Once Upon a Time ...... [II] - Life and death are natural

(Read the prologue here)
Life and death are natural and perfectly normal but thanks to technology and stable civilization, we have come to take life for granted.

There was a time when poisonous (venomous) animals and insects roamed, not only in your backyard but inside your house and if you were unlucky you might find them right in your bed!!

A farm worker in my uncle's farm was bit by a cobra; his presence of mind saved him - he chopped off the finger that the cobra had bit. My grandmom was stung by a scorpion while cooking in her kitchen, she almost died. Her neighbor's child was playing in the yard when he saw something interesting and picked it up, it turned out to be a scorpion, it got entangled in the baby's little fingers which was probably clenched because of the pain and the shock - the end was not good. Rewind just a couple of decades, mothers used to protect their babies not from flu or infection but from wild monkeys and hawks who would simply pick the little one.

"Horrible times" you might say but did people lead a terrified life back then?!? Were they afraid to venture out? Never in a mood to smile? Not enjoy the gentle breeze or a blossoming flower? Nope, they did all that and lived a regular life because life and death are natural, so are pleasure and pain. My grandparents accepted death at any age and in any form, with such ease that one would wonder if they loved life at all. Yes they did enjoy life and tried their best to improve its quality but gave death the same respect as life.