Snakes

Snakes

At around 7:30 I wanted to take a break from work and go have chai. Indore had just witnessed a brilliant spell of rain. It was chilly and I love this kinda weather. My friend and I parked the bike infront of 'Bruj Vihar' our fav tea-shop. Half-way through our samosa, we noticed that the owner of Bruj vihar and his boys were screamin 'dheere se.. abey maarna math'.
There was snake. I dropped my half-eaten samosa and rushed to the spot. It was baby snake. Probably a water snake.
That's not what surprised me. The owner of the chai shop was particular that the reptile shouldn't be hurt. One of the guys from the crowd (there was a crowd in there in no time man!) took a cloth bag and was cajoling it to get in to it. 'pssst... pssst' He kept calling. He finally managed to capture it. The owner asked him to leave the poor snake some where far away. In the open. He turned around and grinned at me. 'Baccha hai sair' he said, as if the snake was a poor boy that lost his way home. Maybe he's right.
I don't know what stopped them from killing it. It could be some blind/religous belief... I don't care - the snake wasn't hurt. That counts. As I was paying up for the samosa and tea the owner was telling my friend 'They wont harm you - no snake will harm you- unless you get into its way. Damn right. I hope all across India we do the same. Back in Chittoor we killed a cobra -I'll regret it all my life- because my neighbours and friends told me it had a ****ing camera in-built and that it'd stalk me for the rest of my life and wont rest until it kills me. And why? It's a cobra! Nothing else! Of course, in its spare time it shoots wild life movies... Kushan Nandy - thank your stars they aren't making Hindi movies. Toug competition for you!
Write to me: suman 'at' sumankumar 'dot' com

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