Long, shiny,
mysterious,dangerous, five years ago, she first kissed the sands of
Yelahanka, the land of air birds and lakes. For all the terrror that
she sent across my spine, I loved standing behind the wall to watch
her crawl, glide,fly and slide. Elegance was no more a word in
dictionary for me. She was elegance.
Every evening, when I
closed my eyes, her shrill hiss completed my world. Was it sheer
fright,an eagerness for it to encore.Reasons nonetheless, I started
longing for the sound. The same sound which still haunts me, to this
date. It isnt a hissing sound any longer. Like a river, which changes
form, colour,size and sound, the metamporhisis of hiss was much more
enchanting and confusing. It was sweet melody. It was nectar to the
ears. And at times, poison to the heart. Now, I have lost words. Yet,
I know it's her. Probably, I do not hear it any longer. I can only
feel it within my heart. Yet, it's as loud and clear as I heard it so
many summers ago.
Yet, she was but another
animal.Then why her? The dark emotions which she carried with elan.
The jealousy,envy,competition,blood and lust is what made her more
interesting than others. Magic looked real. The world looks
dumber,when it shares frame with her. And trust me, India is not a
land of snakes. But, a land of snake charmers.
Illadvised, I too tried
becoming one. My tunes, she never heard. Her hisses, I always heard.
Yet, if there is anything in this world which it makes it the lovely
place it is, is the sense of challenge, the extra-ordinary gut when
you know you are doing the impossible,yet the
reward for what if I really won? Helping
us get up every day. Does my words make you feel I was trying to pet
a snake?
No,
a snake is wild and therin,lies its beauty. She was an obsession. A
muse for my poetry, a subject of my creativity and object to pour my
love on. For a real snake charmer, it really does not mind if the
world is amused or otherwise. That is the world you know. In his
world is a small snake. Terrified not by her,but only by the thought
of losing her.
And
it is not the bites that a snake charmer would care. The snake poison
is now blood. It is not the thought of someone stealing away the
snake. Yet, there is a day which is tough to digest.
No,
it was not the hissing back, or the fatal bite. But when she decided
to finally show the tail side to me. For once, the grace in her
locomotion was missing.Silently, when she slid back to where she came
from. For all my thoughts on me being a charmer, I was in a trance.
The
trance might be broken. Yet she is the hottest cold blooded animal I
have ever seen. I call her X.
