Antenacious & The Heroic War

By Book Basket Publishers and Chhaya Kotian

Chhaya Kotian is a dynamic individual whose expertise spans across multiple domains. She has an IT background where she honed her skills for eight plus years. Her passion for guiding others led her to pursue a career as a part time educator which she considers an extension of her personality. With over 5 years of experience teaching courses to pupils in IT, Chhaya kas become a master at helping others discover their true potential. Chhaya finds solace in writing, which she considers her retreat. Her hobbies include travel, singing, and dancing, and she enjoys indulging in them whenever she has some free time, Her book is a result of her obsession with the life lessons of Lord Krishna. Chhaya has always used this precious and heavenly knowledge as a moral value and her upcoming book is her humble attempt to clarify and communicate her opinions on the profound wisdom.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Book Basket Publishers
• Release date: Mar 19, 2023
• ISBN: 9798215788974

Book preview

Chapter 1:

decorative-page-break-designs-vector.jpg Durgapur:

An Enigmatic Palace

A

group of medical students gathered at a lab, dissecting different animals and insects. Having performed experiments on frogs, roaches and rats, now was the turn of the Ants. That's when Prakash, a curious student asks, What’s the big deal about ants?

Mr. Sharma, the professor smiled at Prakash, adjusted his specks, and said, You see, we might not notice the ants, but they surround us, occupying nearly every type of habitable nook and cranny across the globe. He looked at Prakash’s curious face from the top of his glasses and continued, They shape our world! Ants like winnow ants plant the forest understory, ultimately contouring plant distribution that becomes those giants of trees, animal homes, and abounding green life. Other ants help turn the soil, more than the earthworms in some places, break up decomposing wood and animals, and keep the canopy healthy. Ants creep across our yards taking care of business for us in much the same way. They eat termites and chase caterpillars out of our gardens! Professor Mr. Sharma completed with a beam and waited for a response.

In that college, there were different kinds of food items available in the canteen situated on the ground floor. It provides the students with tea, biscuits, bananas, bread, paratha, cold drinks, and burgers. A flower garden is by the side of the canteen and the walls are decorated with trustee’s pictures. Adjacent to that wall, besides the kitchen, there is a washing place, where all the leftover food is kept in a huge dustbin.

The leftover food is a treasure for the insects, ants to be precise. It also happens to be the reason for war among them. Deep beneath the canteen, the ants have dug up a narrow hole which is their kingdom named ‘Durgapur’.

Madhu, an ant, raises her antenna and smells the food. With happiness all over her body, she sends a signal to her troop about the food. But apart from her own troop, there are some uninvited guests at the college canteen.

Madhu had expected her black ants’ troop to arrive on time to hog onto the leftover food. But there was a sudden flash of red skin all around her and she was surrounded from all corners.

Red Ants! She screamed internally and her antenna started sending the signals more aggressively.

A tiny black ant lived in the tiny hole behind the college canteen at the end of the Yamuna River in Delhi. She was called Druti, which means softened. Black, wavy antenna clumsily hangs over a furrowed, sad face.

Glinting amber eyes, set graciously within her sockets, she watches fondly over the army that she has led for so long.

Druti is the Army General for six months now, a true warrior in the royal army of her kingdom Durgapur. She stands elegantly among the others, despite her thin frame. Something is enticing about her, perhaps it's her goodwill, or perhaps it's simply her company. Nonetheless, ants tend to follow her, while wishing they were more like her.

An adventurous Druti crept away from the college canteen hole where other species of ants were ready with their army to attack her nest. She looked behind her nest and in her soliloquy, she said, You better protect them this time. She nodded and signalled the army with her antennae and went to the war.

*

Kailash, another student in the laboratory softly touched the ant’s body in front of him with a needle and asked his professor, What are the ant’s body parts?

Professor Sharma smiled and replied, "Like all insects, adult ants have three body segments: the head, thorax, and abdomen. Ant heads are packed with everything ants need to detect their environments; antennae for touch and smell. Ant thoraxes are right below the head, like their chest area, mostly all legs and muscle protrudes from the thoraxes, mainly used for moving. Every one of an ant’s six legs sticks out of her thorax, and when

Queens and males have wings, those wings stick out of the top of their thoraxes," The professor replied.

