Well, most of you associate the animal bat with the infamous COVID19 pandemic. But my story is different. These unexpected encounters happened way too often for me to skip penning this down.
This dates back to last year. One not so fine morning, as I was deep asleep, a noise woke me up. It was from the air-conditioner right above my head, as if some creature was stuck in the machine. I tried ignoring it and slipping back to sleep. The noise amplified almost as if a mini-war was going on between various species in the air-conditioner. I gathered my senses and got up from the bed. It was only 6 am and I wanted to sleep at least for an hour more before I catch my train at 9 am. Yes, today was supposed to be a great start to my vacation. Apparently, not. The noise from the machine was getting louder and louder. What is even in there?! I took out my phone to record a quick video to capture the sounds. I quickly grabbed my things (including my Panda), walked across the hall, and knocked at the door of my mom’s room. The door opened after a bit and I told her, “There’s some weird sound from the air-conditioner and it’s scary”. My mom was half asleep and she patted my shoulder, “It’s okay. Come sleep with us”. I squeezed myself between mom and dad trying to grab that extra one hour of sleep.
During my vacation, I spent a decent amount of time listening to sound recordings of different animals assessing to whom that sound in the air-conditioner belonged. I shortlisted rats, lizards, frogs, and a bunch of others. When I came back from vacation, I stopped sleeping in my room and spent most of my nights in my mom’s room. The sound never came again. I initially did notice tiny black droppings at times in a corner of my room. But as the room gets cleaned every day, I didn’t bother much. But I was curious. It was honestly gross, but I started reading on how to identify species from droppings. I zeroed in on bats. What? I thought it was ridiculous. My mom heard my conclusions and said they were baseless. We live in the heart of a city, not a cave! What bats and rubbish.
I slowly started sleeping back in my room, but my curiosity was ever alive with my ears alert at the slightest sound. One not so fine evening, as I was walking into my room, I spotted a black thing right outside my door. My mom just came home from work and was passing by my room. Clueless me asked her what that thing was. She bent down and took a close look and jumped back, “That’s a bat!”
“I TOLD YOU MOM!!! Now what do we do??”
“Do what? You chase it out!”
“Me?” I asked pointing fingers at myself. “Mom! This is the first time I am seeing a bat in my life and you expect me to chase it out??”
“Yes. Because I am laying it on the table, I can’t do it. Not that I am scared….But I am scared. You get it?”
“Wow. Mom, you should call the watchman!”
“You think this bat is going to sit around here and wait for me to call the watchman and for him to come and chase it out?!”
“Okay. Ugh, at least get me a broom or something?”
My mom got me a broom and I was clueless about what to do or how to do it. She took a few steps back. I hit it mildly, as a tester. That tiny black thing that could fit into a matchbox spread its wings now at the size almost a foot long! Before I even realised what I was doing I hit it hard, slightly paralysing the bat where it was. It stuck to the broom and my mom opened the balcony doors. I made my way and swung the broom to let the bat out. It was mildly traumatising.
So, the air-conditioner in my room had bats!
My dad confessed that a few months ago when he walked into my room to wake me up, he found a dead bat lying beside my bed. He assumed it probably came in accidentally and got hit by the fan. But it’s too many coincidences now. My dad and I decided we would get a mechanic to open up the air-conditioner and check. Only then would I be able to sleep in peace in my room. When they opened the machine, they found a couple of bats!! They opened up the windows and they flew right out. This was ridiculous. As I heard the mechanic enlighten me, things started making sense. Air conditioners are cool that simulate an environment of a cave, conducive for the living of a colony of bats. There’s a pipe that connects the machine inside to the machine outside through a tiny hole drilled in the wall. The gaps in the hole are enough for bats to slowly crawl in and settle in the machine. Well, the mechanic offered a solution to close up the gap and we readily took it.
