Fear!

Hi Guys,

Fear is an instinct that occurs when we feel there is danger nearby. All of us have fear for something or other. What varies is the degree of fear and the way we face it. Let me say about something that I fear the most.

It is none other than the Snakes. I have been living in the same home from my childhood days and the locality has developed a lot. In the earlier days, there used to be fewer houses and more thorn bushes. So, there used to lot of snakes around the place. I was fed up with the thought that all snakes are dangerous and snake bites lead to death.

Once when was 7 or 8 years old, I went to the terrace to take the clothes from the cloth lane. When I was climbing down the stairs, I heard the noise of some movement in dry neem leaves. I sensed that something was moving in the leaves. My small hands were full of clothes and they were nearly covering my face too. So, I was able to see nothing from that height. As I crossed half the way, I saw what was there and instantly screamed ‘Amma’.

It was a 6 foot long snake and it was lying on the dry leaves. My hands were trembling and I dropped some clothes. I never cared for the clothes and I never turned my eyes toward the snake. I just rushed inside my home. The snake too sensed the vibration and rushed to next home through the fence. I was looking through the window and I still remember the part of snake I saw. It was black-violet in colour. I knew what it means by ‘full of life’ then. The snake was magnificent and full of life. From then on Mom won’t send me to take clothes.

This incident happened quite early. I think it was during a summer vacation or some other holiday as I remember that I and my brother were playing. It was late afternoon and then someone came to pluck grasses from my home. He saw that there was a snake and informed us. We were just frightened and mom went and called some construction workers nearby. They came and tried chasing away the snake and the snake entered the bathroom pipe. So, they decided to attack the snake from the bathroom.

They asked me and my brother to move away from bedroom as it was a very long snake. They pulled the snake out of the pipe and closed the bedroom door and after some fight, they hit the snake. I still remember two people carrying the snake from bedroom. It was dark green in colour and it was also a big one. Blood was dropping all along the way and that day I knew... Snake blood is also red in color!

As I grew up, the number of houses in the locality started increasing, which meant that thorn bushes were decreasing and snakes had no place to hide. So the number of snakes I saw in the past 7-8 years was very less. For the past 2-3 years, we encountered no snakes, but due to the heavy monsoons this time, some snakes have come again.

Particularly in the last few days, some small snakes were frequently coming. Yesterday, there was a 2 foot long snake in the garden. The worst part was that it was crawling on the top of compound wall. All these days, I have never seen a snake climbing a wall. How did that snake do that? I was so frightened and searched Google for ‘wall climbing snakes’ and never got an exact answer. This has created new fears in me.

Hope that wall climbing snake doesn’t come again.

Happy Reading!!!