Mummy-Long-legs?


This is a common house spider in South India, seen here with her egg sac. If I am right, she is H. venatoria - read about this species here.
Ever since I set eyes on them, though, I have always yelled out 'Tarantula!' and my wonderful M-I-L would deftly collect them within the bristles of a broom and encourage the leggy creature to set up camp in the garden.
Now I don't mind them - they are willing caretakers of a lonely house...

Camera Critters Afterthought - CC means camera-critters, not creepy crawlies! :)

PS 1. In case you are not yet spider-wise, Daddy-long-legs is actually a spider that does not look much different from the web it weaves.
PS 2. But another Daddy-Long-Legs is one of my favourite companions, and is put up in a shelf, too. More about that later!

Comments

  1. RAJI MUTHUKRISHNAN21 August, 2008

    Terrific shot and cute title.
    In this connection see
    http://rajirules.blogspot.com/2007/10/dia-in-beacon.html

    We had seen a coupleof monstrous sculptures of spiders created by Louise Bourgeoise. One of them (in Dia Museum in Beacon) is called Maman and has a pouch with eggs, made of solid marble.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Kat21 August, 2008

    You and Indrani wander around with camera everywhere ? mmm :-) Cute pic( shudder :-)))

    You always called out 'tarantula'?

    Me and my daughter always call out.. "HAAAAAAAALP..!!!!!"

    ReplyDelete
  3. i beati21 August, 2008

    haven't seen one in a long time sandy

    ReplyDelete
  4. Kelly23 August, 2008

    Glad he's at your house and not at mine!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Lakshmi Bharadwaj23 August, 2008

    hmm...interesting. For me too, any weird spider is a tarantula! I've never seen this one before.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Indrani23 August, 2008

    That is scary Swarna. I wouldn't have the guts to take a aim. :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. Ramjee21 April, 2010

    Which part of India did you see this one?

    ReplyDelete
  8. Swarna21 April, 2010

    @Ramjee - in central Kerala, at a house by the Chalakudy river.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

i appreciate that you have some thoughts to share, and are taking the effort to do so.

Popular posts from this blog

The Power of Vishnu Sahasranamam- Vani's rebirth

A real 'story' as told by a close friend: "Vani was in her early thirties when I first met her in a Mumbai local sometime in the late ‘70’s. She never talked much but her helping tendency was obvious. She boarded the train at the starting point and always found a seat. Instead of sitting through the hour-long journey, she would offer her seat – a luxury - to another lady. My acquaintance too began this way – a few pleasantries exchanged over the train’s din. After a couple of months, she was not at her usual seat. Everyone presumed that she was on leave. In the busy buzz of the Mumbai life, no one thought twice about her till she came back after nearly 4 months. None of us could recognize her. She had lost weight, her cheeks were sunken, eyes lifeless, and to top it all, she had an almost bald head. Out came the rude shock that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer and had to undergo radiation therapy. She hoped that she had won over the disease, but even before
Read more

"Did Hanuman return the mountain?"

Image
The query was popped while we were travelling in Srinagar by road, trying to have a fill of the valley's humbling views of the Himalayas all round. Here are a few glimpses of Gulmarg and Pahalgam My son's query caught us unawares, and also got us thinking about the doubt that we never raised during childhood sessions of the Ramayana epic , and I decided to call my mom, our free encyclopaedia for all things religious / spiritual / cultural. "Yes, Hanuman was disciplined, and he did return the Dronagiri mountain to its original locale". (was our spot answer) Pahalgam Back to the query - Anyone, any idea? There are several versions, all quite satisfactory, if you spare a thought. - Rumassala is one of several places identified by the Sri Lankan Tourism Department as being associated with Ramayana. Hanuman carried a part of the Dronagiri Mountain that was rich with medicinal herbs including Sanjeevani from the Himalayas to revive Lakshmana. 'When the chief physicia
Read more

Darshan Do, Ghanshyam Naath...

Granted that enough and more has been said about SM (स्ल-क in Hindi). - what the director did, and did not, - what the co-director did not, - what ARR routinely does much better (DB got his musician right), - how RP got world-recognition for his techniques, - what the media Overdid. For a very balanced take try K Hariharan's, titled 'Orientalism for a global market' . "For the majority of western audiences who are writhing under the excruciating weight of a global meltdown, a fairy tale about the ugly side of India should certainly come as an orgiastic catharsis! “Slumdog Millionaire” should be considered as one of the most gratuitous fantasies to be created about India in the 21st century. Over 200 scenes whizzing past in 120 minutes leaves one completely anaesthetised and incapable of registering the complex layers that make up the garbage dump presented in “SM” called India..... as an Indian and a Mumbaikar I am not ashamed to accept the image of slums, criminals an
Read more