Another Rat Story

After I wrote that my maid had come to work with a rat-bite on her finger, my sister-in-law sent me this:

Reading the rat story, I remembered something about my childhood. This happened in Dholka, a very small village in Gujarat.

I must not be older than 6 or 7. We had a picnic outing from our school. I was wearing which I thought was my best dress. I do not remember much about the day, except that the teacher had given us roasted 'Chana' [chickpeas] for the afternoon snack, which I kept in my dress pocket, we call it Khisu. I came home in the evening and was dead tired. Without dinner or anything I fell quickly asleep.

In the middle of the night I woke up screaming. My mother came running to me, lighted a "fanas" (kerosene lantern because we did not have electricity) to see what had happened. The little finger on my right hand was bleeding like a faucet. My dress on the Khisu side was all chewed up and all the chana were gone. My mom quickly realized that a rat had invaded my dress, ate all the chana and bit me. She bandaged my finger. No other treatment was rendered. Eventually I got back to sleep again.

For several days after that I lamented, my best dress was made unwearable by a rat!

By the way, they say, the rat blows on where he bites to soothe the wound before you realize you are bitten, to make his getaway!

I love the part about the rat blowing on the bite to soothe you -- never knew they were so considerate.