This post is not an usual appreciation of ants telling you all the fact that
amazes you like ant can carry things more than that of their weights, its lifespan is about 4 to 12 years or
ant uses very high sensitive communicative method or ant is so organised and
bla bla bla..
The more focus I would like to divert in this post is about actually observing ants.
Throughout my childhood after learning lot of amazing facts about the species “Formicidae” commonly known as ants I was very happy and enthusiastic to actually watch something from my stupid boring school book into actual life. This might sound idiotic but I could stare ants for hours together.
This must be waste of my childhood time which could be well spent on plying with friends or learning something good but I was spending more and more ideal time to watch where dose the ant come from? Where dose it Go? The white babies of ant, why there is need to carry them form one place to another? Did someone
break their house? I wish even I knew the inter-species communication so that even some day I could actually know that what did one ant say to the other ant? Or what
does they talk about when every ant stops in a row, tell something then move forward? Do they think we humans are friendly or they are scared with the Giant Species in size
compared to them? Do they ever make Jokes about Humans? And should I even be offended if they make jokes on us?
Several questions run in my mind with many possible correct assumptive answers which today may or may not be so important.
The important thing was as a child and growing kid the more pain I got by travelling throughout India in school age by getting away from all newly formed friends every three years, The ants were there everywhere to cheer me up and entertain me in my growing time.
And the ants reminded me that though friends come and go, but the hardworking and efficient ants are always there in every part India and connection with them will never fade like disappearing friends. I was so amazed that though inter-species communication was not yet established
I am enough fortunate to observe ants and their behavior throughout India is same. They search for food, collect them and in line go back to their respective houses.
After childhood there came teenage and I got busy with the human-relationship understating phase. Friends got closer, parents seemed strange, anger frustration which never haunted me in childhood were the dominant phase in every rain.
Love, fights, togetherness, politics, grouping, religion and even watching the television news was an factor of interest and the observation of ants was no amusement to me. I also started thinking, how so stupid I was in childhood that
I use to observe ants, and I cant believe that watching ants was my favorite pass time.
When even teenage was almost over and I bounced to Australia to struggle for my carrier, I was amazed that more pressure of self learning and self survival haunted me every day. I almost forgot that even If I could have seen ants they could have reminded me that like
every species humans also have to work in organised patter, communicate, carry thoughts and understanding so much heavier than that of their weight and have courage to forgive and move on in life. But unfortunately for first two and half years of my life, I was never able to
see ants in my surrounding. I mostly lived in posh area of Brisbane, Mostly in 2nd or 3rd floor houses which are well equipped and architecture that though Maggot were easily found in our dustbin if remained unclean, the most popular species of India the Ant was no-where seen.
After 2 and half years of living in Australia when I moved in a Ground Floor house in Toowong, Queensland Australia, I was able to observe the ants for the first time stealing food form our kitchen.
Inst-ed of getting angry on them, I was happy that even today when Lot of friends have come and gone in my life. Lot of small time failures and achievement success is gained in my early carrier start, the Ants are still hear doing their job, perfectly and exactly as they were doing it in India.
In any story we can only connect the dots backwards. Thus some of the question (this time logical) rises in my mind. Why did I was not able to see ants in first some years of staying in Australia?
The two possible answers were either I was staying in 1st or 2nd floor houses in Australia but in India due to my dad’s choice of living we only took Ground Houses to live where ever we travel in India. Or I must be living in a high standard society in Australia where paying the bills to maintain my life standard was the only task I was focusing on.
Either ways the smaller in size ants completely disappeared form my observation though they were always present around me.
After paying more attention I realized may be this is what happens when we grow up, the small amusement of childhood vanishes in time and looks silly but the silly things called “worries” which were never a part of life when we were small seems so important now. And overall we even support those worries with understanding that we are more matured and responsible creatures now.
Concluding my post today I would not suggest you to be like ant as they are doing their work sincerely and we should do ours but I would just again focus on point of observation that when Time, Age, Geographical Location and relationship understanding is changed it actually affects our FIELD OF OBSERVATION.
The always present ANTS may seem to disappear…..
Cheers Everyone, Find your ants and have a wonderful weekend
Tapish Dongre 