Lizards, Haunted Drawers, Pigeons And Stuff...

Chinese culture regards lizards as the harbingers of good luck and fortune. Probably it does not apply to India, for there is a lizard that has been living in my home since a long time, and we are yet to see any good luck and fortune. 

Personally, I do not have anything against lizards. But you try going to the kitchen first thing in the morning, switching on the light and seeing a big lizard sprawled on the wall a few inches right below where your hand was while you were pressing on the switch for the light. 

In the silence of the early morning, the palpitations in the heart felt like drumbeats. 

Ironically my first instinct (after somewhat calming down) was to take a photo, for the lizard did look freshly bathed and ultra-clean. Plus, I have only ever caught slight glimpses of it every now and then. Today morning was the first time I saw it in all its glory. So it was imperative for me to take a snap. By the time I brought my mobile to the kitchen, the lizard was gone.

Fact check - you think that a lizard's absence is better than its presence. Sorry to burst your bubble, but when a lizard disappears after you see it, it is more of a cause to worry. Where could it have gone? Inside some vessel? Under the stove? In your room???

The lizard must be somewhere inside the kitchen. Some things should be best left undisturbed. Some mysteries aren't to be solved. 

Then there is the haunted drawer in my kitchen. Note how, since I spend most of my time in the kitchen, all calamities choose to happen there. Anyway, this drawer opens on its own. Especially when I am standing in front of it. And since it is placed underneath, at a level where its top touches my ankle and its bottom (which is coincidentally sharp) grazes my toe always, I get several mini-strokes in a day, assuming that something is crawling over my leg whenever the drawer opens. Sometimes it opens when I am passing by, thereby tripping me majestically. Sometimes I kick it back in anger and it comes out in greater force, knocking against my leg. The only plausible explanation is it is haunted. It is better to accept this, than the troubling thought that a drawer is out to get me. I mean, surely it can't get this bad for me!

Then there are the pigeons. Oh, the pigeons! They had been regular visitors to the balcony of my house until they decided to colonize it. Last year we had been on a trip for a week. We came back to a set of proud pigeon-parents and their two new-born babies. The smell - best left unsaid. 

Anyways, we got a net installed in the balcony so that no other pigeon-couple will be tempted to use the space as a delivery room. For a while, peace reigned in the house and all was well.

Last month, our building went for renovation and painting. The net had to be removed. The pigeons made a comeback, and how! The net has to be installed today at any cost, lest we return home to another majestic and smelly delivery. So I await the painters now, alternately gazing between the balcony, the pigeons threateningly glaring from the tree opposite to our home, and the painters who are taking their own sweet time to come home. 

So these are today's issues in a nutshell. Wait... I am forgetting something... Oh, right. The clothes that I gave out for ironing yesterday (after the infamous Ironbox Spark Fiasco) are supposed to be returned by today evening. If I don't get them today, my suitcase will be relatively lighter to carry tomorrow. That's the bright side, I suppose.