The Bank Road Adventure

Lakshmi stared at the pile of freshly laundered clothes on the divan with resentment. Her mother had asked her to fold and put them away neatly before their guests arrived. Didn’t Amma know that she had to go to Raji’s house for the Puja?!

“Amma! Can I please go to Raji’s house now and take care of the clothes in the evening? I promise to come back soon!”

Her mother shouted back, “NO! Appa will throw a fit if he comes back early and sees all this mess. I gave you one simple task — Do it.”

Lakshmi ground her teeth and set to work. To add insult to injury, more than half the clothes were Tambi’s. Not only was she forced to abandon her plans, she also had to fold her pig of a brother’s clothes while he was out gallivanting all over town with his fool friends. She started with her own clothes first and folded them meticulously. Her mother’s saris came next. They took the most time and she fumbled with a few folds, dropped a few others, but she managed to get through them all. Father’s shirts and trousers went to the istri-wallah anyway. How did it matter how they were folded! A few swift movements and Father’s clothes were done, too. Only Tambi’s clothes remained. She toyed with the idea of crumpling his shirts and khaki shorts into a ball and stuffing them in his almirah but she didn’t want him complaining to their mother about it.

“Tambi complaining of untidiness! Now that would be something!” She snorted at that mental picture and stuffed his clothes into his shelf.

Her task accomplished, she shouted in the general direction of her mother, “The clothes are done! I am late for the Puja, and I hope you are happy!” She ran to the porch, took her bicycle out the gate and pedalled furiously to Raji’s, only to slow down a few houses away.

A fair number of kids and adults alike had crowded at the gate to Murthy uncle’s house. A few of them were lined up beside his neighbour’s gate, goggling inside. Their excitement didn’t escape her notice. She braked to a halt and accosted the nearest kid, who happened to be her next-door neighbour.

“Ramesh! What is going on?!” Ramesh was barely ten years old and was shorter than the gate by several inches. He had no way of seeing anything that was happening inside but described it in great detail.

“It’s a cobra, a king cobra! Murthy uncle saw it just as it was about to go inside the house, he grabbed the stick and struck the ground hard! That stopped the cobra in its tracks!” He paused to take a breath. “Now the snake is all coiled up by the gate with its head reared.” Here he helpfully made a cobra-like hood with his palm and swished it, to make sure she got the full impact of his news.

“And the full hood is showing too, it is simply splendid!”

Bank Road was a cul-de-sac — a small pond marked the end of the road. The pond, with its shrubs and other wayward plant growth ensured a steady stream of slimy reptiles, insects, and other creatures paying unwanted house calls frequently. The residents were accustomed to their visits and would greet them with a brisk nod of the head and a strong whack with the nearest broom or a sturdy wooden stick that was kept handy in their houses for such situations. But then they only ever encountered harmless water snakes, big rats, and hordes of bullfrogs during the monsoons; a king cobra sighting was uncommon and, at such close quarters, unheard of.

Lakshmi’s jaw dropped open. She simply had to see this ‘splendid’ sight. Raji was forgotten. She parked her cycle by the side of the road and fought her way to the front of the line, her heart beating fast with anticipation. She had never seen a king cobra before. Sure, there were plenty of snakes about. She had even seen one at close quarters when it got into the house a couple of months ago. She and her brother were having dinner when their mother screamed from the hall, “Snaaake!” Both of them scrambled onto the dining table with alacrity. The snake came into view a few seconds later, moving with great determination towards the kitchen. They gaped at it from their vantage point wondering what to do next when Sekhar Anna had rushed in with a stick and proceeded to show the snake a bad time.

Lakshmi wondered if Murthy uncle was going to bash the cobra’s head in, too. It was a doubtful prospect; if he wanted to do that, he would have done it by now. She felt a frisson of fear. She was almost at the wall now. Cobras didn’t climb walls, did they? Maybe the other kids were scared too. Never before had there been a gathering of so many excited kids with so little noise. She was finally at the frontlines. It was a thin parapet wall of about four feet in height, separating Murthy uncle’s porch from his neighbour’s. Lakshmi leaned forward. Murthy uncle’s shiny bald head came into view. The house had a winding staircase inside the gate that led to an empty terrace. He was seated on the lowest step, the snake beater stick in hand. His eyes were glued to a spot by the gate. Lakshmi followed his gaze. It was just as little Ramesh had described. The king cobra held true to its name. His long, lithe body was coiled perfectly. Head held high and hood open, it met Murthy uncle’s gaze in majestic silence.

Someone whispered hotly to the crowd in general, “Why is Murthy uncle not doing something!”

