The Cobra Pearl

Sammy looked at the slithering Cobra with his eyes wide open; it is moving so slowly; “may be on this grass land it cannot gather pace”, he thought for a while. Then he saw the cobra spitting out something red and shining, looked like a stone. Before he can get near the cobra swallowed the red stone back and meandered to a nearby bush. Greed started dancing in his minds; this stone may fetch a fabulous price.

Sammy is endowed with all the luxuries life can give him; but there is always grey area in his style of getting things done. He got married to Sylvia, his beautiful and smart wife after torpedoing her engagement to an innocent farmer. His rice mill, the only one in the town gets all the government contacts through unscrupulous means. He got admission for his son in a medical college after bribing the principal generously. Lastly, his daughter is in high school thanks to his political influence. Reaching 50 years, Sammy is bent on making the fast buck, wherever and whenever it is possible.

Sammy collected a huge stick and looked around. As he turned, he saw the aged cobra coming out of the bush. He aimed the stick and gave a thundering shot on the cobra’s hood. The Cobra raised its head, looked at him mournfully; the red stone dropped by as the cobra’s head fell to the ground. Sammy did not lose any moment. He picked the cobra’s body walked few yards ahead and threw it to the swamp. For the waiting crocodiles it just served as delicious dinner. Sammy returned to the spot where he killed the cobra; the red coloured shining cobra pearl looked much paler now. Sammy grabbed the stone at once. He experienced an eerie feeling; as he looked up, the shy was downcast and within moments massive thunder and lightning rattled him. One of the thunderbolt whizzed past him. Sammy got fright in him, the first time he ever got a fright.

As he reached home, Sammy kept the red cobra pearl inside his locker. He did not want to speak about it to his wife lest she asks too many questions. On the following day, first thing he did was to see the priest in the temple. He asked the priest about the nature of cobra and stones it possesses. The priest is a new comer to the town. He knows very little about Sammy and his modus operandi. “Cobras have pearls in their hoods, especially after they advance in stage” started the priest” it is called “Nagamani” paused the priest. “In the scriptures there are strict rules of getting cobra pearl. You cannot use any force, What is allowed is that you can use a blanket and chase the cobra around the area it haunts; generally the cobra gets confused and spit out the Nagamani and leaves the spot never to come back. The person who gets the Nagamani has to perform religious observance to purify the pearl under the guidance of a priest. Thereafter the priest will perform rituals invoking the blessings of the cobra pearl and place it in the house of the finder. Cosmics of a Cobra Pearl work for a person who gets this in lawful manner; the cobra pearl gives him fortune as well as piety; it protects him from evils and from poisonous reptiles; it is also a guarding stone from diseases, enemies and calamities. Whereas, a person who gets this via un-lawful manner, woe betide” exclaimed the priest.

When he returned home, Sammy went to his locker and took the red cobra pearl and kept on its palm. He saw on the surface of the shining pearl a sign of the cobra hood. Fear took over him and he dropped the pearl on to the ground. With shaky eyes, he picked up the pearl and observed that the cobra pearl is damaged after it was dropped; there are two punctures on the face of the pearl, something like two eyes. Things started to go wrong for Sammy quickly. He received a call from a colleague of his son saying that his son met with a motor accident and is currently warded in a hospital; the doctors have asked him not to move his fractured legs. His attorney has come home with bad news. His mill is being requisitioned by the Government for non-payment of taxes. More bad news was coming during the course of the week: his daughter has developed high fever and is isolated for further testing and examination. Mean while, his wife Sylvia is going through violent spasms of menopausal conditions.

Sammy has now decided; he wants to get rid of the cobra stone hidden in the closet. It is almost two weeks since he got hold of this cursed stone. So he went to the locker and took the cobra pearl. He looked on the face of the pearl to see whether there is any reflection of the hood. None was there. He kept it on the table and bent down to tie his shoe lace. At this moment the cobra pearl rolled down the table and fell sharp on his left forearm with the broken parts of the pearl touching his skin. That is it. Sammy felt a huge cobra sinking his fangs on him. Sammy gave a cry of pain and died instantly.

The post mortem gave the cause of death as cobra venom passing into his nervous system consequent to a bite. The signs of the fangs were visible and noted by the doctors. Sylvia managed to perform the funeral rights for Sammy sans her children but with the help of the priest, friends, relations and workers of the mill. The priest condoled with Sylvia and in passing mentioned that Sammy was talking about cobras few days back. Sylvia has lot of things in her hand to worry about it anyway. She has to grapple with sickness of her children and the state of the requisitioning of the mill. On top of all, she has to file a return of inventory of wealth of Sammy to the attorney to initiate court proceedings in order to finalize the last will left by Sammy.

As she was going through the inventory, she got this ugly looking stone with punctured marks. She put it in her hand bag. She wished to show it to the attorney and find what to do with it when she meets him. After discussing matters with the attorney she brought the subject of the stone with punctured marks. The attorney looked at it and said “This of no value; we cannot inventories it; you get rid of it quickly” advised the attorney. Sylvia also felt the same way. The stone looked ugly and damaged.

Sylvia sped her vehicle towards the estuary where the river and sea meets. She got down from the car; picked the cobra pearl; gathering all her strength she threw it towards the mouth of the estuary. The cobra pearl flew; Sylvia was astonished to see a huge cobra flying into the water. As the pearl touched the surface of the water waves rose high like in a tsunami; moments later it was silence and for Sylvia, she felt very much at ease now. As she tried to open the door of her car, her mobile rang. “Mum, I am OK “said her son “I am discharged and coming home”. Line busy signal flashed on the mobile. Now it is a message from the principal of the high school where her daughter attends. “Your daughter is out of danger” said the voice. Sylvia is happy after all her children are fine. One more call on mobile; this time it was her attorney ” Sylvia” beamed the attorney “ the Government is returning the mill they have requisitioned as it was due to some mistake regarding taxes due. Not only that the Government is also paying compensation for the loss of business “. “ Things are turning better” muttered Sylvia to herself as she drove the vehicle home.

Muthu Ashraff

Cosmic Adviser

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