Kid: <Suddenly wakes up from his dream>
Man: The bats again? You know why they attacked you, don't you? They were afraid of you.
Kid: Afraid of me?
Man: All creatures feel fear. Even the scary ones? Especially the scary ones.
This dialogue from The Batman Begins, changed the way i look at snakes.
As a kid, the society around me portrayed snakes as something very dangerous and evil and I grew up believing it. Very often i used to get nightmares, where i find snakes on my bed, chasing me, biting me and so on. Didn't tell it to my parents, as i knew that the solution they would offer will not work. (solution would be going to a temple and doing a 'sarpa dosha nirvarana').
When i saw a first live snake: (When i was 8 years old or so):
There i was, happily running out of my house holding my pocket money of Rs 1 coin, thinking of what to buy. Should i buy 4 Chocolates?, 2 Kites? or 1 chewing gum (oh wait a minute, i just now promised my mom not to buy any kind of chewing gum) so chewing gum out of my options. Suddenly i find a lady at the gate, with a bamboo basket in her hand, begging for money (Guess by now she has already noticed my shiny Rs 1 coin). I just looked at her and then looked at her basket. She opened the lid and i was scared-as-hell. A big brown snake sleeping inside it, i threw the coin into the basket and ran the hell out of there.
When i saw a first cobra (When i was 10 years old or so):
We were visiting our village 20kms from my house, which is apparently inside bengaluru (bengaluru rural back then). It was around 8pm and i was already on my bed, as people in villages sleep as early as 8pm and wake up at 5am. Then heard from my aunt that there was an adult snake which came through the windows into the house, while everyone were asleep. I was like, why the hell she had tell it now? while i was sleeping on the ground with my parents. I held my mom's hand tightly and somehow managed to sleep.
The next day my uncle takes me to the water pump room, beside the big well. When i looked closely on the ground, I was astonished to see a baby Cobra with its hood opened and looking at me.
Kukri Snake: (When i was 12 years old or so):
We had moved into our newly built house in Ramamurthy nagar. My cousin who lived in the ground floor, ran to our house shouting that she stepped on something in the bathroom, possibly a snake. My dad took my cricket bat and within 2mins came back with a dead snake. It seemed to look like a White-Barred Kukri Snake. ( all i remember is that it had red stripes)
Adult Spectacled Cobra (When i was 14 years old or so):
To beat the summer heat, we used to play cricket early morning. Was fielding on the boundary, the ball went outside the boundary into the bushes. As i approached the ball, a very long brown snake slithered past me.I came running and none of my friends believed me. Few mins later, we saw someone in his tata sumo car honking near the same place. When we inquired, we saw the same snake in the middle of the road, with its hood held high and hissing at the car. The driver had no clue what to do and reversed his car. He could have easily driven over the snake, killing it. But guess he was very kind or mostly superstitious about snake haunting him.
First Snake Pic: When i was 19 years old: ( 1st July 2007)
Our maid came running to tell us that there was a snake in the portico. Was very nervous, heart started to pound heavily. Gathered all my courage and took this beautiful pic.
Baby Spectacled Cobra.
First Snake Pic with my point and shoot digital cam: (25th June 2011)
Taken just before i left home to play football. Pushed it out with sticks into the bushes.
Baby Spectacled Cobra again.
First encounter with an Adult Spectacled Cobra (3rd August 2011)
*caught by an expert snake catcher
Snake inside my cousins house: (16th June 2012)
Found this Baby Spectacled Cobra inside my cousins room!!. Which i bottled successfully.
Another Successful bottled snake: (30th June 2013)
First Snake Pic with my DSLR cam: (26th June 2015)
If you have noticed the dates, they are all seen during the month of June. The eggs hatch during that time and the babies come inside houses seeking heat. After all they are cold blooded creatures.
During this time we find them everywhere near our house, once even inside our store room @ 2nd floor!!!
As an adult now, even though the society around me still portrays snakes as something very dangerous and evil, i don't believe it anymore. Now i get dreams about snakes very often, where ill be chasing it with my camera. Still don't tell it to my parents, as the solution they would offer will still be the same. :P
I have learnt that, the snakes always try to avoid confrontation. They are 100 times scared than us and bite only if you corner or try to hurt it. If you see one near you house please do not kill it, just observe the beauty from a safe distance and get someone experienced to capture it and release it into a safe place. I have overcome my fear of snakes with these encounters and started loving them.
P.S: The kid earlier i mentioned went on to become Batman. I have no intentions of becoming a Snake-man.
