They introduced him to me as Kuzhi Aana. Kuzhi aana is Malayalam
for ant-lion larvae, Kuzhi means pit and Aana, elephant. The reference to the
elephant is probably from its dark hard outer shell. The creature is also known
as doodlebug. He was tiny, bigger than an ant, but far far tinier than an
elephant.
31 years after I first stood amazed by the diminutive creatures and was seduced by the little guys ambling on top of the soil and digging
themselves into pits, I was more than amazed when I got to witness the same yet
again, the only difference this time being that the intrigued kid was my
2-year-old son. It was something like ‘history repeating itself’. It drove me
back to a vision of myself again, from 31 years ago, sitting on the sand in
front our ancestral home in Aroor, watching the many little Kuzhi Aanas digging
themselves pits in order to hide and catch prey.
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| Ant-lion larvae or THE KUZHI AANA |
 |
| Ant-lion |
I observed my son watch and dig them out one by one from the
many pits along the side of the verandah of our ancestral home. I watched him gather them
all together on a large leaf of the jack fruit tree. And just as I was about to stop him from hurting
the little creatures, I saw him dig one big pit and drop in the creatures one by one telling
each one, ‘you go in’, ‘you too go in’. He dropped them all in the same pit so
that, in his own words, ‘they can all be together’ and ‘won’t have to miss each
other.’ ‘They can hug-hug now, mamma’ he said. He sat there talking to them
for some time and then stood up, brushed the loose sand of his shorts and sandals.
With a quick ‘let’s go’ in my direction, he was ready to leave for his next
adventure with nature and newer learning experiences.
This will remain a moment I am never going to forget. In my
wonderment and lack of readiness to shoot, I never got to videotape it. Next
time, I shall stay ready.
This is an entry for Kissan 'Nature's Friends' contest under their 'Welcome to Kissanpur' promotion along with Indiblogger.
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