The life of insects
I once teased a business boss with patriotic bait. "Why do you hire so many foreign nationals to do your everyday job? Can't you just hire trainers or short-term consultants to develop local human resources instead?" I was not ready for the answer he gave me, "Believe it or not, we are a very entrepreneurial nation. The moment we elevate people to top managerial positions, they are sure to replicate our business and start their own. With foreigners, you are at least guaranteed that they are happy with hefty paycheques and aren't interested in starting rival businesses with your institutional knowledge."
Now that two of the pest controllers in Dhaka, responsible for the tragic demise of two young boys, have gotten stuck in the sticky traps of police, we hear that the owners broke away from their former employer to start their own business, DCS Organization Ltd. There is nothing wrong with it as long as they have the professional knowledge and training to do so. The official website of DCS says they have 200-500 employees at their disposal to offer services to households, hotels and industries. There is no way of knowing whether all their service staff are adequately trained. Any aspiring commercial pest control operator can apply for a licence from the Khamarbari office of the Department of Agricultural Extension, certifying that they have two registered technicians and one MBBS doctor. Given the size of the organisation, DCS probably has more than two expert technicians, but whether they engage their most trained staff to administer pesticides for a one-off residential job remains questionable. The death of the siblings following their pest control activity confirms their professional and technical shortcomings.
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I remember calling one of the pest controllers to negotiate with unwanted critters that have invaded my home. Since we have two dogs and two cats in our house, we asked how long we would need to stay out of the house during the pest-cleaning process. Sensing our inconvenience, the guy said two to three hours at the most. Something did not sound right and we did not seek their service.
The dead siblings are an uncanny reminder that their fate could have been ours. All these gimmicks and ad stunts on social media make you think that you really should hire professionals to deal with the insects with whom we have evolved for God knows how many years. The inefficacy of medicines or aerosol spray that you buy from the stores may lead you to believe that you should give these new start-ups a chance. It is a mystery why your trusted branded aerosol has no impact on the flying and crawling insects; maybe these organisations work in cahoots with the pesticide manufacturers? If you complain, you are sure to get your ego dented by the insult of not being able to kill even a mosquito. The problem lies, you will be told, in how you administer the medicines, but not in the chemical itself. Hence the need for professional help.
The death of the brothers is a stark reminder of our insignificant existence in the grand scheme of things. Their insignificance is no greater than the insects that were being targeted. The manhunt of the insect hunters will hopefully bring a change to the system. The businessmen would stop using aluminium phosphide tablets, which are normally used in big warehouses over a longer span of time, as a shortcut to kill pests in households.
I am trying to imagine what is going on with the family of those two young boys. What about the father who ordered the services to get rid of the parasites? Did the mother pester her husband to do something about the disgusting insects? Did the children complain about not being able to be in their rooms for such a long time while their house was being cleansed? What about the toxic smell they felt? Did they cover their food and water? Were there enough instructions from the technicians? How will this family survive the shock? All they wanted was to get rid of the invisible inhabitants of their households. The price that they paid is unbearable.
The death of the brothers is a stark reminder of our insignificant existence in the grand scheme of things. Their insignificance is no greater than the insects that were being targeted. The manhunt of the insect hunters will hopefully bring a change to the system. The businessmen would stop using aluminium phosphide tablets, which are normally used in big warehouses over a longer span of time, as a shortcut to kill pests in households. The deaths will be construed as a sacrifice that has perhaps saved the lives of many others. The intertwined fate of humans and insects is the story of life.
There is a short story by American writer Ray Bradbury called "The Sound of Thunder," which is normally credited as the source of the oft-quoted butterfly effect. The story, set in a futuristic setting, recounts a group of amateur hunters who travel back 66 million years to hunt T-Rex dinosaurs. The safari agency is extremely careful in marking the animals for the kill so that the future evolution of the species is not changed. One hunter panics after seeing the T-Rex and moves off the track to step on a butterfly that he wasn't supposed to touch. When the time-travellers return to the future, they hear that the language is changed and so have the election results. The killing of the butterfly has made all the difference.
Will the death of these two young souls make any difference to our apathetic and ambivalent existence?
Dr Shamsad Mortuza is a professor of English at Dhaka University.
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