Thalacauvery - April 16

Today's leech day again. I got bitten twice. More than the bite, just the sight of them ready to find a victim - with one end stuck to a leaf and the other end waving wildly to and fro - is so repelling! Today I learnt to remove them with a stick from shoes and pants. But the terror of having hundreds of them moving up on me to find skin to latch on to kind of spoils the walk completely. I look for leeches more than animal tracks. I think I am obsessed. Why can't I just accept these creatures like flies, mosquitoes, moths, caterpillars, or even cockroaches? They terrorise me. I was even thinking of leaving camp early and going back if there are going to be leeches everywhere. Anyway. I'll start using leech socks from tomorrow. Hope that helps.

Well, I think we are leaving Thalacauvery tomorrow and moving to Madikeri. I like this place. In the dark, the glowworms on the trees are like hundreds of angels glowing for a while, then stopping. It rained very heavily today and we had a long drive through coffee estates on our way back. I enjoyed the drive. The mist on the road, the lush trees. I cherish these moments. I am pretty much by myself here. There's no light at the cottage today and I am writing this in the extremely dim light of a candle. I'll miss this place for it's trees and it's birds, and of course, the fetching-water-from-the-well part.

I saw a swallow perched on the ground, finally! It chose to alight on a mound of mud. I was talking to Avi from a STD PCO when I saw it. Little doubt then that half my attention got diverted. It didn't sit there for too long. It flew, and I got back to the phone conversation.

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