20 Guruguru and Gecko
There was a lizard about twenty centimeters long, which was a friend of all the kids in the town. This was guruguru the agama lizard found everywhere in the town. It was found in the gardens or it scuttled across the roads and disappeared in the grass verges. It came out of culverts or raced from under small rocks and shot up a tree. It lay on stones, boulders or ledges, basking in the sun, its brilliant colours vivid.
One did not miss spotting a guruguru as it has a brilliant orange head and neck and a blue red-brown body. When it runs it rises high on its legs, head high for better vision and tail held upright for better balance. On the way to school we went across a concrete bridge near Gambhu. Both banks of the river were wooded with a variety of trees, bushy undergrowth and had rocks and boulders scattered about it. The guruguru lived here and under the bridge in cracks and hollows. In the morning the guruguru came out to bask and lay on the parapets of the bridge. It likes to protect the place it sits on and does not like other lizards to encroach its area. To warn away other lizards from its area the agama puts on a strange performance.
From time to time it rises on its front legs and bobs its head up and down. In this way it warns other lizards to keep clear of its area. But to us children this nodding of the head meant something very different. If we spotted a guruguru we stopped and crept as close as we could without scaring it. Then any kid who had something important to do on the day asked the guruguru a question. Not too loudly it was asked a lot of questions.
Guruguru, guruguru, will I win the marble match? Guruguru, guruguru, will we win the soccer match; will we win the marble game or will I pass the maths test. Everyone waited, very still and quietly. If it raised its head and nodded everyone cheered and charged away rather happily. However, if it turned and disappeared under the bridge, everyone muttered and agreed that after all it was really a lot of humbug. What would a silly guruguru know of soccer or marbles or of tables and test. Yet this did not stop us from asking another agama if we spotted one.
At any house or office, bank or shop or school and the town cinema there were the geckoes. The house gecko, a small lizard was found in every dwelling. Unlike its bush relation it has a very thin parchment like skin and lived in ceilings and rafters. Though some could be spotted during the day it emerged at night. With large eyes raised well clear of its head it moved silently along the ceiling or the walls. If two got too close there was a scuffle and sometimes one or both fell down. The geckoes fed on mosquitoes, flies, and other dudus, insects, and so were not chased away.
Staying absolutely motionless it waited on the wall or the ceiling till an insect settled on it. Raising itself on all four legs, the head with the raised eyes held high, it stalked the prey. Lifting one foot at a time and very very slowly, it stalked the insect and crept closer and closer and closer. When it got within the striking distance it waited a moment and then shot forward. It snapped up the dudu, and moved to a safe place to gobble it up.
When a female with eggs in her tummy got onto a lamp shade to catch something, the outline of the eggs could be seen clearly through the thin skin. Also the geckoes chatted or warned each other with a very sharp, tic, tic, tic.
If two geckoes stalked one insect bets were laid on which would get it first. The geckoes caused a great deal of merriment in the town cinema. On occasions a gecko got onto the glass plate in front of the projector, and a huge monster appeared on the screen. As the projectionist tried to shoo it by tapping the glass, a battle of giant fingers and a monstrous lizard took place on the screen amid loud whistles, cheers claps and huyo, huyo, chants. Then as the giant lizard slithered off the screen, everybody settled to watch the movie.