An elderly lady piped up, “He is waiting for the cobra to get out of the house, and go back into the bushes it came from.”

“Isn’t that dangerous! What if it comes back and bites somebody? He should kill it!”

“And risk getting cursed by the snake-god? Are you mad? What with today being an Amavasya and everything!” She cast a nasty glance at the person who said it and added with some spite, “Even thinking it is bound to bring bad luck!”

Lakshmi grew tired of waiting for something to happen. There didn’t seem much for her to do there. The initial excitement had faded. She remembered the Puja and felt ashamed that she let herself be distracted so easily. What must Raji think! She pushed her way out of the crowd and readied her bicycle to leave when a movement at the end of the road caught her eye. She squinted into the evening sun, checking to see if it was what she thought it was. Sure enough, she saw Tambi’s small form dashing towards Murthy uncle’s house at top speed.

“Am… I… late?” He was gasping to catch his breath.

“I wish you had the same level of concern for being on time for your classes! You’re not late, the cobra is still here.”

Tambi was ecstatic. “This is all kinds of awesome! I can’t wait to tell my friends that I saw an actual king cobra!”

Lakshmi’s tone was stern. “No way! Let’s go home.”

“You must be joking!”

“You’re smaller than the gate, and you’re smaller than the wall. You can’t see the snake unless someone is willing to lift you up. Plus, it is not that big a deal anyway. I’ve been watching it for over an hour now and it didn’t do anything except sit there and swish every now and then. Everyone is bored and Murthy uncle looks like he wants to use the toilet badly. I hear he’s been sitting there for over three hours now.”

“I see Sekhar Anna there. He’ll help me see the snake. Bye-bye to you, and good riddance!”

Tambi ran over to Sekhar and was readily hoisted into the air. He got a clear view of the snake and Lakshmi saw his eyes shining with delight. Her lips broke into a smile as she thought to herself, “Does anything scare this boy?!”

Dusk was upon them, and Murthy uncle looked like he was in pain. A group of adults stood by the road discussing the next course of action. They had realized that the reason the snake stayed put was because he was trapped. The snake had slipped in when the gate was open but it was closed now. He couldn’t move forward either, the stick was beating the ground at alarming intervals and scared him. There was only one thing left for the people to do. They decided to open the gate so the snake could make its escape.

Word spread that the cobra was leaving. Darkness fell but no one was worried — the road was illuminated by street lamps and more light streamed out of houses. The crowd had swelled in size and gathered on the road a few feet away. Some brave soul opened the gate to its widest extent before sprinting away to safety. The cobra was free to make a run for the bushes, and then head for the pond or wherever else he was supposed to be that night. A hush had fallen on the crowd. Murthy uncle swung the stick one last time and brought it down on the ground with a deafening thud. The cobra stretched and slithered onto the road. It stopped for a second trying to decide the shortest route to freedom, and, at that moment, as if on cue, the lights went out.

Everything went pitch dark.

People were screaming, yelling, and kicking each other in their haste to escape. Lakshmi ran to the nearest house and climbed the parapet wall. Worried sick, she yelled for her brother.

“TAMBI!!”

“I’m here!”, came Tambi’s reedy cry from a terrace.

How Tambi managed to clamber onto the terrace within five seconds was a mystery even he couldn’t solve. After a few more seconds of pandemonium the lights came back on.

(Which was another mystery in itself, since in Arini if the lights went out in summer they usually came back again only after a week.)

The lights came on just in time for people to notice the snake slip into another house. It clearly didn’t understand the concept of escape. Unfortunately for the snake, the house had in residence two toddlers and their very hot-blooded uncle. He ignored the pleas of his mother and, grabbing the nearest stick, made short work of the snake.

Horrified grandmothers sent prayers up to Vasuki to forgive the sinner.

A subdued brother and sister duo made their way home. They sat in their room, pretending to do their homework and spoke in hushed tones of how magnificent the snake was. They’d probably never see another one like it. Tambi burst into tears. “It was harming no one! It probably just got lost on its way home!”

Mother rushed in and hugged him. Tambi was now wailing in earnest.

“I am worried for the snake!”

“The snake is in a better place now. You should forget about it and get on with your homework.”

“Are you mad? I don’t want to forget it. I can never forget it!”

“Okay, fine. What could make you feel better?”

“I don’t know!”

Lakshmi piped up in a small voice, “I know of something that would make both of us happy.”

“Yes, kanna?”

“A puppy!”

“Yes, a puppy!” Tambi nodded vigorously through his tears.

“I don’t think your father is going to agree to a dog in the house.”

“But, amma — “

“Go on now, finish your homework. Tomorrow is going to be a good day.”