The terrible trek the jeep confronted ended at an open place, literally at the peak of the hills. It appeared to be different from the road at the hill foot. As viewed from the neighboring locations, the peak had no pointed edge-like mound. The cold breeze blown at short intervals made them shiver. An anxious group of indigenous people awaited them in the tidy, gorgeous front yard of a hut with hand-built, strong mud walls. A coir-woven and wooden-legged cot had been set up outside for the visitors.
Looking at the anxious faces, Senan asked Pakirappa, 'I can't believe they're waiting for me. How could they come to know it in such a remote place?'
'After striking men, snakes send messengers to them,' Pakirappa said sarcastically. Being physically and mentally hurt, Senan had been leaning toward Pakirappa for both physical and emotional support. So, he forgave it on his own.
Most of the aged men were not in shirts. They had wrapped the upper part of their bodies with a plain white cotton cloth. From Senan's abode, the farmhouse, the hilly peaks were seen as snow-covered. The ambiance was calm, the huts and surroundings were well-kept and clean, and the people were more friendly than he had expected.
They spread a grass mat on the cot and asked the visitors to be seated. Senan sat on it, struggling to find a painless posture for his inflamed leg. The Dhani and the driver moved to the right of the front yard with a man of massive stature and well-defined dominance. From his looks, Senan grasped that it would be Bairu. As usual, Pakirappa took his squatting posture on the earth. Meanwhile, Senan noticed that none of his falls caused any apparent injuries. Two middle-aged men came forward and checked Senan's leg for some time. As the treatment was about to start, the people gathered around Senan had left.
Carrying a green liquid-like herbal remedy with an intense odor of green leaf in a glass tumbler, a man in his middle age emerged from Bairu's hut. Senan had nausea while smelling it and was uncertain if he would be able to gulp it. Bairu's assistants told him to close his nose.
Bairu asked Senan to drink it after praying to his favorite deity for a while. Senan closed his eyes as though he had been in prayer. He could not realize if he had a favorite deity. As soon as he closed his eyes, the hump-nosed pit viper entered his vision. Scared, he opened his eyes and nodded, pretending to conclude his prayer.
'It'll cleanse the poison from your entire system. Stay here for a few hours. I'll check the redressing symptoms. However, you need not worry. This pit viper causes no harm like the other snakes. All right, all right, you carry on,' Bairu said, withdrawing to join the Dhani.
Senan imagined it, closing all his senses for a while. Suddenly, Senan gulped the remedy without letting his mouth detect its flavor. To his surprise, its smell and taste brimmed him as though it went directly to his brain. Although it was neither bitter nor sour, it turned odd and intolerable. Senan felt like taking a large tree's entire leaves in one gulp.
Observing Senan's responses, Pakirappa patted his back and said, 'Previously, I had it twice.'
Bairu's assistants then appeared with a green paste-like remedy from some plant. It was applied to the area of inflammation and the snake's fang mark. It smelled entirely different from the remedy he took. He was asked to rest for ten days and was given herbal remedies for three more consecutive days.
They conversed with Senan in Tulu while applying the herbal paste to his leg. Pakirappa intervened to inform them that since Senan hails from Kerala, Senan does not speak the languages of Tulu or Kannada.
Although Pakirappa had the herbal remedy previously, he carefully listened to their prescription as though he had been new to it.
'Avoid meat for a month. It'll help you a lot,' Bairu added to the descriptions of his assistants.
'There're little variations from mine,' Pakirappa remarked, asking Senan to recline on the cot. Since the snake was not so venomous, Bairu allowed Senan to return after a few hours.
Through a pair of binoculars, the Dhani had been admiring the beauty of the neighboring hills, with slight variations in their green hues, on which white, smoky snow had begun to cast thick veils. Innumerable cloudlets were about to ascend over some hills. The Dhani pretended that he had nothing to do with all that went on with Senan and was engrossed in discussions with Bairu, which had been less audible to Senan. He had to listen to Pakirappa and Bairu's assistants. Above all of this, his predicament and uncertainty conquered his instincts.
