We did a lot of things that seemed normal and made sense in the days of our childhood. But looking back now and reminiscing about those moments and actions, laughter fills the air. There were so many of them that I cannot even mention all. Most of these were rooted in the superstitious beliefs we were fed by our elders.
There is one in particular that still baffles me, even now—how I fell for it so badly that I had to fight because of it many times.
We were made to believe that if someone drew a line with a stick, by night, a snake would follow the line, possibly leading it to the house. In case you do not get it, let me give an example:
Let’s say I drew a line on the ground from school while coming back home with a long stick, and the line ended at my house. At night, a snake would supposedly follow that line and settle in my house.
I had many fights with friends because of this belief. There is one in particular that I remember vividly. A close friend of mine, whom I always played with, and I had a misunderstanding. Since I was stronger than him, he refused to fight me. Instead, he picked up a stick, drew a line from the bush near our house straight into our compound, and ran away.
Filled with anger, and also knowing that it was believed that the person who drew the line had to clean it, or else the effect would still happen, I chased after him with all the fury in me. I was determined to drag him back to clean off the line. When I caught up with him, he refused to come with me, and we started fighting on the spot.
The craziest part was that when adults gathered to separate us and asked what caused the fight, we explained, and the boy was queried for drawing the line and running away. He was then forced to go back and clean the line. This means that the adults either believed in the superstition as well or perhaps just wanted to settle the heated argument in my favor because they saw how determined I was.
That was just one of the many fights I had over this belief.
Back in those days, whenever we knew we could not match up in a fight or a quarrel with someone stronger than us, the next thing we did was draw a line to their house, so that a snake would follow the line and possibly bite them at night.
Now that I have grown up and am writing about this, I cannot help but laugh uncontrollably at how much I believed in such a thing. I practiced it so well that I even fought many childish fights because of it.
I now wonder, what possible connection does a snake have with a drawn line on the ground? Well, maybe it might be true, just like how we once believed in the story of meeting a ghost when passing through the market at night.
Thanks!
I wrote this in response to the Hive Reachout contest.
