Once, a very powerful demon came and started troubling Mata Rani. To stop him, the goddess took the fierce form of Goddess Kali and beheaded the demon, then wore his head around her neck.
"Wasn't Kali Mata scared?"
"No."
"Why?"
"Because she is the most powerful. No one can defeat her. She has nine forms, and among them, Kali's form is considered the most powerful. All demons fear her, and even worship her to gain strength. And you know what? In many of her forms, she rides a lion."
"Yes, I've seen that," said Rama.
"Where?"
"In our mom's temple. There's a picture of her there."
"Oh."
Now Rati also feels like seeing the lion of Mata Rani. But since there is no electricity right now, she has to wait until morning.
The next morning, as soon as she wakes up, Rati goes straight to her mother's temple. There, she carefully looks at the picture of the lion of the goddess (Durga) and silently prays in her heart to meet her.
After that, Rati goes downstairs, takes her share of tea and biscuits, and sits under the mango tree at the doorway, sipping her tea. Just then, a government trolley stops there, dumps some rubble (debris), and leaves.
In that pile, Rati notices a very cute three-cornered stone. When she picks it up, its shape looks exactly like how she had seen Vaishno Devi in the picture. She brings the stone inside the house, washes it thoroughly with water, and then colors it red using her mother's alta. After that, she draws eyes, nose, and mouth on it with kajal and places it near her personal cot.
Now she wants to meet Mata Rani and ask for her lion, so she goes to her mother to ask how she can meet the goddess.
"Mom."
"Yes, tell me."
"If I want to meet Mata Rani, how can I call her?"
"For that, you will have to worship her every day and keep fasts. You must stay hungry the whole day and can eat only at night. You must stop lying, stop stealing, and help everyone. Only then can someone meet Mata Rani."
Believing her mother's words, Rati starts worshipping that stone every day.
One day, on the festival of Nag Panchami, Rati was going through the forest with her grandmother to offer milk when she saw some people dragging a woman.
"Who are those people?"
"Why are they dragging that woman, and where are they taking her?"
"She is a witch," her grandmother said. "She steals and eats children."
"Why? Doesn't she get food?"
"She does, but witches eat good children to increase their power and stay young forever."
"But why does she want to stay young?"
"So that she can trap men in her web."
"Then why doesn't she just buy a net directly?"
After hearing such nonsense, her grandmother lightly smacks her on the head.
"Don't you ask too many questions?"
"So what? Why did God give me a mouth then?"
"A mouth is for eating food, not for talking nonsense."
"Then why do you keep gossiping in groups with other women?"
Hearing this, her grandmother smacks her on the head again.
"If you speak again, I'll send you to that witch."
"Then send me, I'm not scared!"
"Oh really?"
"Fine, then stay here. I'm going home. You come later after the serpent god has drunk the milk and gone."
"Fine, go then!"
As soon as her grandmother starts leaving, Rati's heart begins to race. She actually wants to go with her, but now it's about her pride, so she just keeps watching her grandmother walk away. After a while, her grandmother shouts:
"Come quickly, or that witch will really come and eat you!"
Hearing this, Rati runs to her grandmother in one breath.
"See, I came because you got scared, not because I was scared, okay? I'm not afraid at all, understand?"
"Haha, I know my Rati isn't afraid of anyone."
"That's true."
On this day of Nag Panchami, many delicious dishes had been prepared at home—Rati's favorites.
"Mom, we've offered the milk. Where are my malpua? And I want kheer too!"
"Hey, at least wash your hands before eating."
Rati goes to the courtyard to wash her hands, but Rama is already there.
"Rati, you came back so early after offering the milk!?"
"Yes."
"But you know what? I saw a witch there."
Hearing this, Rama lightly taps her on the head.
"There's no such thing as witches, silly."
"There is! I saw one. People were dragging her away."
"No, that must have been someone else. My teacher told me that witches don't exist."
Hearing this, Rati starts getting angry at Rama. She couldn't understand how someone could give more importance to others' words over their elders.
Rati keeps eating, but now all her attention is on finding out whether that really was a witch or not. And to figure it out, she starts making a plan in her mind to meet that "witch."
"Oh, so Rama doesn't believe me, huh? Now I'll prove it to her that witches do exist."
Night has fallen.
The whole family is sleeping on the terrace because of the heat.
Rati is just waiting somehow for it to be 10 o'clock so that she can sneak out of the house without anyone noticing.
Today, on the pretext of listening to the radio, she had kept her mother's Nokia mobile with her.
As soon as it's 10 PM, Rati turns on the torch of her mother's phone and quietly gets down from her cot, slowly making her way downstairs.
It is very dark downstairs, but somehow gathering courage, she reaches the back corridor and gently opens the door, slipping out of the house.Outside the house, moonlight was falling on the road. The whole street was empty, and from a distance, the howling of jackals could be clearly heard.
Rati thinks to herself,
"Oh no… what if she really is a witch? What if she actually eats me?"
"No… I have to go carefully."
So, Rati quietly opens the door once again and goes back inside the house. From the temple, she takes some holy Ganga water, chili powder, and a knife used for cutting vegetables.
Then she comes back outside and starts walking slowly. But every time she sees her own shadow, her heart begins to pound loudly with fear.