Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Face to face with spectacled Indian cobra

It is a day in my life that I will remember forever. There are many a times I have seen snakes, either in the wild or somewhere while traveling. I have heard many stories as well from people like wildlife scientists, forest officers and commoners, and I have always wanted to know more about snakes. I knew snakes are shy and yes there are only 5% of poisonous snakes in the world. I read it in Romulus Whitaker's book common snakes.
The last time I saw a snake was a year back when I was in Top slip, Indira gandhi wildlife sanctuary. An adult green vine snake beautifully camouflaged and sitting on a bush. It was there peering into my eyes and I stood there admiring its beauty. In the next five minutes, when my forest guard tried to catch it, it slipped away and all through my journey I just was thinking about the beautiful creature.
Today as I was stepping down from home..just the last step and I came face to face with a spectacled indian cobra. I had no time to even react or think. It was hardly two feet away from me. I froze, not knowing what to do. I thought maybe it is just a juvenile. Without wasting any more time, I quietly paced back home. What happened, my mom asked, curiously..I said..ssnnnaakke..there was a snake..I just left it undisturbed, may have strayed somewhere and came here. I tell you the snake did not harm me, not even for a second, it put its hood up and said, look im gonna bite you. It was surprising I was unruffled too. It felt magical to see the snake and my love for it has grown more. I did not bother him, he did not bother me. We went our own ways. I did not call anyone, for I feared they might kill my little cobra. In the evening when I went out, it wasn't there. He must have found his way and gone long back.

I called my friend who is a scientist and asked him what I need to do. He gave me the number of a guy who was a snake rescuer. If the snake is around, call him, he said. Put salt to prohibit it from coming near, he said. I had to do nothing. He went away.
I felt divine seeing it. truly divine and even now I can't believe it actually happened.
I hate to see people killing innocent snakes. I want to learn to rescue the snakes and tell people here not to kill them when they see one, but to call rescuers and help these creatures survive. The earth belongs to them as much as it belongs to us. Amen

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