Beads of sweat break on my forehead and race down to the undulations of my collarbone. Fists clenched tight and skin is ash white. Palpitations make me restless and am frozen at my spot. The sight of that creepy crawly looking thing has me paralyzed! Oh my God! What am i going to do?!

My prayers start, "Oh Gosh! Please save me. Please give me the strength and the courage to move from here. Please! Please! Someone move that creature away from me! PLEASE! AAArrrrrrgghhh ..."

In comes my saviour armed with a broomstick, tapping away rigourously at that monster.

"Shoo.. shoo .. shoo!" - cries out my mother and before i could even open my eyes again it had long retreated into some dark crevice in the wall.

Phew! A sigh of relief.

"Beta, it's gone. You can open your eyes now," said my saviour for the day.

As soon as i opened my eyes, my brother howled with laughter.

"Prachi! Look it's behind you!" - he said. "Where?! What?! Mummieeeeeeeee," I screamed.

Another round of raucous laughter. This time my sister also joins in and adds to my humiliation.

"Prachieee.. it's just a lizard! What's wrong with you?!" - she giggles.

I nod my head - "You won't get it!," and then slammed the door and went into my room.

If only they knew how disgusting that rubbery disgusting creature looked. It wags it's creepy tail and slithers up and down the wall. Jumping off the wall and crawling on the same floor as us. How could you make such a creature, God?! Why?! The pale colored scaly skin and don't even get me started on it's face, The Horror!

I love animals. I love nature. Cockroaches and spiders have been a part of my childhood and we get along just fine, even now! In fact i miss playing with them but i've outgrown them. But these lizards, well they just ticked me off in the wrong way! Look at the nerve of these creatures. They continue to wreck my daily life even today.

This bitter animosity started many years ago on a fine lazy Sunday afternoon.

FLASHBACK

(please imagine it in black and white)

My stomach was growling with hunger. I had lunch but well, i got hungry again (hey.. don't judge me on that! Am a foodie. Bite me!)

So i open the refrigerator thinking -"Ahh! Let's see what can we have today. Hmmm... " and there i see a plate full of deseeded watermelon slices. Red and juicy. Yummy.

"All it needs is a little bit of chaat masala.. Yay!".

I hop, skip and jump to the kitchen cabinet completely unaware of the horror that awaits. As soon i opened the cabinet - "AAAAAAAARRRRGGHHH...".

THIS half foot long big fat disgusting and creepy black (it's not the black and white effect.. it was seriously Black!!) lizard falls on my plate of watermelon. Big yellow eyes look back at me with venom and it wags it's tail from side to side claiming my mid-day meal. Tankkk! I dropped the plate and then i blanked out. I have no recollection of what happened after that. That part of my memory is blanked.

So, this is how it all began. My hatred for these satanic creatures.. Lizards!

(You thought i was going to put up a picture of that thing on my blog post...?! Never!)