The fly in the White House!

Awh! I was that gullible peasant who believed that the artful politician in you was dispensing life-hacking skills on how to battle a fly. You pulled it off! Moreover, you bring in a lizard now? A lizard? Hold on, what about our fly. We haven't arranged a ceremonious funeral or ode to him, yet. Where did this lizard come from? What kind of a lizard is it, another slain lizard or an endangered lizard or a flying lizard? Give me the scoop. tat ta tat!

 

While a lizard and a fly seem an estranged pair, the credit for strange bedfellows goes to a lizard and a scorpion here. They work as a professional sniper team in stoic silence. I will cover, or in this instance shade, your back while you are at your stinging volley. I enjoy such unique partnerships in nature.

Going by such coalitions, lizards in their monkish poses though shiftless are compassionate and are good team players. Now you might argue if only they had Indian lizards in White House ….the fate of our fly would have been different. Perhaps, a partnership would have forewarned and prevented the untimely death of our beloved Fly. Indian lizards though apparently indolent are quite resourceful. They imitate a fly-on-the-wall position but once you try to grab them, they will outrun a cheetah and escape. Don’t tell me I was the only one who tried to capture dragonflies and lizards while growing up. Flies and lizards may not be huggy friends, nevertheless, they watch each other’s back.

Rambling is your middle name. There might be a suitable word to describe such reptilian fascination but I prefer generic ‘rambler’ because we never know the next pit stop in animal kingdom after flies and lizards.

 

There was a thread once in snippets on the audacity of BBC to air a documentary on an ongoing inquest in India.

Those who know about BBC won't find it surprising that BBC makes a documentary on every object under the sun. They are intrepid in making documentaries. If you have watched the BBC for a year, it is like you have read one volume of the encyclopaedia. Back to your question, the clip I posted was from Weird Nature series. The man is a Bedouin and their tribe consider thorny-tailed lizards a delicacy. BBC also did one documentary on Bedu tribes of the desert whose customs blew my mind away. Those desert folks embrace the sand and harsh conditions like no other man from clement regions can think of. I was shocked: not any lizard but thorny-tailed lizard. Similarly, I was amazed by their adept pit cooking than what they were cooking.

Knowing that you are a vegetarian, you might find this squeamish but Bedu and lizards form another nutritional companionship. Also, the challenging the catch, the pride in dining in that arid climate. Remember, thornier the tail!

 

Life is not simple even for the well-heeled non-vegetarians but for different reasons.

When I immigrated to this country, the only non-veg I knew and ate back at home was chicken, seafood and egg. I was torn between the red and gritty meat and the softer poultry. I started with turkey and then pork and then beef and then veal. That is my meat trajectory. Such bubbly stews and pie galore and I could not resist. I ventured into alien tastes not for lack of known tastes but you know ...the temptation of sensing that it is out there! How does it taste, is it chunky, is it slippery, is it leathery. As our Oscar Wilde frames it in The Picture of Dorian Gray, "The only way to get rid of temptation is to yield to it.” In no time did I jump from bread and jam to sausage and bacon for breakfast.

There was slight inhibition in the beginning, but once I got the hang of the taste and texture I was fine. Don't take this as I am selling non-veg to you. I am citing my journey from a soft-lined non-vegetarian to a cast-iron-stomach non-vegetarian. When it comes to meat, I still prefer dining out rather than grappling how to slice chicken or lamb with my blunt knives. But for thorny-tailed lizards, I still need mental gymnastics or a plane crash in the African continent, which ever happens first.