Year: 1988 or 87 or 89
Location: A small mulberry farm in a little village nestled in the beautiful Shivalik foothills somewhere in Himachal Pradesh.
Nearest town/school: 19 kms away.
Sources of entertainment: Pet and wild animals/reptiles/eating mulberries/climbing trees/animated neighbours/tubewell/doordarshan on a black and white television...
'Snake, snake! It's chasing me,' I was screaming at the top of my voice as I ran around the house, dressed in my frilly pink night suit and slippers. And following me closely was Silky, my white spitz. Both running for life, jumping and yelping!
It was Sunday early morning, mummy papa and my older brother were fast asleep and I was busy with my morning adventures. Sharad was the first to hear the screaming. He quickly woke up mummy papa and they all came running out: mom adjusting her gown, dad with one slipper on, and bhai with his disheveled hair and 'ab kya ho gaya' look. And what they find is me with an expression of shock, pointing towards a very small dead snake on the front verandah steps! Ants were already doing their job and Silky was barking with full force at the poor dead creature.
'Beta ye to mara hua hai,' said Papa taking me close to see for myself that the snake was actually dead. 'But if it was alive it would've followed me na,' I protested, with a serious/scared face. 'Who told you,' asked papa while picking me in his arms. Spotting wild reptiles of all shapes and sizes was a routine affair in our neighbourhood. Silky, who all this while was just following me, started jumping and yelping, wanting to join me. She always did that when papa picked me up. 'Snakes don't follow you, infact if you don't disturb or trouble them, they don't harm also, 'continued Papa, trying to comfort me. 'And, not all of them are poisonous, buddhu,' added bhai in his self-assured style. "How many times do I tell you to not venture out alone," said Mummy finally after watching the entire scene, adding, "who's going to remove this thing from the steps now?"
Hearing all the commotion and screaming, our only neighbours, the extended Roy family also came out hurriedly. The younger lot, Binu, Bina, Raju, were the most excited to see something eventful first thing in the morning. Little Sonu sitting on her mother's waist was busy sucking her thumb, oblivious to the chaos. Seema, the youngest of the eldest three adored me, so she was genuinely concerned and came straight to me to see if her little doll was alright. I was happy with the attention and described in great animation my tryst with a mighty snake.
'What happened, a snake bit Shachi?' asked Mrs. Roy. 'No, no,' said mother. 'She just got scared looking at one. 'Oh!', the unanimous expression of the Roy family was of disappointment. Events like these provided some excitement to the sleepy little farm, where the only source of entertainment was Doordarshan and the animated Roy family considering their versatility of age, gender and interests!
Mr. Roy didn't bother to come out as his family was well represented plus morning riyaz was sacred to him. What it did to the lesser mortals is another story.
As soon as the first member of the Roy household entered the house and must've informed Mr. Roy of the non-situation, he took out his harmonium and straightaway hit the high note. Back in their house, Bhai and I joined him with full force and animation, with mummy shushing us lest Mr. Roy hears us.
This was just the start of an eventful day at our sleepy little mulberry farm.
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