the heavenly firmament could no longer

Take hold of its icy belongings,

The fleecy snow descended into incessant drops.

The sequel was its white foam having clad the dusty ground.

As it initiated its momentary halt upon roofs,

It has its pressure exerted on the porticoes beneath.

The feebly grown twigs and branches,

With their lichen blotched barks,

Couldn't resist but surrender themselves,

That drooped or fell on the ground in utter despair.

The gentle knock it had upon the roofs,

Had its inhabitants fueled up.

The beauty and the glee it brought

Far exceeded the freezing chillness that it sent

Radiating all over their body.

People with weather- bitten appearances,

And glimmering ruddy cheeks,

Rushed out like swarms of bees.

Every mouth that opened,
Ejected lumps of vapour,

That hovered ahead for a moment,

And vanished amid the sky as a few seconds elapsed.

Everyone ruffled in their cravats,

With their cozy boots well up the knee,

Dressed in their tweed jackets,

Swaggered to catch the wavering snow.

The vigilant eyes that blinked constantly,

Made an assurance to gift every passerby with a hit,

By tossing the well molded ice crystal up in the air,

That landed on their target with a thud.

Be My Valentine

Fate has endowed me with a glimpse of hint,

To make my choice,

To decide my destiny.

And so have I trod my bare feet

Upon thy lush meadow.

Feared was I for the prickly sting.

Reluctant was I for the unfathomable destiny.

Assailed was my mind with skeptics.

Frightened was I for the bleak landscape,

That would lie before me.

Hunted was I by the sounds,

Of my own feet lurching through the maze.

Shattered was I for the forlornly state of being.

The probable perils had my further move tethered.

But determined was I to stroll further.

For if I risk nothing,

I would have or be nothing too.

No matter how impetuous my decision was,

My sensual urgency had my act of will exercised.

I waddled until I stood with my eyes into yours.

The very sight of whom had my eyes blinded.

The very words of whom had my heart melted.

The very first time I spotted you, have I discovered

A cozy and the most secure place to be in henceforth.

So would you let me dwell

In your heart for the rest of my life?

For this very special man who is far enough

To be described in any sense,

Had my senses hypnotized,

I am at your command, my love.

But never let go off me.

I thank God for the glimpse of direction.

Appreciate myself for the shrewd decision.

But how should I pay homage to the man

Who enlightened my world of being with happiness?

For you are the sole motive behind my existence and joy.

If I happen to perish now,

I would have my soul wander

In the realms of samsara,

For not having stepped on thy lush lawn,

And for not having valued thy aesthetic meadow.

Now, with my two hands clasped into one,

I have a humble request to be made,

“Be my Valentine, my love.

Be my soul mate for eternity”.