Senan thought about his last trek on the hilly terrain beyond the farmhouse at night until each event evolved gradually from his mind, one by one, chronologically. It all began a few weeks ago when the Dhani arrived last time from Mangalore. Being unfamiliar with the wild ambiance, Senan scarcely used to trek through the woods at night until then.
The intercrops of tapioca and plantain plants had been grown on the higher flats of the areca nut plantation, and pineapple plants on the rubber plantation. Some wild animals had spoiled, fallen, and uprooted many of them, turning the earth on its side at the roots. The unaffected plants had lost their shoots. Frequently, Senan used to observe a few wild rabbits hanging out there at night, as well as some monkeys during the day. But they were incapable of causing such a heavy loss to the crops. When the Dhani asked about it, Senan said he had found only rabbits.
'And you did nothing?' the Dhani turned to Senan for not adequately tending to the crops. The Dhani's thick, dark, long mustaches trembled, as did his brows.
'You could've shot them. Your responsibility is to protect the crops, not the animals. So, you're here with this rifle,' the Dhani said.
In a violent turn, the Dhani seized Senan's rifle and put it back into his hand with a thrust. For a split second, Senan was terrified but stayed calm on his face. Then, he hung the heavily loaded, double-barrelled rifle on his shoulder and released a sigh of relief.
'It's incredible! You want them to feed on the crops and ruin me?' the Dhani was displeased with Senan's interest in them. They had been ascending the hilly terrain together to assess the loss.
They carefully placed each pace on the bed of dried fallen leaves and small twigs, partially decayed and blended with the earth. Far away, they could see the massive loss in the area close to the enormous Burma Ironwood trees.
'There might be wild boars also. More chances go with porcupines. Many times, I've seen them here at night,' the Dhani said.
Whenever Senan is either fond of or scared of an animal, he can't kill it. In both cases, he turns into a vulnerable creature of emotions. He hid it all from the Dhani while following him obediently with the rifle hanging from his right shoulder.
He had been carrying a rifle for the first time since he reached the deep woods. The government had been offering every five-acre landowner one double-barrelled rifle, along with hundreds of bullets, to face the threat from wild animals.
'Have you ever seen a porcupine?' the Dhani asked.
'Through the window, whenever I hear it grunting,' Senan said hesitantly, unwilling to reveal his fear.
'Don't dare to approach it,' the Dhani warned him, looking back at his face. Senan nodded his head slightly.
Porcupines sneak out of the boundaries of the government-owned forest area at night. Besides that, Pakirappa had shown Senan their burrows close to the KG Estate's boundary.
To limit their access to the land, the Dhani had asked Senan to keep the lights on outside the farmhouse till late at night. But both knew that the animals would cross the boundaries of the forest miles away from the farmhouse and sneak into the plantation. Instead of speaking up and clarifying, Senan agreed to it.
Otherwise, the Dhani would blame him for petty issues. Listening to it being unresponsive is intolerable for Senan since his brain transmits electrifying signals all around his skull until the Dhani either leaves or puts an end to it.
The Dhani asked Senan to shoot at least the rabbits if he failed in the case of other animals. He reminded Senan that hunting the animals had been a highly demanding skill to thrive there.
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Invincible Naga
Mystery / ThrillerSenan had strange encounters with snakes, both in dreams and real life, when he was employed as a laborer in a vast farmland in the deep woods in a remote village in the Western Ghats of Karnataka, South India. Later, he finds that the snake had bee...
