I'm Armed and On Mosquito Patrol

So, according to Tom this is the best thing that has ever been invented. Apparently, it is just called a mosquito bat. It is plugged into an electrical outlet to be charged and then you carry it around
with you in the house looking for mosquitos. This
thing is death by electrocution for those little malaria-carrying monsters.
Fortunately, Chennai is not a city with a malaria epidemic, but for a foreigner like me you can't be too careful. I am taking a once-weekly dose of Chloroquine that I will continue to take for 5 weeks after I return to the U.S.



For the first couple of days we didn't see any of them in the apartment but then yesterday we noticed a couple and then a couple more today, resulting in Tom issuing me the weapon and putting me on mosquito duty while he is at work.



Tom says there is an art to electrocuting mosquitos with the mosquito bat. He was giving me specific instructions on how to "gracefully" swing the bat while pressing this red button and he even got to give me a live demonstration when he murdered a mosquito that was flying around our bedroom.



My natural instinct is to beat the air with the bat but that isn't how it works. I will try diligently to follow Tom's example and "gracefully" swing the bat towards the mosquito. The bat does make a satisfying electrical crackling sound when the mosquito fries so I guess that is something to look forward to. I sure don't want to play around with malaria since once you have it, you always have it.



I think I will begin counting the number of mosquitos that I murder, if I ever get one.