wide awake

it's 4 AM, 5 days after arrival - significantly past the typical jet lag recovery date - so, why am i still lying here wide eyed? the room seems to have exactly one mosquito savoring its thanksgiving feast. we've created colorful homemade mosquito nets for the kids out of ameen's chunnis, but alas, the little-uns toss and turn, and the delicately balanced teddy-bear-cum-tent-post repeatedly falls over, transforming the net barrier into a circus tent, where the trapped carnivore is blissfully free from distractions of the prowl, and can now focus on the face at hand. ameen, with pundit-like foresight, added a second defense - little mosquito killer devices plugged into the wall and filled with some aromatic mystery juice. ameen, usually relatively cautious of 3rd world toxins, assured me with the same line reserved for the locals, translated roughly from punjabi, "chill out - everyone uses these things, and they're all fine." to which i respond, "well that's just because everyone eats their parathas with 3 tablespoons of butter." so the device buzzes on, the clock ticks loudly, and i stop writing.