George came to us very unexpectedly - by accident actually - and we did not have a clue that he will share a day of his life with us.
We were sitting at the dining table and cutting bhindi (ladyfingers) with our Mom, when suddenly a strange looking bhindi turned up. It had a good-sized hole in the middle and right from that hole, a big green worm with black eyes was staring at us. It was so big that we thought it is filling up the entire bhindi! On seeing the worm, Hafsa asked, if she could keep it as a pet. And mom said: "Why not?"
Next, of course, we had to find a name for Hafsa's worm. Since it was green in colour, it was agreed that the name should start with "G". "Greenie" would be silly, "Georgina" sounded too long - so we finally arrived at "George", which became the name our worm got.
Now Hafsa had to decide, where to keep George and its bhindi. The best option she thought of was to put it in a plant's pot in our carporch. So she did, and we forgot about George for a while, happy that it didn't get fried along with bhindi but found a nice new home instead.
Later the same day, Mom heard Uzair yelling from the carporch, where he was playing cricket with his friend Misbah: "Mamma, Hafsa, come, come quiclkly - George is on my wicket!!!" And indeed he was. George had climed out of the plant's pot, where Hafsa had placed him, and was on a run. But why? Hafsa looked at the cosy bhindi-home George had left behind and was shocked to discover that it was all covered with ants! So that's why George was on the run. This brought back to our mind the "Insect Invaders" book of "Magic School Bus" series, which we read a couple weeks ago - ants can and do eat worms, if they get a chance at it. Many of them pile over the worm and inject into it their venom, which paralizes the worm. Hence, our George was fortunate enough to escape a sure death.
Hafsa once again picked up George and this time put it outside the gate - in the soil of motia bush. And that's the last we saw of George. We wish all the best for George, thank it for the lessons it taught us and hope it is still alive today.
We were sitting at the dining table and cutting bhindi (ladyfingers) with our Mom, when suddenly a strange looking bhindi turned up. It had a good-sized hole in the middle and right from that hole, a big green worm with black eyes was staring at us. It was so big that we thought it is filling up the entire bhindi! On seeing the worm, Hafsa asked, if she could keep it as a pet. And mom said: "Why not?"
Next, of course, we had to find a name for Hafsa's worm. Since it was green in colour, it was agreed that the name should start with "G". "Greenie" would be silly, "Georgina" sounded too long - so we finally arrived at "George", which became the name our worm got.
Now Hafsa had to decide, where to keep George and its bhindi. The best option she thought of was to put it in a plant's pot in our carporch. So she did, and we forgot about George for a while, happy that it didn't get fried along with bhindi but found a nice new home instead.
Later the same day, Mom heard Uzair yelling from the carporch, where he was playing cricket with his friend Misbah: "Mamma, Hafsa, come, come quiclkly - George is on my wicket!!!" And indeed he was. George had climed out of the plant's pot, where Hafsa had placed him, and was on a run. But why? Hafsa looked at the cosy bhindi-home George had left behind and was shocked to discover that it was all covered with ants! So that's why George was on the run. This brought back to our mind the "Insect Invaders" book of "Magic School Bus" series, which we read a couple weeks ago - ants can and do eat worms, if they get a chance at it. Many of them pile over the worm and inject into it their venom, which paralizes the worm. Hence, our George was fortunate enough to escape a sure death.
Hafsa once again picked up George and this time put it outside the gate - in the soil of motia bush. And that's the last we saw of George. We wish all the best for George, thank it for the lessons it taught us and hope it is still alive today.
