A Snake in the Grass by R.K. Narayan depicts a family with a problem.

Living in southern
India, the Indian people fear and honor the King Cobra. Its bite is deadly. The family in the
story has a cobra somewhere in their yard. Someone saw it come into the yard, but it has
not been found. Narayan finds some humor in this precarious situation which is
characteristic of his writing.
The family consists of the mother and her four sons. They have an old servant Dasu who
spends most of his time sleeping. After finding him asleep while everyone is looking for the
snake, Dasu is reprimanded for not being more alert.
Several superstitions or rituals are indicated in the conversation with the old beggar
woman who comes to the gate to ask for money. The mother tells her what is happening.
The old woman takes it as a sign from the god Subramanya also called Murugan which is
associated with snakes. Abhishekam is a ritual performed to honor a deity. The person will
pour milk on the god that is esteemed. Some milk in a pot which contains the cobra is
considered a religious duty to invoke the snakes aid.
Snakes are not to be killed in India if possible. Great care is to be taken not to hurt it or
give it pain. It would be a grievous sin to bruise the head of the cobra which would be an
omen of calamity for the family.
The family sends for a snake charmer. He cannot help them until they find the snake.
Toward dark, the family gives up and sits on the porch. Dasu comes carrying a pot that he
has sealed. He tells the family that he has caught the snake, and he is going to take it to
the snake charmer. The mother wishes that she could have put some milk in the pot for
good luck.
After Dasu leaves, the youngest son spots the cobra coming through a hole in the
compound barrier. The snake slithers across the yard to go out the front gate. When the
snake gets to the gate, he turns and looks at the family with his hood half up.
It crawled under the gate and disappeared along a drain. When they recovered from the
shock they asked: Does it means that there are two snakes here? The college-boy
murmured: I wish I had taken the risk and knocked the water-pot from Dasus hand; we
might have known what it contained.'
The clever old servant fools his family by producing a pot without a snake. The writer
portrays the frantic hunt for the snake; in contrast, when the snake does show up, his cool
demeanor seems to say There is not a problem.