‘Toxic Even When Dead’
The Internet is a handy tool. Mostly I use it to figure out if I’m going to die.
Among my recent Google searches:
cauliflower worms
mold futon mattress
laptop electric shock
dengue fever
malarone long term side effects
chikungunya india epidemic
eggs undercooked risk
The caterpillars I found floating in the cauliflower soup I cooked this week probably won’t kill me. They were small, about the size of fingernail clippings, and anyway I lost my appetite after fishing out three. “Cabbage worms,” says Wikipedia, are the most common insect pests of cauliflower. They like rutabagas, too. (I like saying “rutabagas.”)
My moldy futon mattress, however, could very well lead to my demise. I dragged it out of my room after a peek at the Berkeley Parents Network Web site. Mold is “very dangerous,” according to a parent named Sara. Some species are “toxic even when dead.” Dang.
I find Google Image Search particularly useful. A search for “papaya seeds” turned up 465 images. I slept easier that night, knowing the black beads I’d scraped out of my first whole papaya were indeed seeds and not the eggs of some prolific pest.
I’m not a worrywart by nature. In the U.S., I was fearless. I’d go as far as to eat a Yoplait past its expiry date. India has turned me neurotic. I worry over inflamed bug bites. I wash tomatoes in dishwashing liquid. I carry Purell everywhere and quiz waiters about the contents of fruit juice. Avoiding “Delhi belly” means acting like a prima donna: “I’ll take a mango juice with filtered water. Filtered. No ice. In a paper cup. If you don’t have filtered water, then NO water. And no ice!”
Life here can feel like a “Fear Factor” episode, what with ants in my cereal, rat droppings on my kitchen counter, nibblers in my bed, frogs in guesthouse showers, leech attacks and gecko poo. One evening in Coorg, a swarm of moths overran an Internet café where I was writing home. They bounced off monitors, writhed on keyboards and skittered across the floor. We turned off the lights to make them leave.
Moth scales and other body parts are known allergens and can pose a serious health hazard. So says a Journal of Economic Entomology article I found on the Net.
Among my recent Google searches:
cauliflower worms
mold futon mattress
laptop electric shock
dengue fever
malarone long term side effects
chikungunya india epidemic
eggs undercooked risk
The caterpillars I found floating in the cauliflower soup I cooked this week probably won’t kill me. They were small, about the size of fingernail clippings, and anyway I lost my appetite after fishing out three. “Cabbage worms,” says Wikipedia, are the most common insect pests of cauliflower. They like rutabagas, too. (I like saying “rutabagas.”)
My moldy futon mattress, however, could very well lead to my demise. I dragged it out of my room after a peek at the Berkeley Parents Network Web site. Mold is “very dangerous,” according to a parent named Sara. Some species are “toxic even when dead.” Dang.
I find Google Image Search particularly useful. A search for “papaya seeds” turned up 465 images. I slept easier that night, knowing the black beads I’d scraped out of my first whole papaya were indeed seeds and not the eggs of some prolific pest.
I’m not a worrywart by nature. In the U.S., I was fearless. I’d go as far as to eat a Yoplait past its expiry date. India has turned me neurotic. I worry over inflamed bug bites. I wash tomatoes in dishwashing liquid. I carry Purell everywhere and quiz waiters about the contents of fruit juice. Avoiding “Delhi belly” means acting like a prima donna: “I’ll take a mango juice with filtered water. Filtered. No ice. In a paper cup. If you don’t have filtered water, then NO water. And no ice!”
Life here can feel like a “Fear Factor” episode, what with ants in my cereal, rat droppings on my kitchen counter, nibblers in my bed, frogs in guesthouse showers, leech attacks and gecko poo. One evening in Coorg, a swarm of moths overran an Internet café where I was writing home. They bounced off monitors, writhed on keyboards and skittered across the floor. We turned off the lights to make them leave.
Moth scales and other body parts are known allergens and can pose a serious health hazard. So says a Journal of Economic Entomology article I found on the Net.
posted by Badass at 1:40 AM
4 Comments:
Anna - this last entry cracked me up. It's like you are Sally in India
(as in When Harry Met). - Kyle
You are a faaaar tougher lady than I am. I am still trying not to toss my cookies from the papaya seed photo. Well, at least the next time we go on a spa trip, you will be easy to please. Miss you. Love, AJ
Ok, I'm glad you explained that photo because when I first saw it I wondered if that THAT'S what you found in your futon.
I grew up with papayas and staring at papaya seeds and they have always grossed me out. Not a lot of things do, but definately papaya seeds.
Strange how that is! Miss you - I will have to post a photo of myself in my puke blue cubicle sometime.... I could use running away one of these days too!
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