The last post was about snakes. Which reminded me of more snake stories. My my.. I know snakes have a bad reputation, but whatever…

One of my uncles has a land in which there is an old abandoned temple. When I was a kid, those bricks were a mystery. Every other kid was afraid of going there. It was Koyampatta Bhagawati, and you shouldn’t step into her land. Except when you picked coconuts. And did the other work in the land. As luck would have it, I had a mother who sneered at all those.

Those were the old times. Young men were embarrassed to be religious. It was what women and old people did. Have we not all heard about the thing about opiate of the masses? Have we not heard Vayalar sing about how man created the religion? Those times were as hardheadedly communist as now. People believed in atheism, processions, fights, and giving the best fowl yearly to Kakkannur for the sacrifice. And not stepping into Devi’s land. They also believed that temples were against the spirit of communism. You tolerate them because people are used to it, but no supporter of the communist party could openly profess to be a believer.

I have been away for so long, and things have definitely changed. People have turned to religion. Temples and churches and mosques are coming up in every corner. People go to temples everyday, not just those 10 days of Navratri. There are renovations of old religious places with any trace of mysticism. Even people’s tombs get renovated lamps are lighted. My mother tells me there is a massive Karthika-vilakku in Koyampatta today, with thousands being served meals at noon. Those old-abandoned pieces of bricks I know is now a proper place of worship, with pujas being done, lamps lit every evening and a collection of offerings that will make a poor worker-bee wish she had instead gone in for the spirituality business.

Did I mention it was all being run by the communist party? The young blood which wanted it to be a proper temple are being supported by the party which says it is godless. Of course there were other people too, but nothing works in my place without the mighty Party. It so happened that along with the worship rights(?) and making sure the land in which the temple sites is common to the good people also wanted a piece of land surrounding it to be the temple’s. My uncle did not like the idea. That’s when the blockades began. No one would work in that piece of land. The fallen coconuts were aptly picked up by the neighbours and the grasses were soon taller than your head. Then there were the rounds of talk about finding a solution to the problem, mediated by the Party. It all came down to the same thing. Give some land/produce of a number of trees to the temple. The Party helpfully suggested they are ready to handle the finances from it. I have no idea why, but my uncle did not seem very keen on giving away his land for the common good of the people. The bourgeoisie.

Then somebody went to the Court. This being a medieval temple belonging to somebody or something. The Judge in turn said whoever steps into the land can be prosecuted. (The following story is going around about it. Coach Nambiar, who was rooting for the other team went to the judge before the judgment. Because you know, he is The Coach, and his protege got four gold medals in Asiad. It incensed the Judge so much that he made sure there were no loopholes in his judgment.) But don’t you think the bourgeoisie won. He cannot climb a coconut tree or lift a shovel. So it is.

So, in this long story where do the snakes come, you might ask. A viper bit our dog Tintu and she died. Sometime later there was a ‘Swarnaprasnam’ by the people, where the Tantri detailed the bad things that will happen to the people who were not willing to give Bhagawati her due. Santha, who works for us sometimes came and told my mother that the Tantri said Tintu was dead. (We are family, so) A four-legged animal will die, he said. My mother asked if he also said two four legged animals were obtained later on.

Apparently not. Maybe he didn’t know about the puppies.