Not afraid of Spiders

---

Not afraid of Spiders

So I am not afraid of spiders. But somehow the rumor got started that I am terrified of them. That I do not like them and that I am very very afraid. This is not true. I love camping and I like nature. I love and am fascinated by spiders. Clearly I am not afraid of spiders.

One day when I was first here, I noticed that there were insects living in the doorframe to my room. My first thought was that they were termites coming to wreak havoc on my new found home. I pointed these out to someone so that they could do something about them. It turns out that they are not termites, or they are and no one minds them. But from that the story began that I was terrified of spiders, which I am not.

I tried to explain time and time again that I was not afraid of spiders. That I thought they were termites, etc. So about a month later I thought the rumor was crushed. That was until one evening I am eating alongside the headmistress’s husband who says, “I hear you are afraid of spiders.” Once again my dignity was put on the line as I think, “I am in India, and one can not be afraid of spiders.” I tried to explain but I think with too little avail. But that’s not the point.

As I go back to my room and shower and do my laundry by hand, I notice a massive spider drinking out of a puddle in the middle of the floor. He is about the size of a half dollar, brown, and a little violin on his back. That’s cool.

What?
Violin?

So I decided I am going to get a picture. I mean how many times does one get to see a Brown Recluse in India?

But as I am adjusting my camera for a close shot, I look back and he is gone. And I can’t find him. And I am barefoot (as you are supposed to be in an Indian house.) So I start to laugh at myself and how I was concerned about the rumor before, and here I was with a spider that has gone missing.

Well my fears were not going to get the best of me. I was going to finish hanging my laundry and then I was going to the safety of my bed. That was until a piece of newspaper brushed my leg and I went four feet in the air. (If only my friends knew...) I searched everywhere to eventually find him (By this time with a flashlight due to the rotating statewide power cuts.) And then set him in my bathroom to eat his fill and leave by open window.

Like at a hospital, one must leave their dignity at the door at all times.

*I am not even sure it was a recluse, and my photo is sloppy. Are they in India?

---

Photos

Spidee-iider
Brown Recluses do not exist in India as they are native to America. The pictures are not good either to ID the spider.