The Curse Of A Snake

It was a dark and stormy night; the rain fell in torrents – except at occasional intervals when it was checked by a violent gust of wind which swept up the streets rattling along the housetops in the suburban area of Pune. The strong wind was agitating the scanty flame of the lamps that struggle against the darkness. The serpentine road on the high area was lonely and very few vehicles were passing by. The rain had become heavier and it showed no signs of stopping. The sound of the rain grew louder. Even the barking of stray dogs could not be heard as if they might had curled themselves under a shelter. Not even a soul was seen in that dark and gusty night. The only noise one could hear was of the moving truck driven by a middle-aged man called Keshav Rao. The way he was driving the truck, it seemed as if he was in a hurry to reach towards his destination. After taking steep turns he stopped the truck on the main road with its headlights on. He got down in a hurry and vanished in the darkness.

He walked hurriedly towards a small room of a building where the oil lamp was flickering its tongue like a snake. The lady sitting there seemed to be his wife who was expecting a baby any time that day. The driver Keshav Rao consoled his wife and said that he had to make an urgent delivery of goods and he will be back by early morning. He gave her some warm water and some food to eat and promised again of his early arrival. He told her that he never wanted to leave her in this condition all alone but as there was no other driver available in town, so he could not deny his master. After three years of their wedlock, this day had come in their life when they would become parents. He was happy but at the same time worried also as there was no one to look after the wife in his absence.

In the next ten minutes, he was running back towards his truck. He got in and sat on the driving seat. He wiped his face with a hand towel as he got wet while coming back. He remembered the last words said by his wife that she was feeling as if something wrong was going to happen tonight. She even tried to stop him from going away from there. He prayed to God and started to drive the truck. He had to go approx. 200 kms. Away from Pune. He drove fast but carefully on the wet road with sharp curves. He was seemed to be in a hurry as he wanted to return on time. It was still raining cats and dogs. At one point in time he thought that he should wait under a shade till the rains stopped. But on the second thought he remembered his wife However, he decided to move on. After driving 125 kms or so he felt a bit tired and above it, nothing was visible though the wipers were working. This area looked spooky as on both sides of the lonely road there was a thick cover of woods.

Suddenly he saw something crawled fast in the middle of the road along with three small creatures looked like snakes. He tried hard to stop the fast-moving truck but failed to do so. He got panicked. He got down and wanted to know as to what had happened exactly. He saw that three newly hatched snakes had crushed under the wheels of the truck whereas the mother snake had crossed safely. As soon as Keshav came near the dead hatch-lings the mother came there and was in an angry mood to attack him. She started behaving in a strange manner. Keshav was afraid that he ran back and climbed his truck and moved on. He was sweating a lot due to this incident. He reached the destination half an hour early. He delivered the goods and returned immediately. He drove fast and did not care about the rain. He simply wanted to reach his home on time. He came back at 4 o clock in the morning. He knocked the door and an old lady from the neighborhood opened the door and asked him to rush to civil hospital as his wife was admitted there. He did not wait and reached the hospital. He was tired but was in a hurry to see the wife.

He inquired from the doctor about the whereabouts of his wife. He told him that his wife had given birth to triplets and all were male. He was happy and wanted to thank his wife but on the way the nurse told him to see the babies first. He went to the room but was shocked to see his babies. The reason was that the babies skin looked like that of snakes’ as it was dark having patterns of snakes on the body. He remembered the incident of killing the hatch-lings by him. He held his head in his hands and started crying. He could not forget the angry mother snake. After few minutes he went to his wife. The wife narrated a horrifying story to him that after three hours of his departure, a black snake came from nowhere. She was in pain, hence stood still and quietly. After that she came near her and tried to attack her but somehow, she managed to ran out and called one of her neighbors for help.

In the meanwhile, she got labour pains and they got her admitted her in the hospital. She was excited to see her babies then Keshav narrated the whole incident of killing the hatch-lings. After coming back from hospital, they found that the babies can’t bear the daylight. Hence a big curtain was put on the door and window and kept the room dark. During the day they used to sleep and at night all of them were very active. They had dry skin and their eyes were too small to see. They could not eat anything except drinking milk. People from other villages used to see those babies.

They started whispering that it was all due to the curse of the mother snake. Time passed and they grew older. But they could not study and even could not be married. Their eyesight was very poor and they were weak enough to look after themselves.