Man: The bats again? You know why they attacked you, don't you? They were afraid of you.
Kid: Afraid of me?
Man: All creatures feel fear. Even the scary ones? Especially the scary ones.
This dialogue from The Batman Begins, changed the way i look at snakes.
As a kid, the society around me portrayed snakes as something very dangerous and evil and I grew up believing it. Very often i used to get nightmares, where i find snakes on my bed, chasing me, biting me and so on. Didn't tell it to my parents, as i knew that the solution they would offer will not work. (solution would be going to a temple and doing a 'sarpa dosha nirvarana').
When i saw a first live snake: (When i was 8 years old or so):
There i was, happily running out of my house holding my pocket money of Rs 1 coin, thinking of what to buy. Should i buy 4 Chocolates?, 2 Kites? or 1 chewing gum (oh wait a minute, i just now promised my mom not to buy any kind of chewing gum) so chewing gum out of my options. Suddenly i find a lady at the gate, with a bamboo basket in her hand, begging for money (Guess by now she has already noticed my shiny Rs 1 coin). I just looked at her and then looked at her basket. She opened the lid and i was scared-as-hell. A big brown snake sleeping inside it, i threw the coin into the basket and ran the hell out of there.
When i saw a first cobra (When i was 10 years old or so):
We were visiting our village 20kms from my house, which is apparently inside bengaluru (bengaluru rural back then). It was around 8pm and i was already on my bed, as people in villages sleep as early as 8pm and wake up at 5am. Then heard from my aunt that there was an adult snake which came through the windows into the house, while everyone were asleep. I was like, why the hell she had tell it now? while i was sleeping on the ground with my parents. I held my mom's hand tightly and somehow managed to sleep.
The next day my uncle takes me to the water pump room, beside the big well. When i looked closely on the ground, I was astonished to see a baby Cobra with its hood opened and looking at me.
Kukri Snake: (When i was 12 years old or so):
We had moved into our newly built house in Ramamurthy nagar. My cousin who lived in the ground floor, ran to our house shouting that she stepped on something in the bathroom, possibly a snake. My dad took my cricket bat and within 2mins came back with a dead snake. It seemed to look like a White-Barred Kukri Snake. ( all i remember is that it had red stripes)
Adult Spectacled Cobra (When i was 14 years old or so):
To beat the summer heat, we used to play cricket early morning. Was fielding on the boundary, the ball went outside the boundary into the bushes. As i approached the ball, a very long brown snake slithered past me.I came running and none of my friends believed me. Few mins later, we saw someone in his tata sumo car honking near the same place. When we inquired, we saw the same snake in the middle of the road, with its hood held high and hissing at the car. The driver had no clue what to do and reversed his car. He could have easily driven over the snake, killing it. But guess he was very kind or mostly superstitious about snake haunting him.
First Snake Pic: When i was 19 years old: ( 1st July 2007)
Our maid came running to tell us that there was a snake in the portico. Was very nervous, heart started to pound heavily. Gathered all my courage and took this beautiful pic.
First Snake Pic with my point and shoot digital cam: (25th June 2011)
Taken just before i left home to play football. Pushed it out with sticks into the bushes.
Baby Spectacled Cobra again.
First encounter with an Adult Spectacled Cobra (3rd August 2011)
Snake inside my cousins house: (16th June 2012)
Found this Baby Spectacled Cobra inside my cousins room!!. Which i bottled successfully.
Another Successful bottled snake: (30th June 2013)
First Snake Pic with my DSLR cam: (26th June 2015)
If you have noticed the dates, they are all seen during the month of June. The eggs hatch during that time and the babies come inside houses seeking heat. After all they are cold blooded creatures.
During this time we find them everywhere near our house, once even inside our store room @ 2nd floor!!!
As an adult now, even though the society around me still portrays snakes as something very dangerous and evil, i don't believe it anymore. Now i get dreams about snakes very often, where ill be chasing it with my camera. Still don't tell it to my parents, as the solution they would offer will still be the same. :P
I have learnt that, the snakes always try to avoid confrontation. They are 100 times scared than us and bite only if you corner or try to hurt it. If you see one near you house please do not kill it, just observe the beauty from a safe distance and get someone experienced to capture it and release it into a safe place. I have overcome my fear of snakes with these encounters and started loving them.
P.S: The kid earlier i mentioned went on to become Batman. I have no intentions of becoming a Snake-man.
Haha.. Snake-man! 😂 Loved this article!
ReplyDeletevery nice..:)
ReplyDelete