Emotional connection with speechless animals!

This is a story from about 4 decades ago.My grandparents were still alive and very healthy.We lived in a small village in India.We had a nuclear family consisting of 14 members.It was a very happy family.My grandfather was a wrestler and did farming for living.His hobby was to play harmonium(a musical instrument) in a drama company.He was a very jovial person and no one would ever feel sad or sidelined around him.He was very kind and passionate about what he did.

In that time of era where the caste system in India had a very strong foothold.Lower caste people were looked down upon and were not allowed to intermingle with upper caste people. My grandfather was someone who could care less about mingling with lower caste people.For which he would always get ridiculed among his own kins. He had empathy for everyone and discrimination against a caste rankle him a lot.

Along with being the kindest person I have known, he was a big animal lover.While he was eating his lunch or dinner, sitting on the floor, if his pet dog would come and start eating off of his plate , he would not mind.

But that is not where I am leading this story to.Along with a dog ,he had very exotic animals as pets.He had snakes as pets.The irony was everyone in the family was scared of grandfather’s pet and we wanted him to get rid of it.

It was not that Grandfather had those snake as pets intentionally.It so happened that, the area surrounding our house was a snake pit.We would just be sitting on the raised veranda and snakes would crawl every now and then.Sometimes poisonous and sometimes non-poisonous.But fortunately never did we ever got bitten by those snakes.The rule that my grandfather set was not to harm a snake for no reason. And we just followed his instructions.We never got in trouble because of those snakes and neither did we ever trouble them.We were in complete harmony with each other.

My grandfather knew a lot about snakes because we had to co-exist .We had no choice.If we wanted to get rid of the snakes ,we either had to kill them which was too many or settle somewhere else.My grandfather never agreed to any of that.

Fast forward several years ,we were still coexisting with those snakes.Our number stayed the same but the snakes’ numbers kept increasing. At a point there were too many of them to coexist in harmony.But no one had the courage to tell our grandfather that we should move to some place else.No one was in favor of killing a single snake either.They became like a family to us over the years.We even named each of them . It was like a ceremony for us kids to name every new snake member in the family.We took pride in having such a big snake family living with us.

As if life was not difficult enough to live with so many snakes, in those days we did not have electricity in our village.So after the sun was down, we had to live in candle light or lanterns. The rule in our house was to eat our dinner before sundown and go to bed by 7:00PM. The snakes crawled on the floor, but never climbed up on our beds.We also learnt to walk carefully once things would become invisible after dark.Even if we accidentally step up on snakes, they never got hurt because we learnt to carry gentle footsteps when it was dark.No one taught us; these intuitions came to us automatically following our elders .

So all these snakes had a feast of milk for dinner everyday.We had lots of cows and buffaloes at home in the village.My grandfather was so daring that he would just cup his hand and pour milk in it, and would feed these snakes.We could never become so fearless.

One night it rained heavily, followed by a big thunderstorm.After the storm and rain stopped, there were still rain drops dripping from the haystack over the roof.When the flow was too much it almost looked like a rain fall in that area.

My grandmother had to walk to the kitchen to bring a bowl of milk.The kitchen was adjacent to our bed rooms about 6 feet farther. With utmost care as she walked two steps, she accidentally stepped up on one of the biggest and fattest snake.The snake was resting in the open, fearlessly in the gentle, cold breeze.My grandmother was not prepared for this; suddenly she felt something slippery and slimy underneath her feet. She got very startled, but it was only momentarily, she immediately realized and with a palpitating heart she let out a loud scream. 

“Oh snake God ,please leave our house now; we had enough; my children get scared; go away from here.”

My grandmother just stated indignantly.Did not really mean it. In her heart she was also an animal lover and would never hurt them purposefully.

After that, grandmother took the thing she wanted from the kitchen and came back to the bedroom and slept.

Next morning we woke up without knowing that our life and lifestyles will change forever.The coexistence that we formed with these snakes over the years was lost.

“There is not a single snake to be seen!? Where are all of them?”

My grandfather said forlornly with a handful of milk in his cupped up hand.

My grandmother ,who was oblivious to this fact, was thunderstruck: speechless about her behavior last night.She had no idea that the snake would take her scorn to his heart.She felt ashamed and guilty of her cruel words.She cried a sigh of regret but it was of no avail .

After that we waited for several days for the snakes to come back.Sadly it never happened.They did not return.They never came back ever again.

My grandfather never forgave my grandmother whole heartedly for this. He always believed that he lost his best friends forever.

The important lesson we learned about coexisting with these animals changed our lives.Till this date we never ever hurt any animal, let alone be cruel to them.

The emotional connection we established with those speechless snakes taught us that animals also have emotions if you have the power to feel it.