Contrasting fate of two snakes

No one ever told me that grief felt so like fear. Yet, over time, fear gives way to something else — something bearable. — CS Lewis

WHEN I came across this beautiful quote, the first thing that flashed across my mind was an experience with a snake. This incident happened decades ago when I was visiting my paternal grandfather’s village.

When I woke up one morning, I was shocked to hear a scream. I scurried out of the house. A crowd had gathered around the grinding stone. In those days, for all grinding purposes, this stone and a pestle were used instead of the modern-day mixer. There was confusion, and at last I came to know about the reason for the commotion. A big, fat snake that was in deep sleep was seen coiled around the pestle. The previous night, it had rained heavily, and so the snake had taken refuge there. Before I could fathom the fact that a potentially dangerous reptile had entered our premises, a villager with a sharp instrument, in one single stroke, pierced the stomach of the snake. The poor thing, which was probably stunned, tried to raise its neck and wriggle out of the hole of the motor. A few minutes later, it met a gory end. Another shocking piece of news awaited me: the snake was pregnant. The villager had damaged the reptile’s womb.

The snake, with its hood raised, had lost its life for no fault of its own. What’s worse, its unborn offspring had to undergo suffering even before it came into this world. This incident was etched in my mind for a long time, and every time I thought about it, a sharp pain pierced my heart.

Years later, a similar situation unfolded, but this time the outcome was different. I was sipping tea one evening on the balcony of my apartment when I heard noises in the park below. Keen to find out the reason for the commotion, I saw a snake trying to wriggle away from the terrified people. The local wildlife services had immediately been alerted. The way they handled the snake was absolutely commendable. Later, I read a message in our community’s WhatsApp group that the snake had been relocated to a safe natural environment without causing any harm to it.

The fear and agony that I had experienced during my earlier encounter with the reptile was now replaced with tolerance. As the great scientist Albert Einstein rightly said, “Our task must be to free ourselves by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.”