Stagezilla v/s The Desert Beetles

In the movie, this beetle will be played by Paul McCartney

We’re walking to the site at a leisurely pace yesterday – it’s nearing sunset and the weather is learning to chill – when we hear a soft but distinct crunch.

“You killed it!”

Stage has stepped on a dung-beetle. There are thousands of them around. Probably millions. This is when they scurry out of their holes to forage for food before they go to sleep for the winter. They are curious, quite unafraid and totally harmless.

One of them now lies belly-up on the ground. It’s still twitching.

Stage is frozen with one foot off the ground.

“You didn’t even kill it,” says Kaptaan. “At least put it out of its misery.”

Stage shrugs. There’s another crunch.

“It’s still not dead!”

Crunch.

Stagezilla the Beetle-killah has unleashed terror on the benign denizens of these dunes. Batman is worried it’s going to get much worse by the time we’re done with the festival.

The land needs to be prepared for setup – raked and flattened. Dung beetles, salamanders, they all like to pitch their camps beneath the shade of wild bushes. If too many bushes get uprooted, so many desert inhabitants would be left without a home. Where will they go?

Not into the Ragasthan campsite, I hope.

Meanwhile, Stagezilla’s reign of terror continues.
I didn’t see a single dung beetle at the site today.