Agamas, I somehow tend to find a kind of melancholy in their expression… maybe ‘tis a because of the head being held up high but in edginess rather than pride… or the furious activity one can feel even as they stand stock-still… in their reptilian universe, agamas would be the average Joe (or Jane), a thickset build and no-nonsense approach to subsistence, adapting to rapidly changing environs in the Anthropocene with little or no complaints… always managing to find a crevice or two no matter the surroundings… forever hungry for the sun, and preferring bugs on the palate… this pensive look on their faces kind of extends to many ectotherms though, probably a derivative of that constant need to adapt to environmental stresses, as if hunting for prey or avoiding predators isn’t enough work… energy efficient by being deficient, the warm-blooded ponders, as the ability to regulate body temperature creeps into a discourse on how much control one needs anyway…

We were taking a whirlwind tour of Athirappilly Falls when a sudden movement caught the eye in between hundreds of feet clamouring about for selfies… and the movement noticed being spotted too, freezing on a rock among a clump of grass, waiting for a bit, quite a bit in fact, gracious enough to give me time to change lenses despite the touristy cacophonies oblivious to its presence… turned out to be a Peninsular rock agama, a female looking for a suitor maybe, for the monsoons were up and about and the fauna in a flurry of urgent activity, eager to be done with the reproductive chores… scaly like a miniature dragon, coloured much like the rock ‘twas perched upon, unlike the males that wear bright colours during the breeding season… a piece of medical gauze lay polluting the scene, the sound of thundering water drowned by the human din… and then one didn’t felt bad about keeping the reptile waiting, shushing to let it scamper into the anonymity of the bushes…

Musing on a Peninsular rock agama, Athirappilly falls, Kerala…