A Ground talk with Mr. Snake to survive in the Jungle.

When I opened my eyes I found myself lying on the ground. My body was aching as if my legs and arms were injured.

When my senses focused I saw a green sky shadowing me. I heard no noise in my surroundings. There was peace in the ambiance but not in my soul.

With a sudden flash of light in my mind, I recalled what had happened. I was going in a car with my friends Roma and Momin. But then...?

I remembered my car got into an accident and what happened next I don't recall.

It was then I came to know that I was lying in a jungle. And the sky was not green, those were the trees of the forest.

I saw Momin lying on the ground 7 feet away from me. Fortunately, he was conscious. But there was no sign of Roma, only the smashed car of us.

I went towards him and asked about Roma, where is she? He was as aware as I was.

We got on our feet to search for her. We searched for her in two directions for as long as one hour but there was no sign of her.

My heart was sinking but we can't lose our senses in this jungle. We had to survive so we stopped to:
S-stop
T-think
O-observe
P-plan

In a matter of one hour night would cover the jungle. We had to choose a place to spend a night there.

We planned to make a shelter using tree branches and cover-up of leaves.

We started collecting leaves, and Momin was constantly giving me instructions. He had served in the military for one year. He knew such stuff because he was jungle-smart as well as street-smart.

After making the shelter we had to search for a certain kind of leaves to rub them on our skin to resist animals.

I turned towards Momin to ask if I was making my shelter the right way, when I saw him

He was all in his glory and majesty standing tall behind Momin.

Source

It was a snake, a black one.

He was staring at us with red eyes full of anger. His tongue was protruding in and out as if showing off his assets to bankrupted people (us) who were without anything for their protection.

I warned Momin not to move, a snake has got your back.

Interestingly, Momin was not looking frightened, instead, he told me not to be scared. Maybe my face was turning white at the sight of the snake.

My mind wasn't sensing any instruction Momin was giving me to tackle this new situation.

I couldn't take my eyes off of snake.

I was near to fainting when I saw that snake started talking to us, or me, his eyes were on me and my brand new shelter of tree branches and leaves.

Why are you making a house on my land?

My tongue couldn't help as if it was paralyzed.

The snake came forward an inch and I started reciting Kalma, I was sure of our end.

At that moment, I wished I had taken training to survive.

Behind the scene(I mean Momin) snake was still speaking.

Wasn't it enough for your ancestors to destroy our lands, jungles, and forests to make your stupid houses, which cover achers of land?

Wasn't it enough to destroy our ecosystem and the balance of nature?

Now you have come to live in the few jungles which have left for us.

It was you who had made us venomous creatures, you made us hate humans who are only greedy for the land and wood.

Why can't you leave us alone? Or should I have a dinner of you humans tonight instead of boring little animals?

I who was thinking about the pain in the snake's questions and his concern about their homeland, froze with horror on his last question.

What if he ate us? Who would look for Roma? Maybe our ghosts...

The snakes slowly encircled Momin's body. I couldn't help and started crying and begging him to leave Momin.

Momin's eye gestures to me, to see the sharp wood on the ground to kill the snake were smoothly ignored.

I believe in table talk instead of violence.

Though there was no table, a ground talk could have been done.

I started negotiating with Mr. Snake and apologized to him for the destruction of their ecosystem by my ancestors.

I assured him that we'll not overdo it when producing children and destroying fertile land due to our greed and for our children's houses

He looked suspicious as if thinking whether to believe me or not.

I further told him about our accident and a lost friend for whom we were staying in the jungle. Otherwise we don't believe in invading anyone's privacy.

The snakes looked at both me and Momin's injuries. I thought he would take pity on us and leave us.

But he looked delighted to see us(humans) in pain. I sensed he believed in punishing children for the crimes committed by their ancestors.

Finally, I had to play my last card.

I begged his mercy and asked him to let us stay for only one night in his place and search for our friend.

What would I get in return? Asked the greedy snake, he was an advocate of a win-win for both parties. Such a devil

I assured him that we would start a campaign for the reservation of your ecosystem in our university. We will start a social media campaign on Instagram as well for animal rights, only if we go alive from here.

I saw a light in his eyes. He left Momin alive and went towards his bush and glanced at me one last time before disappearing. The snake decided to trust us and I was determined to fulfill my commitment and recover human credibility.

I sat on the ground with one hand on my heart and Momin kneeling in front of me.

What the hack are you, girl?

I smiled with teary eyes, we girls may not be as smart as you boys but we are emotionally smarter than you.

Table talk wins over any violence.

Both of them went inside their shelter, both thinking about their friend with fear and hope, calling their friend silently.

Are you, are you coming to the tree?

^{@mehwish-almas would you try this keyword?}