ಯಾರು ಹಿತವರು ನಿನಗೆ ಈ ಇರ್ವರೊಳಗೆ? (Who is better among the two)

Love! they do, truly, though one way, but passionate . They are behind me from the day they learnt that I love forest and would run into a nearby one with slightest opportunity. One exclusively in Monsoon and the other in Winter/Summer. They must be having a greater understanding of niche partitioning, which makes me wonder and think of a ecological niche modeling for better insight on 'shared love'. Over the years, I heard that love loses its lust, but here it has deepened further and this year, it was much more than what I anticipated? I think, only here, I got beyond what I aimed for!

Oh...I forgot to introduce, please meet my beloved friends, leeches and ticks. At least I can tolerate leeches, certainly I cannot with the other one. Though both have some similarity when they approach me, the difference lies when they depart from me and that too after a day or two. Ticks would literally push me to depression, would occupy both my mind as well as my body, unlike leeches. There were more than 20 rashes in very strategic positions! on my body, this I counted after 4 days of field work from Dandeli. Rashes followed by itching...oops...puss formation...irritation...and invariably during night I will scratch one or the other and again it bleeds. That is too much of ticks. Leeches on the other hand, though very large and scary than ticks, but are silent killers. They crawl up your feet, cling and suck the blood and drop as soon as they have drunk enough for next few months. The difference is that, you will not feel the itch or rash like that of ticks. Unless one has seen it crawling and tried to pull leech from the wound, leech seems to be gentlemanly parasite.




Recently Vijay Cavale was asking me, what repellent I use for ticks? I said 'nothing'. And unfortunately, in a kind of giving out more information, I uttered about KFD (Kyasanur Forest Disease), a deadly viral fever from tick bites in the region of Sagar, Kumta, Bhatkal. Vijay became very restless and I over heard him telling 'no one has informed me about such disease can occur from ticks or at least about the vaccination'. He started asking every villager or village boy he met, what will happen with this tick bite? Any disease? Do they lay eggs beneath the skin where they bite? Do you people know KFD? etc etc. It took two long days for me to explain that nothing will happen with this tick bite, its the larger tick that causes KFD, and for KFD there is vaccination and I have taken twice while working in that region. On the next day, I was sensing some smell from Vijay, he had put some repellent and was telling me that he will not have tick bite any more. For me, a simple tick bite can give sufficient food for thought, for entire life and I would prefer leech over tick!!! and what about you!?