Invincible Naga

Chapter 28 The Setback

Since it was a chilled morning and the sky was overladen with dark clouds, hiding the vivid glimpse of the sun, Senan had no sun salutation for the day. Wearing a sweater and a woolen cap, Senan walked around the farmhouse. The clouds, carried down slowly by a breeze, were going to perch on the canyon far down amidst the hills. The three hills facing the farmhouse on the right were overcast with snow. One appeared dark green, and the other black, behind the light white veil of fog.

Senan washed his face with the ice-cold water from the pipe in the front yard. It chilled his face for a while, and he accepted it with a smile. The unpolluted divine water streams down from the water sprouts in the upper caves and the narrow slits amidst huge rocks and runs over stones, gravels, and rocks, drawing innumerable memories from them since ancient times.

A big, mud-colored, rough, oval-shaped stone stood on the slope of the hill that faced the front of the farmhouse and had been far to the right of the Twin Hills. The stone appeared as a big, incurable pimple on the hill's light-green, chubby right cheek. He wondered how it could stand there without rolling down. It would have strong roots that ran deep into the heart of the hill. What have been the experiences with these stones and rocks until now? If they had tongues, they would have hushed the roaring river, giving an account of everything and everyone they came across all these years.

Senan heard someone's sharp, long howl from far away. He looked around, moving a little towards the steep slope at the edge of the front yard. It had been from one of the four roof-tiled tiny houses on the hill slopes adjacent to the Twin Hills. They resembled the unsafe stones sticking to the hills on the slopes.

The wild animals, sneaking from the reserved forest, never raised any threat to those houses on the hilly slopes, although they roamed about their premises at night. Those house owners were KG estate laborers, and the then-Dhani gave each of them a few acres of land close to the estate boundary as a reward for their honest and responsible service.

Since those laborers grew their areca nut and black pepper plants, they stopped working on the KG estate. They appeared on a work emergency if the Dhani asked them to. Going along the winding path across the river, Pakirappa used to visit them to spend leisure time with them. So, the call came in search of Pakirappa.

Senan listened and found that the howl was followed by a whistling sound and a mild call that sounded like a long Pakee that echoed across the hills. Hitting against the hills, the call turned thin, vaporized into the thick snow smoke, and vanished. Senan heard Pakirappa running down the rubber plantation at the far upper boundary of the farm. Senan concluded that it was meant for them. So he whistled and howled back to inform the house owner that they had heard him.

From the slopes of the rubber plantation, Pakirappa could see Senan far down in the front yard of the farmhouse, and he cried loudly, 'Chenna, Python, a large one, there, in their house, in the yard. They're calling us. Come on, get ready.' He was charging like a flood down the slopes.

Senan was stuck on this. He had decided to stay in harmony with wild beings, particularly snakes and constrictors in the woods. Moreover, unlike before, the cries and howls neither scared nor infuriated Senan to attack it since the mysterious experience at the Sacred Grove prevented him from harming snakes.

Still, Senan could not turn down the call for help; he had to be present with the rifle. Moreover, he vainly wished the predator to be some other beast, like a wild bear from the caves of The Rocks of Honey, on the hilltops that stood far beyond the KG estate, although Pakirappa had already informed him that it was a python.

However, Senan seized the double-barreled rifle from the top of the almirah. Amidst it, Pakirappa arrived at the farmhouse, and instead of keeping his favorite tapping knives like Mitchie Golledge, Jabong, and the Modified Angle Gouge safe in his room, he threw them to the sit-out. He used to keep the tapping implements and the headlight on the right of his pillow while sleeping. He takes them while raising himself from the grass mat as he wakes up to tap the rubber trees. The matter would be of grave concern, or he would have a personal interest in it that beats his life as a rubber tapper. Meanwhile, Senan heard his mildly frustrated utterances from the front yard.

'What's wrong with you?' Senan came out in a hurry.

'My right leg was caught in something creeper-like. It still hurts. Leave it, Chenna. Let's go fast. I've promised them you'll save them. They can neither kill nor drive it away. It's a huge one.'

'What the heck! A huge python?' Senan did not dare to take any further steps. He recalled that he had placed his hand on the head of the Shesh Naga idol, praying that he would never harm snakes. Moreover, he wished to avoid the situations that compelled him to kill them.

Briefly, Senan was helpless to set out, and he sat down on the floor, gaping at Pakirappa, sitting on his haunches in the front yard and moving like a willow tree in a turbulent state. Meanwhile, they could hear the whistles echoing again, and Pakirappa seized the rifle from Senan and hurried, heading to the house far away.

The moment Senan was in his senses, he had been rushing after Pakirappa.

'A huge python emerges repeatedly in front of their house. Scared, they can't sleep well. There's none to save them.'

'Their call first reached the KG Estate, not us. They would've set out to save them,' Senan said.

'But no one else knows what the whistles and howls mean.'

'Pakirappa, don't fool me, okay? I know the natives answer the howls and cries from anywhere in these forests at the risk of their lives.'

Pakirappa stopped his speedy paces, turned back, forcefully put the rifle in Senan's hand, looked earnestly at his eyes, and said, 'Come on Chenna.'

They had already reached the end of the flowing path down to the farm from the farmhouse, which directly leads to the river. While resuming their journey, Senan asked, 'Why should I deal with it? I've promised Naga that I'd never harm snakes. Moreover, you who made me stop it coax me to do it.'

'I've got to keep the word at least once, and never again in the case of snakes,' Pakirappa pleaded.

'If you gave the word, keep it killing the python,' Senan shouted at him.

'What?' Pakirappa turned back and asked.

'I said, Keep the word, killing the python,' Senan roared at him.

'I'm not a sharpshooter like you.' Senan did not hear Pakirappa.

Since they were approaching the lower boundary of the farm at the bank of the river that roared at the boulders, they had to shout at each other to surpass the sound of the river that overwhelmed the ambiance.

'Who told you to promise them on my behalf? I'm breaking my vow with Naga to keep your promise to them.' Senan said this when Pakirappa stopped and bent down to release his foot caught in a creeper.

'I'm sorry, Chenna. I think Naga won't punish you. You're helping someone.'

'You're dragging me to helplessness. Naga is super-conscious. You'll be punished for my action against the python, not me.'

After being silent for a while, Pakirappa said, 'If Naga's blessing is with you, you'll be able to drive it away without harming it.'

Arriving at the river bank, they had been shouting at each other, paying attention to the movement of the other's lips to grasp the words uttered.

'If it returns?'

'What?' Pakirappa asked.

'If it returns?' Senan hollered at Pakirappa.

'Yes, yes, that's right. Still, we should go.'

'What's your interest in it?'

'What interest? Nothing.'

(to be continued...)