We started going up the steps talking noisily looking at the surroundings. May be 50 or 60 steps up, just 3 - 4 steps ahead of us, I saw a Cobra slithering up the steps!! When I told Gulli about the Cobra his first reaction was to go towards it. “Hey Sidda what a lovely creature! This is the first time I'm seeing a real snake.” For a moment it looked as though he was going to catch it, I caught the back of his shirt and stopped him from getting closer to the snake. Suddenly I noticed a dog next to us. It went past us sniffing at the Cobra. We realized the steps were flanked by low walls on both sides, which means no chance of snake escaping until it reached the summit. I took the left one and Gulli on the right wall. We watched the snake crawl up all the way... it slowed as it went up every step... the stone-steps surface was too smooth for it to grip. When it took the last of the step I took a picture. Till the moment I had completely forgotten my Yashica.
It must be 6' long.
Once the snake was on flat surface it picked up speed and it took off the moment it reached mud... disappeared into the bushes. Snake gone. We got off the wall.
The temple door was closed and locked, did namaskara to the Gods inside. We realized the dog had disappeared!! We went around the temple looking for it but It was no where to be seen. It had vanished!!!
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