I spoke about snakes earlier but missed mentioning a couple of points. Let me explain them now. It is 15 years since I bought this land. These walls were there already. I didn’t build them. Someone else had done it much earlier, using big rocks picked up from here and elsewhere. This place was an incline, the slope of a lone hill. Someone gave it a terraced structure. It must have required intense labour. This must be 50 or 100 years old. When these rocks were used to build the walls, no one bothered to fill the gaps in between.
There must have been two reasons. The first is that, if the walls were made as solid blocks, pressure from rain water rushing down the slope would push them down. So gaps were left in order to prevent collapse of the walls. The second reason could be that, in those days, when people assembled stones to put up walls, they never felt that small creatures should not take refuge in them. So tiny animals started to occupy these holes. I don’t see many snakes in this area but I’m sure a few live here. I’ve spotted a snakeskin on the ground. Besides, there are plenty of mice here. So definitely, snakes will come to catch them.
I have seen snakes here only a couple of times, and none of them were of the venomous variety. There was a small one down there, intent upon catching something. Once, when I went there, I saw it looking in that direction. It didn’t see me, didn’t hear the sound of my stick either. Obviously, the vibration of my stick thumping on the ground did not reach the boulder it was perched on. I touched its tail gently with the stick. Immediately it slithered away. The snake didn’t turn direction or rush towards me, feeling indignant over being prodded. The advantage of leaving gaps in walls is that snakes can take shelter there. With a safe haven available, they will not wander about. We are not put to any inconvenience because of this. This is my observation. I’m not sure whether it is true. Those who know more about snakes may have something to say on the matter.
I have not experienced any problem in this area. One reason could be that I have never plugged the holes in these walls. Even when I got walls to be built recently, I did not plaster them. The stones were simply piled up, leaving plenty of spaces in between for small creatures to park themselves. Since they have a space of their own, they respect mine. That is my interpretation which I imagine is correct. I’m not sure. The second reason is that there are more mongooses here, now than ever before. They dig up the saplings we have planted in the buckets. When the number of mongooses increases, that of snakes may decrease. Such creatures – mongooses, snakes, frogs – are part of a cycle. When one multiplies, its predator also automatically does. That is the law of Nature. So let’s leave Nature to herself.
That way, we will not come to much harm, and our lives will move on unhindered. When I came here for the first time, there was a snake at the top but it never bothered anyone. Occasionally, it put its head out in order to catch prey. If it saw anyone of us, it would withdraw into a hole on the other side, and never come out for the rest of the day. I don’t think snakes attack anyone unless it is stamped upon. This is what I have to say.