Srijana Parajuli

That is why it is a silly insect. How could it understand that in those photographs were captured some of the prized memories and moments of my life — those that could never be repeated?

Or that it took me years to make those collections on the shelf, one by one, each telling a little story of a phase of my life since I saw the light of day. Now it lies there in heaps of dust, as this crazy little bug has chomped half the volume to nothing. I don’t imply being an

insect-phobic persona. But it is when these little things raise their own little hells that they attract my attention and I get annoyed to no end. Certainly, God has given these pint-sized creatures a pint-sized head. Had they got a big one, they would have known how precious a piece of paper could be and given a second thought before causing such devastation. But God has probably miscalculated somewhere and given them a huge potential for mischief, much more than their size and brain can justify. As I stand on the floor looking at the rubble of my prized possession, a scene unfolds before me of the aftermath of a city ground to zero by a huge earthquake - in bits and bites, if you will, rather than in a single stroke — everything of value turning useless, memories being erased, possessions lost, and the survivors stricken by grief.

Creatures this small could cause agony such great, I never knew. I read ‘small is beautiful.’ But small can also be mightier than the big. And no doubt, in my case, even more terrible and devastating. Maybe my obsession with things big and grand is just an illusion. Little things we do every day can bring glories to life, but they can also bring miseries. Many people know this. But they don’t generally expect the tiny ones to cause damage of volcanic proportions. When the unexpected happen, they are speechless and filled with a feeling of revenge. The same day in my wrath I took my revenge. I sprayed every nook and corner of my house with insecticide. For some time, I might have been insured against any further damage. But the damage done is done. Somewhere I heard an ant killed an elephant.