"Is it the appearance or the danger that scares you?" asked Elisya when she came to know about my only phobia.
I had never thought about it from this point of view.
"Appearance" I answered after a moment's consideration.
The slithery, slimy, shape that coiled into lethal swirls or silently sneaked up on unsuspecting victims, simply terrified me.
Elisya is ten and loves snakes who are found abundantly in her native Brunei. She sent us pictures about her pet snakes to rid me of my phobia. They did not help much.
I had lived in civilized areas with little or no interaction with reptiles of this variety. I lived happily.
Till one afternoon this summer.
This summer was one of the hottest in Oman because it did not rain and not a single storm visited as it usually does at this time in the year.
That afternoon was a particularly sizzling one.
I wore my sunglasses, grabbed the car key, and opened the front door to go for school pick-up. I found Smudge, our cat, sitting on the doorstep, as usual.
On the doormat, lay a rope.
I didn't remember dropping a rope on the doormat and nobody else had been there. On looking closely, I found that the rope had a raised hood!
A snake on my doormat!!!!
Eiyeyiiieyiie!
I screamed silently, too scared to make a sound.
Smudge and the snake appeared to have some sort of discussion about who was going to get the lizard which was crawling on the wall.
Terrified, I closed the front door. I also secured it with three latches and locked it. As if the snake was a qualified burglar who could break in with wicked methods.
Very quietly I let myself out through the back door and slipped into the car. I dared not glance at the front door step as I reversed. I drove as fast as possible to be away from that scene. After I reached the school, breathlessly, I called the snake-catcher. Such vital phone numbers are always saved in my phone.
When I reached home after half an hour, I found the snake-catcher in his bright red uniform like a shining armour, standing in the garden.
An obnoxious odour filled my nostrils when I opened the car door. He had fumigated pesticide around the house and the garden.
"Thank you very much!" I told the snake-catcher, "Did you catch the snake?"
"No, madam" he answered with disappointment. "The snake had gone before I came here."
"Oh well, that's good" I said to myself, "I do not have to live with the guilt of having a snake killed". I had heard horrid stories of dead snakes who come to haunt people in their dreams.
Although, I put on a brave front when I related this story to friends and family, I was very very scared inside. I did not tend to the garden for months. It grew and overgrew. I was afraid to step onto the doormat so I put it away and got a new one. It was a big challenge for me to step out of the house. I scolded Smudge for not fighting with the snake. That's what cats are expected to do, aren't they?
Then, one day, it all changed. I pictured the scenario from the snake's point of view.
The snake came, said hi, and went away.
It did not bite me or harm me in anyway.
It was living in its natural habitat and going about its daily business of looking for food. Being a hot day, it wandered into a shaded porch where the cool air-conditioned air leaked out of the front door. A cat sat there, guarding the house like a dog. So it slithered quietly away.
I tutored myself to think about how 'gentlemanly' the snake had behaved.
Then I feared no more.
I put on my gloves and threw myself completely into cleaning the garden and making it presentable again.
