Yellow wasp (tumhoori in Punjabi and Bhir in Urdu) is a scary creature. Its sting hurts a lot. Every summer, it stings scores of people. Wasps came out of their hibernation in the summer. They make their hives in the corner of ceilings, lay eggs and multiply themselves. Various house hold remedies are available to cure its sting. I have read that vinegar reduces the sting-ache. A wasp recently stung me on my finger when I was preparing for the morning walk. It was in one of my shoes. I applied vinegar on the affected area and the burning sensation suddenly stopped. The kitchen commodity also reduced the swelling to a great deal.
For the past few weeks, our gardener Nazeer, whom we affectionately call Zakoota Jinn for his short stature and his amazing ability to complete big tasks in time, has been asking for petrol before trimming the hedges. He told me that he wanted it to get rid of wasps whose hives were abundant in the plants. What surprised me was that there was no burning involved. Next day I confronted Nazeer that why he needed petrol when he didn’t burn the hives. According to him, the petrol kills the wasps. I didn’t believe him. For years, we have been burning wasp hives earlier with kerosene and later with spirit after we came to know that spirit does not blacken the walls and ceilings of the verandas. The exercise was adventurous and exciting. I would wrap myself in bed sheet to avoid the last minute attack. A fabric dipped in kerosene or petrol was attached on one corner of a long bamboo, the fire was lit and the hive was torched. Many times, wasps would preempt, leave their hive and attack the people nearby, forcing me to abort the operation.
So the morning when the wasp stung me, I removed some petrol from the motorcycle’s tank in a half liter cola bottle. There were three hives near the entrance door. I splashed the petrol on the larger one. The wasps started falling on the ground the moment the fuel soaked their hive. Excited with the success, I drenched two more hives with the petrol that day with success. The technique becomes more effective, if the petrol is sprayed in some sort of a pump. My method of splashing the fuel was wasting the petrol unnecessarily.
For the past few weeks, our gardener Nazeer, whom we affectionately call Zakoota Jinn for his short stature and his amazing ability to complete big tasks in time, has been asking for petrol before trimming the hedges. He told me that he wanted it to get rid of wasps whose hives were abundant in the plants. What surprised me was that there was no burning involved. Next day I confronted Nazeer that why he needed petrol when he didn’t burn the hives. According to him, the petrol kills the wasps. I didn’t believe him. For years, we have been burning wasp hives earlier with kerosene and later with spirit after we came to know that spirit does not blacken the walls and ceilings of the verandas. The exercise was adventurous and exciting. I would wrap myself in bed sheet to avoid the last minute attack. A fabric dipped in kerosene or petrol was attached on one corner of a long bamboo, the fire was lit and the hive was torched. Many times, wasps would preempt, leave their hive and attack the people nearby, forcing me to abort the operation.
So the morning when the wasp stung me, I removed some petrol from the motorcycle’s tank in a half liter cola bottle. There were three hives near the entrance door. I splashed the petrol on the larger one. The wasps started falling on the ground the moment the fuel soaked their hive. Excited with the success, I drenched two more hives with the petrol that day with success. The technique becomes more effective, if the petrol is sprayed in some sort of a pump. My method of splashing the fuel was wasting the petrol unnecessarily.
It's a scary thing. Thanks for sharing. I used Baygon and it worked, but you have to do it in the dark or after sundown so that the wasps don't attack you.
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