Posts Tagged ‘grandfather’

Curse of the Snakes

Monday, August 11th, 2008

I have the habit of making up ‘untruths’ when talking to babies. Like the throne in which the Lion sits in the jungle. Then I think they really do not understand it is a silly story. Which reminded me of my grandfather. The grandfather of the tall tales.

He has always had some allergic reaction in his hands. The skin would peel off, and it was quite painful. After all medicines failed, he even changed to cigarettes from beedis at his doctor’s insistence, as the beedis were wrapped in tobacco leaves. It was not so small a thing for him as it was easy to roll up opium pills into beedis. Not so easy in cigarettes. But ty it he did, and still nothing happened. Then one of those days when I was sympathizing with his hands, he let me into his secret.

:The doctors won’t be able to cure it, because they don’t know the root cause.”

But they are doctors. They know everything.

“No. This is the curse of the Nagas. I did not tell them.”

Why did they curse you?

“Once I was walking near the Kaliyamvelli temple, and a group of people were trying to kill a poor snake. So I told them it was the Devi’s snake, and you shouldn’t kill it. And we released it back to the woods.”

So?

“I got this after that incident. See, how my skin peels off now. Like that of a serpent. ”

But you were the good guy. You saved that snake. So others should be getting it, not you.

“But I got the sapam. (the curse). That’s how it is sometimes.”

I thought the snakes were silly to curse the person who saved them, but left it at that. Then after a couple of months, my grandfather came to visit us, and his hands were more or less healed. He told my mother he has stopped using the matches and was using cigarette lighters now.

So it was an allergy to matches? I asked him.

“No. I had tried not using the matches earlier, and it made no difference.”

Then how did it work now?

“Sri Krishna came to me in my dream and told me not to use matches anymore. That’s why it worked.”

I admit I had my doubts. I was not so small a baby. I knew it was an allergy of the match box. Then, I also knew he had a dream of Sri Krishna.

But now, I am not so sure.

3
Tags: , ,
Posted in Stories |

A Hunting Story

Wednesday, October 19th, 2005

Around fifty or sixty years back, there were still forests in Edacheri. The forests of foxes, rabbits and an occasional leopard. But there were real dense forests east of it, in Kuttiadi and Mokeri, where my grand-uncles had their home. They were seasoned hunters, and my grandfather once went with them on a hunt.

When I knew him, grandfather had a big gun that could kill an elephant, but I have never seen it used. He would oil it now and then, and meticulously renewed the license as if his life depended on it. Grandfather told me he didn’t have that gun when he went for his first hunt with the uncles. They gave him one of theirs. It was smaller, but good enough for anything you would encounter the outskirts of the forest.

‘We didn’t go anywhere inside. I was very young you know, must be eighteen or nineteen. But I was a good shot, and was brave like hell.’he said.’People were saying there was a leopard in the other side of the Karuvan hills, and must have travelled back to this side, but elder uncle said it wasn’t possible. We were only looking for some meat, and hoped to find a wild boar to take back, and maybe some rabbits. But nothing was in sight for a long time, and it was real dark and cold. I was getting bored of the ordeal in all. That’s when the younger uncle whispered to me to be quiet.. ‘Shh.. I think we got something..’ We could hear the leaves moving, and at first I thought it was something fast like a rabbit, and later on a deer. But it all occured to us fast enough we were seeing a bear, the most dangerous of the wild animals. I lifted my gun, and tried to shoot, but it jammed at that instance. There I was , with a .. pound beast in front of me, defenseless. It was coming on to be with it’s claws swinging when the uncles shot it, and dragged me back to safety. The elder uncle said I was crazy to have tried to shoot it, but they had to since I was too close to it. It had been a close bet on life.’

He let me carry the oiled gun back to grandmother’s room, where it hung on two ropes. Later I told my mother how grandfather once met a bear in the forest. My mother said. “I heard he once went on a hunt with the uncles. There he heard a rabbit running and was so scared he dropped his gun.’

You can count on mothers to spoil a story! And the daughters to tarnish your reputation.

1
Tags:
Posted in Stories |