“Have you seen him” I asked Julie, my best friend.

She nodded. “Pink”

Now, as much as I would love Ishaan to be “pink” in complexion, anybody with a sane mind would find it odd that an offspring of a man who was born and brought up in a tropical city like Madras could be described with that rosy an adjective. Either the commentator was kidding or perhaps the definition of pink had changed over the last twenty four hours.

“Pink?” I responded.

“Yes. The word that comes to my mind – Pink.”

“Interesting”

“What is so interesting about it? Haven’t you seen his face you dumbo? How could you remain so calm?” She flared up.

That was when I realized that “Pink” was not what it sounded like.

“Uh, Julie – Exactly what do you mean by ‘Pink’?” I was alarmed.

“Mosquito bites. Do you even realize how dangerous they are?”

I took a deep breath. “I know. What can I do? There are a million mosquitoes out there. The liquid repellents don’t work. The coil – Doctor says NO – Too toxic for the baby. He banned even the repellent creams like Odomos.”

Julie stared at me. “You are hopeless.”

“Why is that?”

“What about a mosquito net?”

“We already have one in Hyderabad. Didn’t want to buy another in Chennai because we are going back to Hyderabad in a week’s time anyway.”

“Till then?” Julie was relentless.

“You tell me”

She told me the solution. Probably it was something to do with a mystical concept known as Woman’s Intuition that she came up with an idea like that. I was dumbfounded to say the least – by the illogical nature of the solution. However I had to try it out at least. I wouldn’t be able to face Julie the next day.

So I went home and switched the AC on. It was as simple as that. Julie instructed me to keep the temperature at least five degrees below the room temperature. Agreed it was Chennai we were talking about. Yet, in the month of December, in a beach facing apartment at ten in the night, the weather felt a bit chilly and I felt like a fool switching on the AC. As per Julie, cold weather drove away mosquitoes.

“But mosquitoes like cold and damp places” I argued with her.

“Yes. But not cold weather. They hate it.”

The next day, little Ishaan woke up with a broad smile on his face. Julie took one long look at the kid and exclaimed. “Why! It worked. He is not so pink anymore.”

I somehow managed to smile. It defied all logic. Why would mosquitoes hate cold weather?

But it worked. The number of mosquito bites had come down drastically. My wife and I threw a party in honor of Julie for coming up with this great suggestion.

So next time you are troubled by mosquitoes, you know what to do. Just bring home an AC!

- Venu

PS: Because of the AC, we had to fully cover Ishaan with two layered blankets. That was why mosquitoes spared him.