Interesting sir, their body is quite different from ours! But where is their stomach then? asked Prakash.

Abdomen and Petiole. The abdomen is where all the action happens; this ant segment holds all the big-time organs. Almost all of an ant’s digestive system is packed into its booty, the students giggled and Mr. Sharma smirked lightly, and continued, And tons of chemical-emitting glands, stingers, and trail markers, the entire reproductive system, and most of its fat storage. Many ant species have a special stomach in their abdomens that does not digest food. Instead, they use this stomach as a backpack to carry food back to the nest where they share it with their sisters by spitting it into their mouths.

The students gawked and made sounds, Eww!

*

The war between different colonies of ants starts for a food source. So, when Madhu, one of the soldiers from Druti’s nest had found a food source today, she signalled her nest to the source. But a red ant attacked one of their workers who was collecting food and she died instantly. Druti, a soldier ant born to protect its colony and their Queen gazed at the enemy with animosity, already crushed the enemy in her mind.

In the college canteen, the ants' nests were ferociously defending themselves from the ants of the other nests. When the two ants met, they would flick their antennae over each others’ bodies, tasting the combination of hydrocarbons on their skin. This flavour would tell them whether the

stranger belonged to the same nest or not. If she tasted familiar, she would be recognized as a sister. She would be gently stroked, offered food, and welcomed into the nest. But if the flavour were not recognized, the ants would try to kill each other.

Go and hide somewhere, today we won't spare any of you! Warned the red ant.

Either you are foolish or acting brave, do you think you will move an inch without our consent here, now get ready to die! Druti hissed.

She was a wall between the enemy and her family. Every soldier from the enemy’s gang tried what they could, but couldn't conquer Druti. Blood seeped from her wound and sweat dripped down her forehead. She felt a dull pain, but it was surely numbed by the adrenaline pumping through her body. Surely this pain would stop soon. Surely there's an end to this. She wasn't so sure and was ready to give up because of it. She paused for a brief moment, contemplating all she had fought for and all she could lose if they gave up now.

But then a huge slash of a red ant’s antenna and Madhu fell down on the spot. It was difficult to focus between the pain of losing her sister and the

voices telling her to stop what she was doing, but she pressed onward. Perhaps against her better judgement, she swallowed the pain and continued onward. She alone battled against half of the army and didn't let them move an inch; such was her valour. Such an act of grit triggered the entire army and then it was just a matter of time before enemies had to abort the mission and flee as quickly as possible.

PickMadhu and get in quickly, sobbed Druti.

A group of ants carried the body on their shoulder. There was a pin-drop silence. Druti was dejected as she couldn't save her sister. But what she had done was surreal and unbelievable. Everybody in the army was praising Druti and going gaga over her heroics. She was brutally bruised as enemies stung her in the abdomen a hundred times. Her Antenna was half broken, her legs fractured, and she could barely walk. As she led the army to the nest, drops of blood sprinkled on the trail she created from her footsteps. As the Army followed the trail with moist eyes, Druti fainted and fell right at the gate of the nest.

There was chaos all around, the entire army was sad to see their Shining Star falling like ninepins. That's when their Queen Mohini came out of the palace, and together with her an army of bodyguard ants lined up on either side of the Queen to protect her. It felt as if the entire kingdom was guarding the Queen. As she stepped out of her palace, every ant made sure she was

being covered from all angles, it was like thousands of CCTV cameras were having a close look. She was dumbfounded to see Druti like this.

Get her in immediately, call the doctor and arrange for the dressings! ordered the Queen.

Yes, your Majesty, right away! said Amruta, the daughter of Queen Mohini.

Queen Mohini, just like any other leader, was very protective of her troop. Within any community, it is safe to say that the motive of maintaining asociety that prospers for many years is common. Establishing order is key to developing a prosperous society. Order, whether it be defined as assigning roles in society, or establishing a set of rules to maintain control, can be done through various approaches. The pondering question however lies in what is the best approach to establish order. This common question has been prominent throughout time and has been debated in government and society. The debate on how society should establish order regularly results in contrasting opinions.

*

The lecture was getting interesting with every passing minute and the students were observing the ants in front of them very carefully. They used their needles and used their pocket binoculars to take a look at the ants as

the professor continued, "The two most important things to remember about