Fear of Unknown

Nagarcoil, a quite village just five kilometers from KanyaKumari coastal lines, situated at the Southern most tip of India, in the state of Tamilnadu, is greeted by a graceful sunrise. Village gets it's name from the famous temple of Nagas (serpents) and literally means "Temple for Nagas" in Tamil. Though not visible now, memories of the Tsunami of two years' past still lingeres. The rich fertile land is overrun with greenery and dawn in early June presents beautiful scenes to an observing eye. Raj isn't the most alert of guys, but he definitely has enough sense to abandon sleep and take an early morning walk on this lovely morning. He is trying to remember all the landmarks as he will be hard pressed to ask the direction owing to language barrier. He speaks no Tamil and most of the natives in this part of India, speak very little English and no Hindi.

Raj travelled from Ahmedabad and reached at Nagarcoil yesterday afternoon with his co-worker, Rinku. They are here to attend the wedding of their colleague Anitha. They had started from Ahmedabad in Nagarcoil express two days' ago. Train travelled through picturesque route of Konkan Railways comprising of huge tunnels, green jungles, step falls and intermittent rains. Beauty of the surrounding made the tiresome journey of fortyeight hours enjoyable and both friends had alighted the train with high spirits. Anitha's father picked them up and brought them to his village house. Anitha's elder brother Sendil took it on himself to accommodate these two "north Indians" and became their guide. He regaled stories of village and it's nearby coastal lines, paddy fields and tadi drinks. Raj declared that next morning he will get up early and take a long walk along the fields and shores and witness the charm of village on his own.

True to his word, Raj is up and about and had walked all the way from village to the main road and has taken the turn towards paddy fields and aforementioned coastline. Like most villages, Nagarcoil is bursting with early morning activities. Children are going to school, many of them accompanied by their mothers whereas men are moving towards fields. Raj is thinking, Sendil was not at all exaggerating when he described the morning grace of his village. Sendil had given him good directions and highlighed key landmarks that has allowed him to negotiate his way expertly towards the coastline around four km from village. Raj has walked briskly and now he can see coconut trees surrounding both sides of the road and slowly hustle and bustle of the village is left behind. Young boy is enjoying the company of nature and without a care in the world, he is trotting towards his destination.

Suddenly a man bursts out of a field and stands in front of Raj. This man is wearing only a lungi, folded up to his knees with his bare torso gleaming with sweat. He looks strong, wiry and muscled and is carrying a long machete tucked to his side along the lungi. He has gray in his dark curly hair and his dark complexion makes him look menacing. He is smiling and his eyes are twinkling like he has met with an old friend which surpises the boy. Raj has stopped in his tracks some distance away. The man is gesticulating to Raj, beconing him forward, sort of inviting him to go together somewhere. Raj is uncertain and frankly scared. He doesn't know this man, can see no one else but the machete wielding muscle man in sight. The man is moving his hands frantically and speaks in illegible, to Raj, Tamil. Seeing no movement on the boy's part, the man starts moving towards Raj. He just loses the plot and fear grips him harder than ever. It's not that he gets scared easy but the situation is hopeless as per his point of view. He is facing an unknown, armed assailant in a remote isolated location. Survival instincts click in and Raj turns back and starts walking. The man pursues him, now shouting. Raj decides to run for his life, leaving the man shouting something that sounds like "Nan. Mama. Makan.".

Anitha comes in to the room and asks everyone to come out for lunch. Coming back from his frightful experience in the morning, Raj went to bath with Sendil and his friends, ate healty breakfast of Appams and spent time with Rinku, Anitha and her cousins playing Antakshari and Dumb-charades. Raj hasn't spoken to anyone about his experience of morning out of fear and shame, mainly because he doesn't want any of the girls finding out that he got scared and ran away. He is sure he will forget this incident in a day or two when Anitha comes to take him to lunch. Anitha has twinkle in her eyes and says "why didn't you tell me about your morning experience?". Raj is surprised and asks "What do you mean?". She just says come and takes her to the pandal where food is being prepared and her father and uncles are sitting. Second time today, Raj stops in his tracks at the sight of this man. The man from morning is sitting with Anitha's father, still wearing lungi though a blue shirt is covering his upperbody now and the machete is missing. He is still smiling and pointing to Raj. In this setting, the man looks nothing more than a middle aged uncle and absolutely not someone to be scared of. Anitha smiles and introduces "This is my uncle, though you weren't introduced properly yesterday, he recognized you in the morning and wanted to take you to the coastal lines." Raj was praying for an earthquake to eat him whole when Anitha said "When you turned back and ran, he was shouting - Son, wait. I am Anitha's uncle."