'How do you feel now?' Pakirappa raised his head and asked Senan.
'That medicine is running all over my body. It'd turn my blood green. I can feel it even running in my head,' he murmured madly and continuously.
Pakirappa did not want the Dhani to hear it. The Dhani would be offended. So, Pakirappa ruminating gravely on something, repeatedly pressed his jawline hard. And told Senan, 'We should always keep in mind that they found the plant adventurously, even at the risk of their own lives.'
Since Senan had been eager to know about it, Pakirappa said, 'It's interesting how they found these antivenomous plants.'
Like snakes, mongooses were also found there. Mongooses sneaking out of the forest were larger than those seen in populated areas. After a long fight with deadly snakes, they flee into the far interiors of the restricted forest. Once, a white cobra brutally attacked and struck a mongoose. Instead of falling dead, the mongoose hobbled to the forest. The Malakudiyas thought it would die there.
However, the mongoose returned a few days later. Men could identify it as it had lost the hair on its forehead. The then-chief's father asked his people to pursue the mongoose that set out to the deep woods after such fights.
Since then, they have followed such mongooses adventurously. They found that the mongooses, who either rushed or hobbled to the forest, consumed two wild plants. They developed the herbal remedy from those plants as antivenom for snake poisoning.
According to the Malakudiyas and the locals, it's forbidden to harm snakes. Whenever they notice snakes, they'll stop moving and fold their hands. Thus, the snake goes away without causing any harm.
After a few hours, Senan's discomfort subsided, and felt more confident. After checking the affected area on his leg for a while, Bairu looked into his eyes, and said, 'I must tell you that you should never harm any snake.'
'Yes, yes. As he is not a native, he doesn't believe in it,' Pakirappa intervened. His words shivered at some points.
'I didn't offend it anyway. I don't know why it struck me,' Senan said.
'I'm not blaming you. My intuition says that you've got some mysterious connection with snakes. Have you ever felt so? Any miracle?' Bairu asked enthusiastically.
'No, nothing yet,' Senan replied abruptly, and he was much worried about it.
'He doesn't dare to kill anything, anyone, not even a wild rabbit,' the Dhani said loudly for the women behind the doors and windows to hear. He had been keen on drawing their attention to him. Then he giggled uncontrollably, turning all into mute spectators, who had to do nothing with it.
'That's out of sympathy or love for the animal. There's a big chance for him to kill ferocious animals. Am I right?' Bairu asked Senan.
Senan stood with his stooped head as though he were the culprit for the verdict in a court of justice. Pakirappa stammered and tried to say something that did not emerge, seeing Bairu's glance.
'It's true to him. He knows it, yes, but only to an extent. But he hadn't tried to grasp and accept it completely. I know, it's well-written in his horoscope,' Bairu said, placing Senan's leg carefully on the ground and getting up.
Bairu then received water from his assistant to clean his hands. He turned towards the Dhani and continued, 'My intuition says he has some bondage with snakes, perhaps from his previous life. However, he should be careful while dealing with them. At any cost, he should not harm them.'
'Is it dangerous for him?' the Dhani asked, frightened, as Senan used to accompany him everywhere in the farmland.
'No, usually people are attacked by snakes. It's not so in his case. Spiritually, they protect him.'
Interrupting Bairu, Senan said in an embarrassed tone, 'Protect me? It bit me.'
Although Senan was already aware of it from the astrologers, he concealed it because he strongly disbelieved it. The Dhani was dissatisfied with Bairu's revelation. He seemed unwilling to accept something great for his mere laborer.
'The time decides everything. It unfolds the reality, the truth, which we shun and fear,' Bairu concluded in a meditative tone.
His pupils stopped at the meditative position in his eyes. He raised his folded hands toward the sky and bowed his head before the universe. He bent down and touched the earth to show his utmost obedience and reverence.
(to be continued...)