The cockroaches of Singapore

The tropical climate of Singapore must be favorable to cockroaches, which grow here to a respectable size and are often visible at night scurrying at an amazing speed across the sidewalk in front of you.

Sometimes you see an enormous and frightening picture of a giant cockroach floating in front of you on a double-decker bus, as an ad for Combat, an insecticide which must rack a lot of sales in this city-state.

Once in a while, as it happened today, I see one on the kitchen floor as I walk in to make a cup of coffee in the morning. But then it is on its back, moving its legs and antennae slowly in an agonizingly slow death. It can stay like this for hours. I, like most people, find this insect particularly repellent, and I do not have the patience of letting it die while I have to pay particular attention not to inadvertantly squash it with my bare feet. But I am always afraid that, if I try to seize it with a piece of paper towel, it will suddenly come to life and wiggle out from under my hand. The very thought sends shivers down my spine. So, before collecting it to throw it down the garbage chute, I squash it with an old newspaper, putting an end to its agony.


This morning, before going through this unpleasant and macabre routine, I decided to take a picture of this dying cockroach. The camera detected something I had not noticed with the naked eye: a small pool of liquid oozing out, together with life, from the insect's body.