May 25, 2011

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!!!

11 comments:

  1. Hmmm .. i was already afraid of snakes , but now flinching to the core !!!

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  2. A good one expressing your feeling in a interesting manner!

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  3. nice one expressing the feelings u came across over years! i still remember the snake that was killed by the constructions workers in our house:)

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  4. @Unna

    i think many people r afraid of snakes... not just us...

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  5. @Narayanan

    thanks for the comments and that incident was an unforgettable one... the snake was really big...

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  6. Looks like you have lived amidst a lot of greenery...Thats nice but then snakes can be a frightening experience, i can imagine! I have hardly seen any snakes around wherever I have lived!

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  7. Hey i think the snake might have been in some tree in ur home and due to strong wind it may have fallen on ur wall. Another possibility is that some passerby near ur home might have picked up and thrown without intension and fallen on ur wall

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  8. @Arti

    thanks for the comments.... my house used to be quite outside the city.... but these days it has merged with the city and it has become a complete residential area.... no one here will believe if we say there were huge snakes...

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  9. @Vimal

    interesting theory... it is difficult for a snake to climb on anything until or unless, the surface is rough or there is something for the snake to grip... but there are few exceptional snakes.... that might have been a different one...

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  10. Good article karthick

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