GOING WITH THE WORMS

Like sharing a plate of spaghetti we dropped our fingers into the soft mass of gooey wriggly worms and took out these creatures by the numbers. In fact if not for the dark brown and reddish colour and their movements it was like having a fork of noodles or spaghetti ready to be devoured.
We took a few of them and then put them into an empty can that each of us had brought along. To prevent them from drying and dying we topped them with a layer of soft cow dung. We had learnt this from experience. Once we forgot to do it and on reaching the fishing spot, the worms had dried up and could not be used. So instead of fishing, we swam and played in the mining pool. It was fun though without our parents’ permission and knowledge. If they had known about this adventure, I am sure we would have got a bad trashing from them.

THE CREEPY CREATURES

Guna unlatched the wooden gate and we went in. The cows and goats were still out in some fields and so we did not have the opportunity to fool around with them. Guna got hold of a hoe and we followed him to the backyard. An awesome sight lay ahead. Looming in front of us was an enormous hill of dung. We were told that each morning the dung from the shed was taken out and piled here.
We eagerly climbed it and stood at the top of it; the summit. The hill was made by months and probably years of dung being piled up over time without wasting any of it. Guna gave a heave and dropped the edge of the hoe into the dung. He pulled away the dung and behold; hundreds of wriggling, slimy earthworms were waiting for us. The worms were much bigger and fatter than those that we usually saw in the backyards of our gardens. Some were as fat as our middle fingers. Oh those fishes were going to have a feast; I thought. They were enormous and it was an awesome sight. Others would have fainted or maybe just run away at the sight of these wriggling and creepy creatures.
As for us we had seen the worst. It was a common sight and a natural setting living in a village. Often after a heavy and continuous downpour, the drains would be flooded and the water overflowed its banks onto the backyards of our houses. This is the time when these earthworms would come crawling and wriggling out and sticking to the walls of houses, chicken coops and trees. These were much smaller, both in size and length. This phenomenon happened because the ground that they inhabited was water logged and these creatures climb up to higher ground so they would not be drowned and that they can breathe. These creatures are living things and as such need to breathe.