I have often wondered what it would be like to write my biography. Although I’m not exactly a ninety-something-years-old grandma or someone to have cameras flashing and history books carrying my name, I’ve always liked to think about how it would be to actually start writing one. I am enrolled in an engineering program and somehow it seems like biographies for “Women Engineers” should be profound! But having just passed out of childhood and adolescence, looking back it’s a startling realization to find that more than writing about anything relating to biographies, I can rather easily write a book on ‘Reptiles and Me’ or should it be “Women Engineers and Reptiles?” In these eighteen years of my life, I have bumped into so many weird encounters with reptiles and other animals of the repulsive type, that all I can now remember about my earlier days are vaguely connected with reptiles! Here are two incidents from my life that happened quite recently.

I was quite used to lizards bothering me but it was only after we shifted to our new house that other creatures started to bother me. Last year, during my exams a rat or rather a mouse visited me! I have no idea how to tell between the two. When we moved in here, I thought that living on the third floor was like living among the treetops and so I thought animals won’t have the guts and grit to climb up three floors -------but they do and they invariably find their way to my room.

I think this rat seemed to have landed in the balcony from the water pipes and with utmost difficulty, crossing all the barriers in front of it unfailingly came to my room. Well, my mom was out and so I was ‘home-alone’. As I was preparing for the exam, I heard a weird noise from the attic but I ignored it and then suddenly something black and furry peeped out. I’ve never met a rat (or was it a mouse?) face-to-face and the impact of it was that I jumped and shrieked a little and closing the door behind me rushed out. I then stuttered to my neighbor for help and the poor man not knowing how to refuse to my plea came in telling ”It will go off on it’s own” and “How big was it?” (A huge mistake to have called this man!) But anyway he tried his best to find it but in vain and so left saying “if you see it again call me” (as if!!) Inching my way to my room, I gathered my books in a jiffy and ended up sitting on top of the dining table but nothing entered my head. I remained on top of the table till I pounced on my mom entering the house. And with the help of a borrowed mouse trap along with a suitable bait, the fellow was neatly trapped and was safely delivered near the garbage bin!

All my father had to say was “So what? Poor creature, where else will it go in this rain? (I don’t know, how about the sewer –I thought they loved that place!). You must just treat it as Jerry mouse. Don’t be so hard hearted.” Jerry mouse !!!!!!. Well for one thing Jerry is brown and cute whereas this one was black and creepy. And well, there isn’t anything in my room for mice to eat except for books to nibble and I strongly object to mice nibbling my books. In a way I do feel sorry for that poor creature------ may be was chased up by a predator, and it rushed up in an effort to save it’s life and unfortunately landed in a place where people kept shying away and being so mean as to shut in traps and throw out. Maybe it cries, “Nobody loves me”. But though I feel sorry for it, I feel sorrier for myself on having to live with a black creature!!

And then my Computer Science practical came along last month. And as I was busy typing out my programs, suddenly something popped out from under the keyboard and sat on the screen. It only took me a moment to realize that it was a slimy orange colored frog!!!!!!!! I wheeled back my chair with a reflexive shriek that broke the still of the examination! All the sirs rushed towards my place, with shock and concern. I pointed out the specimen that scared me, and they somehow finding it very amusing, tried to shoo the creature off. But try as they might the creature wouldn’t budge. It had crawled from the screen and had conveniently seated itself on the top of the monitor. Well, as there was no other system that was free in that lab, I had no other go but to work on this one which had an orange colored frog as an extra fitting! The first few minutes were horrible. The poor fellow was pretty shaken up by my ‘inconsiderate’ shriek, and so it just remained glued to the monitor out of fear. I first got a doubt whether it was still alive. But I could see it’s slimy skin throbbing, and so I was relieved that it was alive. But I just couldn’t concentrate!

I was suddenly struck with a major problem, not knowing to decide whether it was a frog or a toad. This one was pretty small for a frog but then too weird for a toad. I’ve never seen a tropical or rather an Indian frog that was orange. I’ve only seen colorful frogs on ‘National Geographic’, and never one in India. Then, I started to examine the possible ways by which the frog could have actually entered the lab. We were sitting in a lab that had no windows that were leading to gardens or to the outside world. But somehow this creature had managed to get in through one of the windows, which were perennially shut because of the A.C., and had managed to come to my system! It was exasperating.

But then time was running and I had to get on with my work. So I started on, ignoring the orange colored frog blinking at me. Well, I managed to finish my exam, and the frog too stayed with me for the entire three hours, not moving an inch from its place and very curiously observing my work. Then, as I started to leave from my place, I thought of saying a ‘good-bye’ to my friend. After a small gesturing, I turned to leave and at that exact moment the frog too leaped from its favorite spot and hopped away. For a minute, I thought it was going to follow me home, having liked me or something. But then I told myself I was going crazy because of the heat and went off only too happy to have lost the weird looking frog!

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