‘Those sick, rotten creatures’ (said with all discomforting movements to the face that my English teacher could conjure ) that would wreck destruction on any and everything that would come their way in that town of Hamlin that jumped out of the English course book !

And of course, i was totally in awe of the Pied Piper !! And if you think i had grand dreams of leading reams of rats into the river, well….

Many years later, i was at a Naval camp aboard a warship. Reprimands were a way of life. And for a rather innocuous mistake ( no, i am not in a tell-all mood) , as a prompt and a simple reprimand got a, ‘Now, don’t be *#@#*@# pest’ from an officer, who shouted as though the sun rising the next morning depended on his clarion call abuse !

At that very moment, an image of a creature on many legs, tails, whiskers and all, scurrying around, with my face morphed there made its way to my mind. One of life’s vivaciously poignant moments ! I have moved on from that moment and that warship.

On another note, every time i have bought pesticide, there has been obvious thoughts of different kinds of pesticides that would be required to tackle the much versatile pests of today. That leads me to another existential question.

How do you define a pest !?!

Offhand, i think of these characteristics. A pest has got to be small. Pesky. Usually, pests causing pain / frustration / loss. They are generally difficult to eliminate, because of extended http://premier-pharmacy.com/product-category/adhd/ mobility, law of large numbers, small sizes, problems in identification / singling out / differentiation and of course, an intense immune syst em that develops capabilities against every pesticide that comes out of an inventive mind. And let me not talk of procreating capabilities !

Now, that’s too generic a definition. That’s applicable to rodents and mosquitoes for sure. Of course. But lets put this definition to test over others.

Say a talib terrorist. Small. Pesky. Mobile. Large numbers in numerous caves. Attack in small numbers. Would be difficult to tell one from another, with the beard, turban and AK 47. Has fought the combined armies of the world very well. And their number seems to be growing.

Voila !

OK. Now another test. Does a chairman of a company who embezzles his own company fit here. Lets expand this. Do CEOs and other white collar criminals fit this definition of Pest ?

They are small in the mind. But they are numerous and spread across organisations. Operating from cubicles and cabins. And quite obviously, one doesn’t get to see too many of them at one go. And of course, with the Armani pin stripe and lacquered floor its going to be difficult to identify one. And as we are seeing here, they almost, always get away ! Voila. It seems to work here as well..

That definition would fit to vast majorities of politicians, sportsmen, salesmen, recruiters, drivers …whoo boy. And i think it fits people like me as well, if you ask certain people whose names i withhold for security reasons.

It really depends on who you ask. Heck. I think what the world needs SOME pesticide! Day and Night !! And perhaps a new definition as well !

This post is the 2nd in the three part ‘On the Tree’ series of posts. Posts that draw inspiration from human work on a simple tree !