Krishna ran fast in the streets of Brindavan and arrived at the lakeside hideout where his friends welcomed him. Then they started playing with a ball.

Soon Krishna and his friends arrived at the eastern part of the Brindavan forests. But they were shocked at what they saw there. The place looked... ghostly!

On the exterior, the place looked bright enough. The lake had plenty of water and there was even a waterfall nearby. But only when the children went near they saw the changes.

The water had a bluish colour. But the grass around the lake was not green anymore. It had turned black. There was a huge tree overlooking the lake, but it was on the verge of dying. It had no leaves and its branches were all blackened. It seemed as if the whole place was damned; cursed by some monstrous evil.There was an eerie silence all about the place.

"I do not like this place," whined one of his friends." I do not like the place" he repeated, "we should not be here at all! My father will be angry if he comes to know about it."

Krishna looked thoughtfully at the lake for some moments. Then he turned to his friends. "Well then, now that we're here, let's at least play ball!" he said and grabbed the ball. He threw it at Kusela, who was unable to catch it properly and let it slip into the lake. The ball disappeared into the waters with a soft plop.

"Let me get it," said Krishna and before his friends could stop him he jumped inside the strange waters!

Krishna went under the bluish waters of Yamuna. On the shore, his friends yelled in
terror but the boy raised his head and shouted back:

"Don't worry, I'll soon be back with the ball!"

The water felt too cold and Krishna's skin tingled uncomfortably. But he ignored the feeling.

Krishna swam lower and found the plants all burnt and bent as if they were drenched in acid. It saddened him to see the underwater plants dead and black. He looked around to find out the one responsible for it.

As his feet touched the bottom, he could see skeletons of small sea animals and fishes lying on the riverbed. An uncanny silence reigned over the whole place. It seemed to be the kingdom of Death.

Suddenly a strange sound caught Krishna's ears.It seemed like a hissing sound.

"Whoever did this is still here," thought Krishna.

As if agreeing with him, a huge snake sliding out of his sea hole. It was Kalia. It was truly terrible to see his large body slithering in the water. Baring his many hoods, he hissed again and faced the little boy.

The snake-King was surprised but also pleased to see Krishna. "Hmmm, what do we have here?" he asked mockingly.

"Food!" shouted his family in chorus, who were standing behind him.

"Yessssss..." Kalia hissed in wicked tones. "We do not get to taste humans often! And you look like a pretty morsel..."

Without finishing his words, Kalia lunged at Krishna. The boy, who had been expecting such a move, deftly jumped back and hid behind a rock. But Kalia moved at a lightning speed and caught him. He coiled round Krishna and started to crush his body. Krishna, who was rather enjoying the fight, twisted his body and slipped out.

Kalia was stunned. It was impossible. How could this mere boy slip out of his grasp so easily?. Nobody, no matter how big or small, had ever escaped from his deadly hold. For the first time in his life did Kalia ever experience such a phenomenon.

Krishna, meanwhile, jumped over the rock and crouched low. He was in a playful mood and he decided to tease the evil snake.

Had he known who his opponent is, Kalia would never have dared to try to devour Krishna. Krishna was, in reality, a divine child. He was an incarnation of the Absolute, the almighty God. He had come to the earth to reward the good and punish the wicked.

But Kalia did not know this and he was hell- bent on having Krishna as his lunch.

As the snake came around the rock to catch him, Krishna ran over to the other side. The next few minutes were spent in hide and seek until, tired, Kalia lost his patience.

"You boy! Why don't you face me like a man instead of dancing like a girl?" he snarled at Krishna.

"Oh, I haven't even started dancing yet!" laughed Krishna. "But since you are asking, let me show you how I really dance..."

Saying so, Krishna quickly climbed over the rock and jumped on the snake's enormous hood. He firmly placed his foot on the snake's sensitive head and started to dance.

And what a dance it was!

The whole lake started to tremble as Krishna danced. The lake anemones and the burnt sea plants started to shake. It seemed as if they nodded their. heads together in ecstasy over Kalia's plight. Even the fishes left alive stood still and watched him dancing over Kalia's head.

"Hey you! Stop dancing on my head, will you?" Kalia screamed out in pain.

Krishna stopped dancing and slid lower near Kalia's face. He rained blows on his head and climbed on his head to dance again.

Kalia grew truly afraid. Now he felt surely that the little boy was no ordinary child. The thud of Krishna's feet felt like the bong! Bong! Of a great hammer on his head. As Krishna danced with more and more vigour, the snake felt his life slowly being pushed out of his body.

Kalia's wives were quick to predict Kalia's fate. "Oh, divine child, please don't kill our husband!" they begged him.

"I will let him live if all of you promise to leave this place forever," answered Krishna.

"But we are so safe in here!" wailed Kalia. "If we go out now, Garuda the giant eagle would surely have us as his breakfast!"

"Go to Ramnaka, the snake-kingdom," promised Krishna. "You and your family will not be attacked by any bird or beast till you reach there. That's my promise to you.. Now off you go!!"

Kaliya because of the fear of Garuda remained stationed in one place as a result the water turned toxic and poisonous. Compare this to our life…. We also sometimes want to remain stagnant… happy in our comfort zone… resulting in slow poisoning of our life where there is no growth only death.

We become like kaliya poisoning our surrounding,

How many times we turn down opportunities like new locations, different new companies, industries .. responsibilities , different views, opinions or skill sets… just because we are scared or afraid of our vultures.(Garuda-real or imaginary).

Even when our boss/employer forces us to different locations, new responsibilities we treat them as villains and blame them and envy our peers who have escaped from this ordeal. It is for our own good that we are moved or rotated but we feel victimized and want to be like the ship who is safest at the harbor.

We have to choose that do we prefer 10 years experience …or 1 year experience repeated 10 times….