What Happened to the Reptiles Summary
The story is narrated by Prem, who fled his village due to the riots and incidentally reached Pampaputi. An old village man shelters Prem and tells him a story. The narrator tells us that we cannot believe the story but it is true. He went to Pampaputi, a village on the outskirts of the forest. It was on a rock and spread like a carpet under a huge forest moss. Pambupatti was a peaceful village where people of different sizes, colors, religions, languages, tastes lived together.
The narrator states that he lived far away from Pampupatti and had heard a lot about the village. He wanted to see it but somehow could not. But last year there were terrible riots in his village. People went mad and were fighting among themselves. Mosques and temples were burnt. His own house was also burnt. People had to run away.
The narrator managed to carry some things with him and kept running day and night. Whenever his feet were not in a position to support him, he relaxed. He traveled by bus and train without a ticket. Finally, he reached Pambupatti and saw some villagers near a well. He ran to them and fainted before saying anything.
When he came to his senses, he saw an old man bending over him. For some days they took care of him, gave him food, sweets, water and all. He rubbed his feet softly and relieved him of pain. All the people of the neighborhood, though strangers, went to meet him.
The narrator asked the old man to tell him about the place because it seemed so strange to him. He saw people fighting with others in the name of religion, but here it was different.
The old man told him the story of the place. And asked him to take that story to his village, so that the wounds of the people there would be healed.
The narrator said with concern and asked the old man not to return to the village because, after witnessing the riots there, he did not wish to return.
The old man told him strongly that the disturbance of the place was a big reason for him to go there. The narrator was more interested in the story so he did not argue.
The old man said that in the old times there were no schools, the children lived in caves with their parents and helped them at that time, there were no other animals in the forest, but only reptiles existed. A large number of reptiles were ruling in the forest. The strongest and biggest makkar was- crocodile. All animals considered him important. They often met once a month, attending each of them.
One day a very strange thing happened. Just a week before the monthly meeting, Makkar sent a letter to the turtle asking him not to come to the meeting as he was too slow and carried his home on his back. The large old star with black and yellow pictures on its shell felt angry and shouted at it. How could he speak to them like this? But not a single turtle could muster the courage to attend the meeting as they were few in number.
Before the meeting began, the elder Makara shone his teeth with red flowers on the banks of the river, until they began to glow. Everyone was waiting for him.
Makar called all the siblings and addressed the meeting and everyone stopped listening to them. He said that he had decided that he did not need turtles. He told them not to come. They accepted the gathering as brothers and sisters and asked if they knew why they did not like turtles.
The reptiles looked here and there because they did not feel easy. They all started moving. Snakes were hissing, lizards shook their tails and crocodiles untied their jaws.
The lizard began speaking with 'but…'. Makara shouted 'No buts' and silenced him. The baby crocodile then started with 'I think', but Makara silenced by saying 'I don't think'. He spoke so loudly that the fruit fell from the tree above. After this, no one dared to speak.
Makara clears her throat and explains the reason why they were not like turtles. He explained that he was slow and stupid. They loaded their homes on their backs. He asked the lizard if he would ever carry the tree of his house on his back. The lizard replied in a frightened tone - no, and further tried to say 'but'.
Makra silenced him again by saying 'No' rather. He further states that he told the turtles to leave the pampatti and once they are gone, all the reptiles that survive in the forest will have more of it - be it water, food or space. He wanted them to be released the next day, but because they were slow, they gave him a week off. He called them in a slow voice.
By next Tuesday all the turtles left the forest. Initially, all the animals were unhappy but slowly, they agreed with Makarara as they were able to overdo everything but very soon, a strange smell began to spread in the forest. It smelled of rotten fruits and animals that the turtles ate. He helped keep the forest clean and fresh. The smell was so strong that Makara had to cover the nose and pass through the forest.
The same thing was repeated with snakes after one month. Being sharp, the snakes were asked to free up space in a day.
Naga, the head of the Nagas, asked for more time but Makar did not agree. At the meeting, he silenced everyone, lizards, crocodiles with their loud shouts and threats. He argued in support of his decision that snakes were unpleasant animals that he had. They made fun of the noise. For this no one could dare to oppose the decision of Makara.
For some time the animals were happy because of their fear of snakes. As they were very unpredictable and at any time they could spew rage poison against someone who was dangerous and could kill another person.
After a few weeks all the animals in the forest became tired and irritated. The rats were happy because there was no snake that would eat them. Good times could be seen everywhere in the forest rats. They also ate the eggs of crocodiles and lizards. No new children arrived in the forest that year.
Now Makar thought of keeping the entire forest alone for himself. So he called a meeting of crocodiles and expressed his wish in front of them. He expressed his opinion by saying that the lizards were not trustworthy as they kept changing colors.
By that time crocodiles were afraid of Capricorn so they backed down and said yes to their idea. As a result, the lizard went into the forest with its jawans lying on their parents' backs.
And now being alone in the forest, instead of having an amazing time, strange and strange things started happening. The rats danced on the backs of boils and crocodiles, many frogs came and grew and they were all fearless as there was no one to eat them. These big frogs started eating the children of crocodiles. The worms also increased in number as the lizard moved away. They became big and courageous.
All these gave crocodiles a very difficult time. They could not understand what happened to their happy home.
One day in the meeting, a hoarse voice was raised, saying that they all knew what had been done wrong in the forest.
All the people fell silent due to the fear of Makara but Makara herself got nervous. He became weak but was not ready to accept his mistake. But all the crocodiles knew and took a decision and wrote letters to everyone to send a message to the animals to come back to the forest. It was a great day as all the animals started coming back, one family after another, screaming at each other, children on the back, shabby and hasty.
In just two months, the forest returned to normal. Rats were not visible. The insects and the smell were also gone. The world became normal.
The old one asks Prem whether he has fallen asleep and whether his story has sent him to the land of dreams. Prem shook his head and said that no, in fact he was thinking that it is the right time to go back to the village and share this story with him. But he was afraid that no one would listen to him. The old advised him that he would have to tell that story again and again to other people. They may laugh at it or call the story fake. But he had to keep telling it with the hope that one day he would understand that every person has his own special place in this world.
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