The Ant-Boy Goes to School

Introduction

I have always wondered...

How would it be to live in the world of smaller species like the Ants... We see ants walking on the streets evading us... I guess, when we walk on the streets, we are the equivalent of an avalanche, meteorites or a natural disaster for these puny species. What a hurricane or an earthquake is to us, we are, I guess, the same to these teeny weeny ones...

I am starting a new section within this blog - It's called the Small World Stories. In this section, I attempt to imagine their worlds taking them and the environment around them in to perspective...

I am hugely inspired by R.K. Narayans Malgudi Days. I am attempting to write these stories in that flavor...

You can access all the Small-World Stories using the following link: http://quickpoet.blogspot.com/search/label/Small-World%20Stories

Thanks
Navin

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"Time to go to School"

Ramu could hear dad shout at the peak of his voice. That motivated him to sleep longer… Dad had just got a new leaftress for his bed. Ramu could not believe it when he first laid eyes on the Maple leaftress that Dad got for him..

Maple Leaftress… are you kidding me?

Maple Leaftresses are among the trendiest mattresses to adorn anyone's bedroom. Ones those were fabulously expensive… Only the Rich and Famous could afford them.

Ramu's family was a middle-grain family. They could barely sustain a decent life. Dad was worker-ant by profession and got an allowance of one sugar crystal and a few grains per day... In a colony where the Queen ruled with an iron hand, and her interests were of supreme importance, Dad's efforts went without due recognition. Further, Mom had left her family long ago... despite being the only girl-ant in the colony and a queen at that.

Their house was located in the remote corner of Mount Ant-More, far away from the bustling down-colony area. Ramu's middle-grain dwelling was definitely not the best. It was filled with lots of pheromones and dust. Ramu's elder brother, Shamu worked as news-stick-boy distributing news-sticks early in the morning to all the ant-dwellings.

Ramu could see his Dad reading the news-stick 'Ant-More Express' with his daily petal-cup of dew; the only luxury he permitted himself to.

"Cyclone Nike Boots expected to hit the colony every day at 8.00 AM and 5.00 PM"
"New sugar reserves discovered by SGC (Sugar and Grain Commission)"
"Queen Ant adultery scandal - Suspects identified by the police"
"USA (United States of Ant colonies) beats Ant-Artica in Ant-World Soccer Finals"

Ramu thought to himself, all that his dad ever did for him... He bought him a Guitar with silk strings; He made sure he had enough grains and sugar for dates with his girl ant-friends. He got him the trendiest clothes, ones made of the most exotic leaves.

Working hard to provide Ramu with the necessary amenities, Dad's Health had deteriorated. He was suffering from an extreme case of Un-Diabetes (Lack of Sugar in the body) and his once-known-around-the-world antennas had become weaker and fragile.

Ramu realised all that his Dad did for him, and in return all that he wanted was for Ramu to do well at school, lead the Mount Ant-More granary tracking team in intercolonial conclaves and finally rule Mount Ant-More along with the queen.

Ramu realised the sacrifices made by his family…

He got up...

And went to school.............