Kambali (woolen blanket) bought at Kambali Bhavan in Bangalore in October 2019 in tatters due to wool eating worms by Oct 2021

I had been to India in 2019 and bought a Kambali or woollen blanket from Kambali Bhavan, in Bangalore. It is located opposite or somewhere near the police commissioner's office. I brought it to my home in Canada due to a feeling of nostalgia. Nostalgia because, since 100s of years,  most people of my village, people of my caste, farmers, etc used kambalis for warmth (cover yourself when sleeping or spread and sleep on it), during wedding ceremonies, take it to the fields during harvest and put the paddy on it, etc) and so on.

The woolen blanket was in storage for over a year at home in Toronto. I had it at the foot of my bed for a few months when I first got it. But as it got covered by my cat's hair, I put it away. Now let me lead with another story back to the Kambali story!

Since the last few weeks, I saw greyish-silver moths flying around the house. Out of a sense of 'live-and-let-live' I did not kill them and they gradually increased in number. Yesterday, I discovered to my horror, several black tiny worms crawling or sitting still on the ceiling of my room! I guessed these are the offspring of the silver grey creatures flying around.  Below you can see the tiny black things on the door and doorframe of the wardrobe in which the Kambali was stored over the last year in a plastic bag.

When I saw these creatures around this wardrobe, I opened it and found to my horror, heaps of dead grey moths lying on the wardrobe floor and some alive, walking over the stored blankets, jackets, etc. I found that the majority were on and around the Kambali, took it out of the house and discovered to my horror that the new Kambali had large holes in it...the wool eaten by these insects.

If you look above, I placed the Kambali on the grass in my garden and you can see the large gaping holes in it. 

 In the pic above, the brown things are the remains of the worms  and the black is the wool-powder...literally powder! These worms ate the wool in the blanket and this black powder is the black wool  or maybe it's black shit of these worms...the wool has retained it's color as it made through the digestion of the worm.  The blanket was made of  undyed, untreated 'pure' wool, straight off the sheep's back. Moral of the story: Not to buy "natural" untreated wool...

One important thing I forgot to mention: this Kambali was having a strong odor of sheep shit or cow shit. (I could not smell this in India but it's so strong here). I don't know why the hell I did not wash it! Maybe because it was new. I have never washed new clothes or new sheets bought first hand in stores. On hindsight, I realize that they have woven UNWASHED wool, literally off the sheep's back.  I don't know to what extent this sheep shit has contributed to these worms. 

One inexplicable miracle is that these worms have not made holes in the several other stuff in the wardrobe consisting of wool coats, jackets, silk shirts, cotton clothes from India, etc. Another miracle is that they have not spread to other wardrobes and clothes at home.

Now I am really aware that my pursuit of "natural" things,  that have "not-been-refined-or-artificially-changed" in some way could lead to disasters. There is a reason why somethings from nature are not great. They need to undergo some changes before being used or even being brought into the house. 

The Kambali is now in the blackbin and will be out of my life when the garbage is collected.