The Snake Charmer

Sometimes I wonder why I was born as nobody in the neighborhood seemed to like me. I loved watching the kids play in the evening, especially cricket and soccer and always wished to endear myself or simply go and talk with them. But they never seemed to understand me and always distanced themselves. Some were mean and Ravi, the fat kid from Besant Avenue was the worst and I feared him the most. I don’t remember wishing harm to anyone and life was certainly queer. I did have a group of friends who were older and very different from the boys down the street. But they were always busy and sometimes I felt lonely and desired the company of those kids.

Every evening I am punctual in offering my respects to Lord Siva in the temple down south road. Today being “Pradosham,”a very auspicious day for one to offer obeisance to Siva and Parvati, I expected the temple to be crowded. There were many familiar people and Mr. Nagaraj was as usual chanting Rudram to Lord Siva bellowing at the top of his lungs. Mrs. Malini had a huge vessel filled with tamarind rice and was patiently waiting for the temple bells to ring before she could begin serving the Prasad. Shastri, the pot-bellied priest was silencing the kids, as preparations were undergoing for the evening Arati.

Perambulating the four walls and taking a dip on the Cauvery, I crept back in unnoticed. I inhaled the strong smell emanating from camphor and the incense sticks. Like every other child, I wait until they serve Prasad and delight myself in accepting something even as insignificant as a bowl of coconut milk. I deeply concentrated, the inverted lotus appearing in my eye center and chanted my prayers with language known to gods that no human can understand. Oh! Siva!!! When am I going to become free from material perplexities and see the all-pervading spirit that the wise call “Brahman?” My eyes opened and I was in perfect stillness. My mind had attained equilibrium and being able to see things as they were, I became a mere observer within changing reality. It was Arati time and everyone assembled in front of the altar and along with the priests many chanted the Vedic verses and the temple walls resonated with primordial sounds. After the Arati, I prostrated to the Lord, his consort, and paid my respects to other deities. The temple wasn’t huge and I was able to cover ground within a few minutes.

While patiently waiting for the women to serve us prasad, I spotted her. I knew she lived on Lakshmi Street near the banyan tree close to the banks of the Cauvery River. I often see her with her parents and although they don’t visit everyday, they regard Tuesdays and Fridays as auspicious days. Our eyes have met many times and she smiles at me coyly. I have made many brave attempts to get to know her, but not in the temple, my inner instincts correcting me. However, today she seemed to be present alone and I guess tonight I was going to take chances in introducing myself.

After taking Prasad am on the auspicious moon lit night, I saluted the Lord and decided to follow her. It had rained earlier and I enjoyed the smell coming from the wet sand. Crossing the street at the end of Krishna Avenue, I saw her take a left onto Sridharan Street. She was beautiful and her body curved like Goddess Lakshmi as she slithered into Amman Avenue. On a scale of 10 she was 9 to my eyes. I gained on her when I saw Ravi and the bunch of kids returning home. Ravi yelled “Hey look whom we have here, Hahaaa!!!” They started teasing me and I patiently tolerated expecting their censure to end soon. However, they were unrelenting and tormented me mercilessly. My body started shaking and rattling; Partly out of fear and partly because I didn’t hate them and didn’t want any adverse emotions to seize me after a good evening in the temple. Soon, they got physical and I lost my cool. “You mangy dog, son of a mongoose,” I hissed my blood boiling. Aggression wasn’t the way I was raised and words failed me. I couldn’t say anything. But I guess they got the idea and seeing me racking, they backed off and fled.

Emotions got the better of me and I felt weak. While I thought the whole incident went unnoticed, I saw her standing not far, behind the Peepal tree – a witness to the incident. She approached in my direction and our eyes met. Her eyes gleamed like emeralds and were like the ones of Pythia. She was ethereal, her skin shining in the moonlight. I was in no position to talk and she sensed my discomfiture. Her glance was comforting and I felt her vibrations. Her biorhythms indicating, “ I am there for you,” and let’s walk home together.

I snuggled closer her and forking our tongue we coiled around each other and she closed her eyes feeling shy. Our tongues met and I twitched as she willingly shared her venom. The silence in the night was disturbed by some rattling, a characteristic that rattle snakes exhibit when they desire to mark their zone and warn trespassers.