On my third
day in Nepal, I woke up to quite a surprise—a giant moth the size of a pine-cone
was perched on the curtain near the door. It looked like an eggplant with
wings. I am still not entirely convinced that it was a moth…
At dinner,
Caitlin and I joked about the “moth.” We decided to give it a name. I flipped
through my Nepali phrase book and selected one of the only words I could
pronounce— rumahl; it means napkin.
Earlier that
day I decided to put up a mosquito net around my bed due to my penny-sized
ailments. There was only one problem—there was nothing to hang the net from. I
had tried to put the net up the past two days and had failed. Due to my lack of
ingenuity I decided to seek assistance—after all, it shouldn't take more than
two Fulbright grantees to put up a mosquito net, right? Alanna came to my
rescue. We systematically wove a clothesline across the room and secured the
net with clothespins. We succeeded. I was delighted. No more bug bites for me.
Now it was
evening, and we returned to our apartment after dinner. I went into the living
room and ended up talking to Alanna and Elsie until 10:00 pm. We were really
proud of ourselves for staying up so late—typically, we went to bed around
8:00 pm (if we could stay up that late) and many of us would wake up around 3 or
4 am— Oh, jet lag. Finally, I decided it was time for me to go to bed. We had
training in the morning, and I needed to be prepared.
I was
changing into my pajamas when I unexpectedly heard something—a strange flapping
sound. Suddenly, out of nowhere, Napkin came zooming through the darkness and
HIT ME IN THE FACE. Oh my gosh! I thought, this is my karma for calling a giant
flying pine-cone “napkin.” I was terrified. Because Lisa was sleeping, I
contained myself from screaming. I had a mosquito net, I would be safe from
“Napkin” the giant “moth” right? I climbed into the net and tried to go to
sleep….
Napkin would
not stop fluttering its wings. The strange noise woke Lisa up. As Napkin banged
itself into the walls searching for a light source, I told Lisa about how I had
been hit in the face by the mysterious creature. Alanna soon came into our room
wondering what was going on. Shortly after her arrival, Napkin disappeared
somewhere. Everything was silent for a few minutes, and Alanna left. Lisa and I
thought we could go to bed. WRONG. Almost immediately after Alanna left, Napkin
returned. It violently hurled itself at the walls. Napkin decided to pay Lisa a
visit in her bed. She hid under her blanket, knowing that she should not be afraid.
Poor Lisa. Then, Napkin noticed a light fixture on the side of the wall. It
flew towards the empty light fixture. Suddenly, Napkin was stuck inside!
One minute
past….no sign of Napkin
Two minutes
past…no sign of Napkin
Three minutes
past…no sign of Napkin
After about five minutes we thought Napkin was dead.
Until it came
thrashing out of the light fixture straight towards my bed. Thankfully I have a
mosquito net, I thought as Napkin pounded at the sides of my net. Alanna heard
my cries of distress and promptly returned. Right when she came back, Napkin
mysteriously disappeared again.
One minute
past….no sign of Napkin
Two minutes
past…no sign of Napkin
Three minutes
past…no sign of Napkin
After about five minutes we thought Napkin was dead.
First I
thought it was just the blanket rubbing against me. Then I felt the soft
tickling touch of thin twig-like legs crawling up my body. Napkin was back.
To this day,
I am yet to understand how Napkin managed to get inside my mosquito net that
night. After some initial shrieks of terror and deep breaths, I managed to
remove myself from my bed. Despite my immense discomfort, Napkin’s arrival
inside my mosquito net was ultimately a good thing, because it ended up saving
its life. Brave Alanna got an empty pitcher and captured Napkin inside, releasing
it out into nature on the balcony. That was the last I saw of Napkin, the
eggplant shaped flying thing. I have learned an important lesson from this
ordeal, don’t name flying creatures that resemble pine-cones after the easiest
word to pronounce in the Nepali dictionary, they will find you and make you
pay.
 |
| Rumahl a.k.a "Napkin" Photographed in real life size. |
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