A few weeks later, when Senan had been to the river to fix the water pipes, he found the giant cobras together on the 300-acre farm. The vegetation had painted the surrounding hills in various shades of green, ranging from dark to light, from intense to mild. The river, which emerged from the springs, grew into small streams, and developed into waterfalls, was flowing down the hills and rocky terrain continuously.
The farms, estates, and homes receive water from the river via PVC pipes, from the irrigation system using the terrain and natural slopes before it reaches the ravines. The river also has tributaries and ditches cut into it. However, no one has been permitted to abuse the water, even if it flows through one's land.
During torrential rains on the hills, water floods the river. It was common for the PVC water pipes, irrespective of their size, to get detached and swept away due to the heavy thrust of water. In such circumstances, laborers faced a shortage of drinking water. Occasionally, stuff deposited at the mouth of the pipe hinders the water flow. Usually, Senan had to set out seeking the cause.
The opening mouth of the PVC pipes in the river was somewhat four or five feet away from the waterfall over the biggest boulder. It was hard to stand there on the streambed, surviving the heavy flow. Senan had not been accustomed to it. If the pipes were detached near risky waterfalls, he had not to fix them. Rather, the Dhani would send competent and experienced laborers with Pakirappa or the young Malakudiyas to connect the pipes. Since Senan wanted to do it on his own, he set out alone.
He found that the connecting pipe near the waterfall was missing. Carefully walking along the slippery rocks on the riverbank, he searched for the flowed-away pipe. Since he could not find it stuck somewhere in the river, he got into the heavy flow. Wherever the streambed ran deep, he swam in it, and whenever he could place his feet on the streambed without fail, he waded through it.
Senan had to hike up large rocks immersed in the water to move across the river. Three various-sized PVC water pipelines, marked with a distinct color, were immersed in the river, each belonging to a different farm or estate.
Bending down again, he observed the water pipes immersed in the river. It was found nowhere there. He concluded that it could be either stolen or lying in the streambed, or else, it could be caught amidst the rocks down in the river.
Meanwhile, he spotted something rolling and frolicking on a big rock far away, above the big boulder. Slowly, little by little, it was developing into a giant animal that he could not figure out.
He assumed it would be the back of a wild bull. Nonetheless, he remained sceptical about his assumption. He climbed on another rock with the rifle slung over his shoulder and tried to get a better look at it, using the hefty vines that hung above his head from wild trees for support. Senan moved forward, bending down, and clinging to the rocks, even without shaking off the cobwebs that stuck to his body on the way.
He imagined it would rise upright and develop horns. To his astonishment, the beast stretched out and stood upright, entwined like two large, heavy jungle vines. He seized the rifle slung on his shoulder. By then, the animal had developed two heads and turned into two giant cobras. While realizing that one of them had its eyes turned on him, he panicked. During mating, a looker-on is an aggressive intruder for the snake, whom they will never spare. Moreover, it had been an unpardonable crime committed against the snakes according to the indigenous people who believe in Naga.
At this point, the snakes that fell on the rock got untied and twitched. He was frozen, as if something had run up his head through his spine, making him immobile. Meanwhile, the snakes were scaling the cliffs and charging at him, moving across the rocks. They merely had to cross the river. Their speed made him more nervous, and despite his best efforts, he failed to target the rifle at them. It was unsafe to stay there any longer, and he stepped back. He slipped, leaped over the rocks, swam through the raging water, and got to the other bank of the river. Then, he turned back to find one of the cobras slithering swiftly through the water towards him. The other one was nowhere to be found.
YOU ARE READING
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...
