Leptospirosis

i went to mustafa centre last night. must really applaud the 24 hour concept, it's really great if u are busy in the day or just can't sleep at night. but finding the carpark was quite a challenge. had a chance to experience what it might be like in India. And i'm happy to say, it was quite pleasant! There are tonnes of things to buy and loads of frozen food. like frozen potato puffs, samosa and even naans! Almost wanted to buy everything but had to stop myself because i will be having Indian food for the next 2 months. Did i mention i LOVE indian food? people always say they lose weight when they go to India, i think i'll be the only person to gain weight. haha. who cares?!

Saw a cute little rat yesterday and i realized rats (only if they are tiny) are not so frightening after all. They are much better than cockroaches, especially flying ones! There's a rat temple known as Karni Mata temple in Deshnok, India where thousands of holy rats run rampant at the feet of worshippers. According to local legend, the patron deity of Bikaner, Karni Mata, was asked to resurrect her favourite nephew. She called up Yama, the god of death, who told her that the boy has been reborn as a rat and that all her male descendants would be born as rats in her temple at Deshnok. According to the guide book that i have, the best time to visit is during the Navratri festival in March, when the temple swarms with people (and rats!). If you are an amazing race fan, u will remember the participants going to this temple in one of the earlier seasons. And if u are in singapore, the new traveling show on channel U showing tonight at 9.15pm will show the hosts going to this temple too! Too bad it's too far away from Bangalore otherwise i'll definitely go and check it out.

For all the microbiology graduates, remember leptospirosis leading to Weil's disease, bubonic plague with it's incredible mortality rate, wiping out almost 40% of Europe's population in 1347-1350 , and some say there's a connection between hepatitis E and rats. So, for all the painful arm and painful butt that we underwent to get vaccination for hep A and B, we are still exposed to E! But fret not! hepatitis E is still very rare in humans and the connection between rats and human hep E is still unclear.

maybe i'll talk about cockroaches tomorrow