A Day With A Lizard

Seemingly insignificant creatures, many a times, have the power to change the course of the day. As they rightfully say, size has nothing to do with fear; This common reptile, somehow, is a dread for many….

Unlike other days, Aashira was up at the crack of dawn. She felt completely fresh, and raring to go. Her husband Rihaan was still fast asleep. She was out of the bed and in no time was in the kitchen, ready to cook for the day. She would make spicy poha, a form of thrashed rice, for breakfast. Rihaan loved it. She would make chicken fried rice for lunch, again a favourite for both of them. By the time Rihaan was up, and entered the kitchen to make tea for both, as was his usual practice, Aashira was packing their lunch boxes.

“How come you are up so early Aashu? All well?” He was concerned.

“Yes, yes, everything fine, Rihaan! I simply woke up early, and couldn’t stay in bed,” she smiled.

Both sat down on the terrace, to have their morning tea. This was the most relaxing time they had together, and they both savoured every moment of it.

“I just hope everything goes well today. I really have worked so hard on my presentation, but that grumpy super boss will be there!” Aashira bit on her biscuit.

“Of course, Aashu. Your presentation will go off super well, I am absolutely sure of that. You have indeed put together an excellent presentation.”

“Only one out of the five of us is to be selected for the project Rihaan, and how badly I want to be that one! You know, it has been my dream project for the past one year. And I heard rumours that Geetanjali is the boss’s friend’s daughter, so no one else has a chance,” Aashira looked pretty disturbed.

“Aashu, no point in lending ears to rumours. You have done your best, now just go and get ready, lest you are late.” Rihaan got up too.

It was time for both of them to leave for work. Rihaan went to take the car out from the garage and Ashu too was ready to leave. She looked at herself in the full length mirror in their room. She had to look good. And yes, she did! Satisfied, she turned. And no sooner had she picked up her bag, than she gave out a shriek. She kept on screaming, till, hearing it from the ground floor, Rihaan came up running.

“What happened, Aashu?”

“It’s there!” she was trembling, as she pointed her finger towards the stool on which her bag was kept.

Rihaan couldn’t see anything that would justify the petrified demeanour of Attire.

“What is there, Aashu? Come, we are getting late!” He insisted.

“It’s a lizard! A baby lizard! Rihaan, don’t give me that disbelieving look, please! It was right here, near my bag,” Aashira cried.

Rihaan picked up her bag, along with a few other things that were around, but alas, no lizard was to be found.

“There is nothing here Aashira, and even if a lizard was there, as you insist, it would have gone away. Now please, let us leave. We are already late.” Rihaan picked up her bag and walked out of the room. A hassled Aashira too followed him to the car. She just about made it in time for the presentations. On the way, all though, pictures of the tiny reptile kept dancing in front of her eyes and sent shivers down her spine.

The presentation was about to begin. Geetanjali was the first to give hers. She made a good presentation. The super boss along with the other three seniors, expressed their appreciation. Aashira was given the last slot. She was happy that way … she thought it was better that she got some time to gather herself. By the time her turn came, she was pretty much in the mood. She had to admit though, that each of the presentations given so far, was quite good.

It was her time now. Confidently she got up, and opened her laptop. She started her presentation. In the first few minutes, she could see from the expressions on the faces all around, that her beginning was good. She felt good. She carried on with her slides when suddenly her eyes fell on something. Something was moving behind the big screen, on the wall! She looked carefully, ensuring at the same time that her flow of narration did not get affected, and, to her horror, she recognised the tip of a tiny tail. Aashira almost froze. A lizard here? Unmistakably, it was the tail of a lizard. Now all her attention kept on going to the reptile, who was absolutely oblivious to getting so much of attention from a pretty dame. She carried on with her presentation with all her willpower, but the moving tail behind the screen refused to let her be. The morning visuals of the lizard near her hand bag started getting juxtaposed with the present one. She was terrified. Her legs were shaking, and she fought with all her might to carry on with her presentation, till the end. She succeeded in doing so and, having finished, grabbed the bottle of water kept in front of her on the table.

“Ms. Aashira, are you okay? You seem a bit unwell?” Enquired one of the senior directors, sitting there.

“Yes Sir, I am fine, thank you. Maybe just this heat took me off guard. The sultry weather gets to me, at times,” saying this she opened her handbag to get her handkerchief out. And out jumped a tiny, baby lizard. It looked around, scared, and then scrambled away towards the cabinet kept near the wall.

Letting out a scream, Aashira fainted and fell on the table in front of her.

She opened her eyes to see her colleagues standing around, with concerned looks on their faces. A doctor had been called, who was checking her pulse. Aashira sat up straight. Someone thrust a glass of water in her hand. She gulped it down. She felt better. She remembered everything, and her face turned red in embarrassment.

“I am okay now. I am, in fact, fine. Thank you!” she muttered to the doctor. “Probably I had too little of breakfast in the morning.”

The rest of the day she felt extremely awkward, for having created a scene in front of everyone. And the dream project? There was no chance for her at all, after what had happened. She felt like crying, but held herself back. She could not create more scenes. How she prayed for the day to get over, fast.

Finally, it was time to leave. She was wrapping up and was about to shut her computer, and then this mail popped up on the screen! This was a mail from the HR. She quickly opened it. It read,

“This is to inform you that you have been selected for the US project. Your presentation in the morning was unanimously voted as the best one. Congratulations and best wishes!”

Aashira stared disbelievingly, and read the mail a number of times. Then, still in a trance, she opened her handbag to take out her phone. She had to call Rihaan, to give him the great news. Just then she suddenly remembered what had happened in the morning, and impulsively pulled her hand out. She then took a deep breath and smiled.

What a day it had been, with a reptile! Maybe that actually turned to be lucky for her! She couldn’t stop smiling.