We have a rat problem. Welcome to the less glamorous reality of living in India.
I have an irrational (and fairly extreme) fear of rats, so when a brown, rodent-shaped creature suddenly appeared at the top of the staircase whilst we were watching TV, you can probably imagine my hysterical reaction. It scampered down the stairs and disappeared - I sent Katie to thoroughly investigate and she found nothing.
We tried to forget about it, until we were woken in the night by the sound of clattering plates and pans; clearly, our rodent friend had decided to investigate the contents of last night's dinner (we do not have any washing up facilities in our rooms so we have to wait until morning for our dishes to be cleared by the staff).
Having informed the staff of our less-than-welcome visitor, a trap was set.
Entering the room the next day weirdly felt a bit like Christmas, as we came to see whether we had caught the rat or not. The result was as follows: Visiting Teachers 1, Rat 0. It was later taken away to the outskirts of town and released (it woud be too disorientated to return). The strongly Hindu and Jain local population is largely vegetarian/vegan, with a strong respect for animals; hence why the rat was not killed.
We have since had another little friend pop by, so measures are being taken to rat-proof our living quarters. We no have a sealed cupboard for dirty plates and there are plans to seal the loose trapdoor at the top of the staircase (from which they are entering).
By the end of this year, I am sure that I will be over my phobia - immersion therapy is definitely helping. As someone mentioned to me, if we have already seen two rats in our short time here, imagine how many more there are that we can't see. And on that note...
We tried to forget about it, until we were woken in the night by the sound of clattering plates and pans; clearly, our rodent friend had decided to investigate the contents of last night's dinner (we do not have any washing up facilities in our rooms so we have to wait until morning for our dishes to be cleared by the staff).
Having informed the staff of our less-than-welcome visitor, a trap was set.
Entering the room the next day weirdly felt a bit like Christmas, as we came to see whether we had caught the rat or not. The result was as follows: Visiting Teachers 1, Rat 0. It was later taken away to the outskirts of town and released (it woud be too disorientated to return). The strongly Hindu and Jain local population is largely vegetarian/vegan, with a strong respect for animals; hence why the rat was not killed.
We have since had another little friend pop by, so measures are being taken to rat-proof our living quarters. We no have a sealed cupboard for dirty plates and there are plans to seal the loose trapdoor at the top of the staircase (from which they are entering).
By the end of this year, I am sure that I will be over my phobia - immersion therapy is definitely helping. As someone mentioned to me, if we have already seen two rats in our short time here, imagine how many more there are that we can't see. And on that note...
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