That night, after we turned off the lights to drift into a peaceful sleep, I heard some sound in the room. I could sense it was a bat again! The same knocking on my mom’s room followed. This time my dad took lead to chase the bat away. The next morning we rounded up theories on how the bat came in despite the hole being closed. The most convincing theory was from yesterday when I said both the bats flew right away when we opened the windows. One of them probably hid behind the curtain in front of the window giving us an illusion that it flew out.
Well, I didn’t sleep in my room for a few weeks. But I slowly grew out of the fear. I started sleeping in my room ready to face a bat. I never encountered a bat again. Happy few months went by…..till one day, when I heard a sound from my mom’s air conditioner while I was waiting in her room to tell her a story. By the time my mom came, it stopped. But I knew what it was. I noticed similar droppings and realised the colony just shifted its home to my mom’s room oblivious to our knowledge. Her air-conditioner pipe had a small gap too. These bats seem to be planning outside the house on which air-conditioner to get into. Soon, my mom and dad encountered a bat too and my dad chased it away. We repeated what we did with the mechanic and closed the gaps.
This was such a mess. But I was glad we closed up all the gaps in the air-conditioners. Happy many months went by and no encounters of bats….till today. We’ve been keeping windows closed for a while now. My mom opened up the windows in her room after long to let some fresh air in. I walked into my mom’s room singing and hopping on my way to charge the drained iPad. There I saw! The biggest bat in my life, flying all across the room, sending shivers down my spine! I quickly ran back and closed her room’s door. I told my mom the opened windows just for one day invited a bat, that too a big bat, a big flying bat!! My ever saviour dad was not home. As soon as the word bat came out of my mouth, my not so little brother went into the opposite corner of the home. I had to deal with it this time. In my first encounter with a bat, I was dealing with a static one. The subsequent encounters I had with bats, my dad was around playing the hero. This time, it is a giant one flying around! I took deep breaths and realised I have to deal with it. I put on my hoodie, geared myself up with a broom, stood outside the closed door and did 10 pushups. I had to warm up. I went in and there was no movement. That means the bat landed somewhere. My eyes scanned the whole room but couldn’t comprehend where it was. I turned on the fan and air-conditioner to lure it out. After a few seconds, it suddenly emerged out of nowhere, flying around so fast it was tough for my eyes to comprehend where exactly it was. I vigorously waved the broom multiple times. Each and every one of my broom swifts missed. I came out and closed the door. I was gasping for air. My mom stood behind me and said, “Quit. I’ll call the watchman. You are scared”. I said no. Yes, it’s true that I was scared. But I didn’t wanna be scared. I told her I got this. I went back into the room, this time with a strategy. I did more broom waves vigorously and started increasing their height. Every time, I increased my wave’s height, the bat moved a little up to avoid being hit. This went on for a while till the bat moved up and up, till it suddenly hit the fan rotating at high speed. The bat fell into a corner. I think it was dying. I slowly pushed it out of the balcony and closed the doors.
My mom was clearly annoyed. “We are not in a forest. Why are bats in the middle of a city?”
“Mom, maybe this was a forest where these bats lived. We humans probably converted this into a city. They adapted to live in air-conditioners instead of caves. I won’t blame the bats”.
As I walked back into the hall, my not so little brother who is entirely in the opposite corner of the home started playing music saying, “Here’s your appreciation medal”. As I rolled my eyes and walked closer, I realised it was the theme song of Jhansi Rani. “You. Next time I am going to teach you. You will be the one chasing bats”. He shrugged his shoulders and I very well know he will slip off again if we encounter a bat. As I wrapped my day, I walked into my mom’s room to tell her goodnight and to wake me up if there’s more bats lurking around. There was a faint smile on her face that probably read – my daughter is a gutsy one (I should tally this with her).
I understand Bruce Wayne today. The fear of bats is real. I can feel to the bone where it stems from. But it’s a fear that can be conquered. The adrenaline rush throughout was so high with the debate of fight vs flight. But I ended up fighting. I don’t wanna boast on this little achievement. But I take pride in it. If ever in future I am low on raw courage, this is a story I will look back to.
On a side note, maybe I should add bat-chasing skills to my resume.
Vineesha Badabhagni 
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