Goa, June 7 -- Even toddlers squash cockroaches, but these ancient relatives of termites are the ultimate survivors. Entomologists say they're the most loathed insects (the clinical fear is called "katsaridaphobia") and history backs it up: ancient Egyptians petitioned their gods against them, while Pliny the Elder called them "disgusting" over 2000 years ago.

Nonetheless, nothing has managed to prevent them surviving hundreds of millions of years, outlasting the dinosaurs, multiple Ice Ages, and innumerable mass extinctions of other species.That teeming invulnerability makes the cockroach an apt, inspired symbol to represent desperate young Indians who are seeking to reform the political system against all odds."India is a republic of t...