Respect

Respect

Dear Daughter,

Yesterday evening, guess what? Papa saw his first Indian snake! I was at my Tamil teacher’s house and there was a big thunderstorm coming, and all of the birds in the garden were twittering and calling to each other. Maybe they were telling each other about the snake, what do you think? The snake was black and a bit over a meter long, so it was not quite as tall as you are, but was still a pretty big snake, slithering along the top of the garden wall.

Snakes are also very important creatures in India and are called Nagas in Sanskrit. There are many stories about them and sculptures all over India.

Once, a huge King Cobra, one of the Nagini, spread its hood and sheltered the Buddha from a thunderstorm while he was in deep meditation under a tree. Also, one of Papa’s favorite stories as a child was Rikki-Tikki-Tavi, which is about a mongoose who protects his human family from two big, mean cobras, Nag and Nagaina. So, like many other things in life, sometimes snakes can be good for people and other times dangerous. We must always respect their power and be careful with them.

I Love You,

Papa