Mouse.. The real one. Not Mickey!

The Mouse at last!

There was an uninvited guest at our house. A rodent. A mouse. An eli. 

There is a feeling of accomplishment when a mouse gets caught in a trap.

I didnt know that mice could inhabit modern apartment buildings.

We had dealt with mice and mousetraps during our childhood days in the townhomes in old Madras.

So, this time in an apartment, we were kind of surprised when my mother said that she suspected there was a mouse in the household that had snacked on the rice flour used for the kolam (i.e. the decorative geometric patterns drawn in front of the home shrine).

Out came the mouse trap.

A piece of coconut was dabbed with ghee and warmed up. Yum!

Wait! That was not for the family members.

It was the bait for the mouse. A gourmet bait fit for the king of mice.

That night all cabinets were carefully closed.

At around 2 AM I heard a thud, as I woke up from sleep.

What was that?

Ah! It must be the mouse.

And sure enough, the intruder was caught.

Neverthless, there was much  excitement at home the following day. A few phone calls to let people know that the mouse had been caught.

Our children (NRIs) of course, crooned over ‘the poor mouse’ the following day.

One of them even suggested that we leave a bowl of water for the ‘poor thing’.  Aha, she could put peta volunteers to shame with her kindness for the rodent.

The rodent was finally set free in a distant dump and that was the end of our encounter with this unwanted visitor.