The migrant march of red ants under lockdown

Red Ants 

Tiny red ants 
came out from a little colony 
near the bottom right corner
of the doorframe of the kitchen
walking in one straight line
going upwards first
then left
and then down
and then a straight line again
across the kitchen platform
marching in single file
one after the other
like a disciplined lot of labourers.

They came every time
when Ma dropped some sugar
or if there was a dead cockroach
on the kitchen floor.
She found the sight of these ants
pulling each grain
or an entire carcass away
walking back
in the same disciplined fashion
nauseous.
She would scream her head off
until mother came running
to her rescue.

Today as if to settle scores
they invaded her house
She wonders how
in the middle of the night,
like a nightmare, they were there
innumerable red ants
inside her house.
no lines
no order
no discipline
They came out
entire colonies
like they used to
when mother put
some Gammaxene powder
on the nest mounds--
frantic, agitated,
struggling to breathe
they invade her home. 

She quickly sweeps them out
of the living room
out into the garden
and shuts the door tight.
But just then
they surface
Millions at a time
from behind the windowsill
from the space underneath the door
that can hardly be seen
from the cracks in the doorframe
from the little keyhole of the main door
from the holes of the bathroom drains
from the gaps in the white cement
Between the tiles of the floor
from behind the switchboard
from the moist crevices in the walls
from the hollowness of the cables
from the darkness of the cupboards
from the emptiness under the bed
traumatised colonies of ants overflow
looking for their homes
Broken, destroyed, devastated
searching for their lives
crushed between someone’s fingers
suffocating beneath someone’s feet
hungry colonies
thirsty colonies
angry colonies
colonies of red bites
gasping for breath
colonies of red ants.  

– Translated by the author from her original poem in Gujarati.

Audio: Sudhanva Deshpande is an actor and director with Jana Natya Manch, and an editor with LeftWord Books.