Femi E Benny, Amritha Jaiprekash kurup

Kerala Calling | August 17, 2024

Growing up in a small village in Kerala, we were closely connected to nature and taught to appreciate all living things, including insects. However, not all insects were treated equally. A vivid memory is the appearance of alates (winged termite swarms) at the onset of monsoon, especially after the first showers. Alates would swarm around lights at night, often falling into our kanji (a rice porridge staple). As children, we found this disgusting and demanded the dish be replaced. Now, as an entomologist, I understand that alates are clean, emerging after first showers only to mate and then die. Recently, after the summer showers in Bengaluru, I was having tea and fried snacks when an alate fell onto my plate