The terrifying revenge of the malicious mouse!

Ah! Wasn’t I delighted with my new pair of party shoes! The glitter of the studded Swarovski crystals matched the sparkle in my eye. I was happy, delighted in fact with my new possession. The “inaugural wear” at the party that night was a success too, what with countless stares at my well heeled feet, you bet it colored my cheeks a shade deeper of red.

Little did I know that my beloved shoe would die a horrendous death at the hands of a mere but malicious mouse!

Now this little mouse and his buddy had found a way into my house and had wrecked havoc in the drawing room and kitchen. Curtains and furniture were nibbled with élan and even a few storage boxes were destroyed! I finally chased and cornered one of the gangster when it jumped into the deep kitchen sink and with my heavily gloved hands, caught it and threw it out of the house, closing the door behind it!

Phew, I guessed I had won the battle but little did I know the revengeful mind of the mouse leader! Blinded with rage with the eviction of its brother-in-arm, the mouse plotted its revenge. The idea was to strike hard and deep so that the revenge became an unforgettable one!

I knew something was coming, so I checked and double checked that all the cabinet doors were locked tight. I couldn’t do much for the furniture and the curtains so I prayed for their safety before tucking into bed.

At night, the menacing mouse entered my living room like a Ninja out for revenge! It scrutinized the rooms on the ground floor with its hawk eyes, searching for the one victim that would break my resolve of fighting the mouse fraternity! As it scanned the room, its eyes caught the glint of my shoes. The pretty shoes stood just above the shoe cupboard, gazing out the big glass windows at the bright full moon outside. The moon talked to the crystals with its light and the crystals responded with its sparkle.

The romantic moment was suddenly shattered by the squeak of the menacing mouse. The glint of sharp claws and the flash of razor sharp teeth was all that was seen for the next few minutes as darling shoe was torn to pieces. As the delicate darling’s limbs got strewn across the floor, and the crystals were torn from its body, death numbed her senses.

The next morning I came down from my first floor bedroom to see the decapitated body of my prized shoe, with the crystals strew about the floor and the delicate straps lying all over, in small pieces.

The mouse has had its revenge. The murder had left me heart-broken. Through warm, salted tears that gushed down my cheeks, only two words escaped my lips – rat poison! 

The war had just begun!

Whoa! Troll!

Whoa! Lookout, its a troll!

I'm an internet junkie and man, do I get the occasional visit from a Troll. It’s interesting how the word meandered its way from Scandinavian folklore and Norse mythology to modern day tech jargon.

Let me tell you (in short) what the good old Scandinavian and Norse folk regarded as Trolls. The Norse mythology came first and were somewhat social beings, living in families (usually as father-and-daughter or mother-and-son) in isolated mountains, rocks, and caves. In the Middle Ages, the word Troll was used to denote a multitude of beings such as a giant or mountain-dweller, a witch, an abnormally strong or large or ugly person, an evil spirit, a ghost, a blámaðr, a magical boar, a heathen demi-god, a demon, a brunnmigi or a berserk.

Scandinavian folklore gave a more particular description of what could be called a Troll. Lore described them as being extremely old, very strong, but slow and dim-witted, sometimes with a cannibalistic urge. The stories said that the Trolls turned to stone upon contact with sunlight. Later, it was also said that Trolls can be quite "human looking" without any particular hideous appearance. But these Trolls would be distant, anti-Christian and prone to "kidnapping". Trolls were scared of lightening!

The modern day Troll is a much more sinister being! Let me speak in the wise words of Wikipedia, "In Internet slang, a troll (pron.: /ˈtroʊl/, /ˈtrɒl/) is someone who posts inflammatory, extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community, such as a forum, chat room, or blog, with the primary intent of provoking readers into an emotional response or of otherwise disrupting normal on-topic discussion. The noun troll may also refer to the provocative message itself, as in: "That was an excellent troll you posted."

While the word troll and its associated verb trolling are associated with Internet discourse, media attention in recent years has made such labels subjective, with trolling describing intentionally provocative actions and harassment outside of an online context. For example, mass media has used troll to describe "a person who defaces Internet tribute sites with the aim of causing grief to families.""

Well mythology or online irritants, I'd like trolls to keep to themselves. Not a very nice label to aspire for. So long!