Naja naja

There they were.

Snakes.

Big ones.

Not one, but two.

Thoughts in my head- "What are they? Definitely not russels vipers or saw scaled vipers. These guys are looong. So cobras. Wait, they could be rat snakes. Well, I can't make out. They are moving too fast! Can’t see their heads, man! How do I make out?" It was then that I remembered I was holding a camera in my hand. "Stupid girl! Take pictures!! No!! Are you crazy? What if they are cobras? Run you stupid girl! But then I'll never know....

Click. Click. Click. Click. Camera frenzy.

"Check the pics. Did you get the head?"

Zoom in.

A hood.

"Oh my god, they are cobras!"

A parallel series of thoughts and emotions- I had to deal with the realization that it has actually happened. People had warned me about this, about snakes being around my work site. Wear shoes, not sandals, they advised. Wear full pants, not three-fourths. Wear thick full pants, not those flimsy cotton ones. And I had done all that. I had taken all these precautions. But I must tell you, standing there about 7 meters away from two large Indian cobras made all my precautions look puny and stupid.

Now I know why people revere them. Why they are idolized into gods. These guys are the very embodiment of power. Every move they made commanded attention. It seemed as if power actually oozed out of them, slithered to where you were and made you feel really really minuscule, puny and tiny and meaningless. Feeling helpless, I just stood there with dropped jaws watching them gracefully dance away.

Then the practical part of me finally broke through all the 'ooh's and ahhs'; this practical self reminded my jaw-dropped self that I was at least 20 minutes away from help in case anything went wrong, it was almost sunset and I had no idea how to handle snakes, so it would be best to pick up those dropped jaws and get myself out of there as fast as I could.

And I did.

After there was considerable distance between me and the romancing beasts, after the heart beats had returned back to normal a new moment of clarity- this is why I am here, I told myself. For this! This is why I didn't opt for a desk job. This is why I opted to get out of that city. To get out of the rush hour traffic and the local trains! To see a courtship of indian cobras, or as we biologists would call them Naja naja. It's all worth it, I told myself! The loneliness, the silence, the fear. It's all worth it! The moment of clarity broadened and I thought of all the other things that are making this 'living alone' worthwhile. The no-less-than-five hoopoes that visit my front yard everyday! The coppersmith barbet who posed so well in front of my cam! The verditer flycatcher that flew around the tree in my courtyard. The purple sunbird nests we monitored, their cute little chicks and their hungry cries!

I relate this incident to one that unfolds in the Lord of the Rings- when Frodo receives from Galadriel the light from Elendil, the elves' most beloved star; "let this be the light, when all other lights fade".

I sit here tonight, in this giant empty house and just when 'all other lights fade' I think of the spectacle that unfolded before my eyes- the rare sight that reminded me of why I am here. This, for me, is what Elendil was for Frodo.

Sappy? Very.But you know what, I don't care!