Invincible Naga

Chapter 22 The Rocks of Honey

It was a gloomy morning for Senan and Pakirappa. Instead of sun-gazing, they were engaged in staring at the hill. Its peak, which they felt as its face had turned darker, had a dead appearance, unlike the pleasant face it used to have previously.

Instead of making them glad about its greenery, the hill made them lose hope with its dark head. While folding his hands on their hill for prayer, Pakirappa felt a little dejected.

He sat on the floor in the sit-out and told Senan, 'Do you know how many trees would have been lost there?'

'Is that a private property?' Senan asked.

'No, part of the reserved forest. The valley at the root of the hill belongs to a wealthy Gowda family in Chikkamagaluru. Half of the hill is full of rocks. Far behind it is the ill-famous Thenpara (The Rocks of Honey), with its huge caves and rocks. No one dares to enter it. It's highly occupied with big battalions of bears,' Pakirappa replied.

The new information about the rock was threatening for Senan. 

'They used to come down here?'

'Many times, at night. They haven't yet attacked anyone except Stevin.'

'Did he escape them?'

'It's a wonder that they didn't kill him. But one huge bear among them scratched the front part of his head and threw him away. His limbs were broken.'

'He's lucky,' Senan commented.

'Yes, he was found bleeding heavily and lying unconscious amidst the huge rocks that night. Hunters headed by Bairu had set out in search of him. Bairu and the Malakudiya helped Stevin's family search him out, as Bairu had been a close friend of Stevin's elder brother, who had been a famous hunter and a sharpshooter in the reserved forest for a long time till then.'

Senan wished to hear it more elaborately. Seeing Senan more interested in it would make Pakirappa say nothing about it. Moreover, he had been tired and refused to sit on the floor. Otherwise, he would be sitting on his haunches and moving from front to back or side to side slowly, like a cradle, to soothe his anxiety about something about the hill, which Senan had been unaware of till then. It couldn't be about Ouseph, but something else! Senan had been sure of Pakirappa's nervousness, although Senan did not know what it could be.

Senan had already been acquainted with Ouseph. He had been to the farm once with Dhani to cut the grass around the farmhouse with the grass-cutting machine. Although Senan told the Dhani that Pakirappa would accomplish it, Pakirappa had been busy on the 700-acres. Pakirappa had been so obliged to the Dhani of the 700-acres, who had helped him in many critical situations in his life, which Pakirappa never kept confidential. Above that, the Dhani of the 700-acres first brought him here as a laborer from his village. Whenever Pakirappa went to other estates in Northern Karnataka, his Dhani gave the landowner to whom Pakirappa owed money and brought him back to Devagiri.

He used to say, 'I've got some secret connection with nature here. Perhaps I'm born there; I would have been destined to live for and die here in this land.'

(to be continued)