TRAIL OF A SNAKE
Vengrai Parthasarathy
Seven-year old Pappu came running excitedly and made a cryptic announcement to his father: “There is a snake in the garage”. Pappu was an imaginative boy. He had once seen an alien with horns getting out of a space ship outside their back yard. He had also seen a couple of tigers. His father , Sharma, knowing his son’s penchant for fantasy, pretended not to take notice of the boy’s breathless announcement .
The mention of the word ‘snake’ was enough to make Meena, the mother, perk up and drop all the vessels she was cleaning and come out of the kitchen. “Where did you see it”? Meena enquired. She had a hearty fear of mice and even cockroaches. Pappu replied that it had slithered under one of the drums in the garage. “Come on Pappu, you imagine too many things; there is no way a snake can get in” said Sharma.
Pappu was insistent. “Come on daddy, I’ll show you.. It was this long he said spreading out both his arms wide and imparting a sense of drama. Meena took it up from there. “No harm in just seeing to make sure”, she said. “Look Meena, I have just settled down with my Sudoku and you are sending me on a silly mission, in spite of knowing Pappu and his wild yarns”. Then addressing Pappu in a stern voice he said “Go and do your homework, you and your snake story”, he said.
“But daddy, I really saw it with my own eyes. It was this big”. Meena was on the air again. “Please go and see. It will take you a mere five minutes.. I cannot do anything with this fear preying on my mind”, she said. “Who knows, it may creep into the kitchen or even the bedroom. Please go. please”.
That was it. Sharma went to the garage with Pappu close on his heels. Meena stayed back. She said “No Baba, I will not come. I am scared”. Sharma prodded under the drum with a discarded stick looking for the alleged snake. He was surprised. It was there. “ I told you, I told you”, shouted Pappu. A greenish spotted, slimy fellow, all coiled up was very much there.
Before Sharma could make any move, the snake sneaked into the space under some gunny bags.The loud exclamations attracted a couple of neighbors and each one had a suggestion to make but no one was willing to do anything about the snake.. The thinking was that a snake charmer to hypnotize the snake with his swaying music should be found . There was no way one can get these charmers just like that. Then someone suggested that Ramlal, the free-lancing, odd-job man, could be summoned. He was good at turning his hand to such odd jobs .
Ramlal came and immersed himself in the hunt with all.
earnestness. He wanted a fee of fifty rupees for the job. Sharma felt there was room for negotiation . “Let us finish the job on hand first” he said, urging Ramlal to get on with it. This Jack-of-all-trades tackled the job dexterously and in a workman-like manner. He cleared the area of pots and pans and junk. In a matter of minutes, disdaining personal safety, he drew the snake out by its tail-end with his bare hands and killed it. He also exaggerated the dangerous nature of the cobra , which he swore it was.
Sharma knew that he was laying the ground-work to justify his steep fee. Since the job was done, he adopted a ‘take it or leave it’ stand, offering twenty five rupees. The two haggled . Ramlal said that Sharma was acting high and mighty because the snake has been killed. Sharma said ‘You are demanding much too much for a simple task which took you hardly ten minutes” Finally and grudgingly, Ramlal accepted thirty-five rupees. But he did not go. He waited till Meena came out from the kitchen wiping her hands with a towel.
Ramlal delivered his parting shot. “Let me caution you, madam. You have little snakes there. I saw a cast off skin of this serpent. It was delivered of a few baby snakes which must be around somewhere. Please be on guard”. Sharma was frothing as though a black Mamba had bitten him. He was not a sucker.He had
made Mrs. Sharma to think again but his wife was all froth with fear. .
Ramlal , the blackguard, was gone and hoping to get another call.
He muttered to himself. “I’ll make it a cash first. and then only talk”!