All New, Mashambulizi Nondo!

Inaonekana kuna hadithi nyingi za mijini ambazo zinahusisha wadudu kutambaa kwenye nyuso zetu wakati tunalala.. Hadithi maarufu zaidi ni kitu kando ya mistari ya “unakula 8 buibui mwaka wakati wa kulala“. Kwa kweli unapo google nambari hiyo inaanzia 4 kwa 8… hadi pound? Haishangazi mambo yanatiwa chumvi sana mtandaoni, hasa inapohusu arachnophobia maarufu sana. Nina shaka kwamba Wamarekani wa kawaida hula zaidi ya buibui wachache katika maisha yao yote; nyumba yako haipaswi kutambaa na buibui wengi hivi kwamba wanaishia kinywani mwako kila usiku! Hadithi kama hiyo bado ni hadithi lakini yenye chembe ya ukweli – kwamba masikio huchimba kwenye ubongo wako usiku ili kutaga mayai. Si kweli kwamba viwavi ni vimelea vya binadamu (kwa shukrani), lakini wana mwelekeo wa kutambaa kwa nguvu, maeneo yenye unyevunyevu. Inawezekana kwamba hili lilikuwa tukio la kutosha la mara kwa mara Wewe Olde England kwamba sikio lilipata jina hili mbaya. Mende pia wameorodheshwa kama wavutaji sikio – lakini mdudu yeyote anayetambaa ambaye anaweza kuwa anatembea juu yetu usiku anaweza kuishia kwenye moja ya mashimo yetu..

Hata hivyo sijawahi kusikia nondo ikiingia kwenye sikio hadi nilipokutana nayo hadithi hii leo! Nadhani Noctuid aliyechanganyikiwa kwa namna fulani aliishia kwenye sikio la mvulana huyu, ingawa siwezi kujizuia kujiuliza ikiwa aliiweka hapo mwenyewe… Kwa kawaida nondo hazitui kwa watu wakiwa wamelala wala si wale ambao huwa na unyevunyevu, maeneo ya tight. Lakini basi tena chochote kinawezekana, some noctuids do crawl under bark or leaves in the daytime for safe hiding. I even came across another story of an ear-moth form the UK (not that the Daily Mail is a reputable source).

Kwa kawaida, some lazy news sources are using file photos of “nondo” instead of copying the photo from the original story. It’s extra hilarious because one of the pictures used is of a new species of moth described last year by Bruce Walsh in Arizona. Lithophane leeae has been featured on my blog twice before, but never like this!

On a closing note here is a poem by Robert Cording (also where the above image was found).

Consider this: a moth flies into a man’s ear
One ordinary evening of unnoticed pleasures.

When the moth beats its wings, all the winds
Of earth gather in his ear, roar like nothing
He has ever heard. He shakes and shakes
His head, mkewe amechimba sana sikio lake
Kwa kidokezo cha Q, lakini kishindo hakitakoma.
Inaonekana kama milango na madirisha yote
Nyumba yake ilianguka mara moja -
Mchezo wa ajabu wa mazingira ambayo juu yake
Hakuwa na udhibiti kamwe, lakini ambayo angeweza kupuuza
Mpaka jioni alitoweka kana kwamba alikuwa
Sijawahi kuishi. Mwili wake haupo tena
Inaonekana yake mwenyewe; anapiga kelele za maumivu ya kuzama
Upepo ndani ya sikio lake, na kumlaani Mungu,
WHO, masaa yaliyopita, ulikuwa ujanibishaji mzuri
Katika ulimwengu unaoendelea vizuri vya kutosha.

Njiani kuelekea hospitali, mkewe anaacha
Gari, anamwambia mumewe atoke nje,
Ili kukaa kwenye nyasi. Hakuna taa za gari,
Hakuna taa za barabarani, hakuna mwezi. Yeye huchukua
Tochi kutoka kwa chumba cha glavu
Na anaishikilia kando ya sikio lake na, isiyoaminika,
Nondo huruka kuelekea kwenye mwanga. Macho yake
Je, mvua. Anahisi kana kwamba yeye ni msafiri ghafla
Kwenye mwambao wa ulimwengu usiotarajiwa.
Wakati amelala nyuma kwenye nyasi, yeye ni mvulana
Tena. Mkewe anamulika tochi
Angani na kuna ukimya tu
Hajawahi kusikia, na barabara ndogo
Ya mwanga kwenda mahali ambapo hajawahi kufika.

- Robert Cording, Maisha ya Kawaida: Mashairi (Fort Lee: CavanKerry Press, 2006), 29-30.