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Designed , developed & Hosted By Kishoo, Barkur |
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Cobra
under my heal I was returning home alone from Sasthan Market.It was about 7 PM., rather dark/dusk. I felt something cold under my feet. I had neither shoes nor slippers, just thick-skinned bare 9-10 year old feet. Within seconds a long, ice cold tail coiled around my leg, till almost to my neck. A mysterious voice told me "Don't you lift your leg, you stupid fellow…." I just stood there frozen, like a salt statue. I just smashed whatever was under my heel lowly, and eventually, the tail fell to the ground with a thud. I gathered enough courage to lift the snake by the tail, and carried it to a nearby 'gudi/temple', where the evening prayer oil lamp was already lit. [There was neither electricity then, nor any street lamps of any sort for illumination.] Actually,
I had 'chutnified'/pulverized the head/brain/eyes of a cobra with my
naked heel! The black "V" in the ventral neck area was quite
visible. A chill went
through my spine, and all my hair stood like the hairs of a porcupine in
rage! Even now, as I type these lines, my hair buds seem to have a
better memory. I took the snake home. My mother was shocked. She knelt and
thanked God for saving her son's life.
My mother cut this snake into three pieces, and I buried it near
a banana plant as fertilizer.(Cutting in pieces was to ensure, that the
snake might not regain consciousness to take vengeance, a local, the
then (perhaps, still lingering) ignorance, of course!)
Later in life, I did kill quite a few snakes/cobras bare handed,
who used to visit our chicken house or found in the rice fields.
Most of you may know the frantic helpless
cry or vocalization of Myna birds whenever there is snake near
their nests. My dog used to help me locate the snakes.
My neighbors, who believed in 'reality'used to call me to kill
cobras, irrespective of their brainwashed beliefs. Believe it or not,
these are true truths. After
all "Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder." I can't even pull
a leg, not even a snake's leg, tail? Yessss!
James
Fernandez,
Moodahadu Village, Thenkabettu,17/08/2002 For a glimpse of the life at Barkur as remembered by Barkurians, check archives |
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Barkur, located in Udupi Taluk, Karnataka, India. 576 210 |
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Copyright Kishoo, Barkur 2002. |
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