A snake in the courtyard

The 'snake helpline' needs to be revived

A June-end early Monday morning it was. My nostrils suffused with the heady रात की रानी fragrance emanating from one of my otherwise thoroughly unromantic and least fragrant of neighbours, I was sitting in the veranda, a cup of flavoury Kangra tea in hand. The sky was overcast; the dark grey clouds looked pregnant with rain ready to burst forth any minute. Warblers and bulbuls were being unstoppably garrulous but music to the ears. I was luxuriating on some soft, sweet, silken thoughts about the little dream-world that I foolishly think I will once nestle in...in some dream company, of course! At the same time at some subliminal level, I was also mulling a topic for my next blog post. Just then I was suddenly disturbed in my reverie by urgent knocks on the back door accompanied with calls from my octogenarian mother with a hint of panic. I wasn’t amused: Who likes being dragged out of one’s utopia?

But my anger, when I sought to know what the noise was all about, quickly dissipated. It was a snake having sneaked into the back courtyard that had triggered panic reaction from mother. Dusting off my rusty zoology background, I rushed and had a look at it. Well, it was not a viper at least, for sure. Vipers are easy to recognise. It was a lean, brown innocuous-looking rat snake about 2 feet long, a small distance away from the back door. I was clueless about how to deal with it. I didn’t want to kill it...being  a Sufi at heart! If disturbed, it could easily slither into some unapproachable corner or crevice along the house wall and later into the house even. I rang up Dr Adarsh Kumar, my professor-friend from HPKV Palampur's Vety College. The college had a snake helpline once, I knew. However, he expressed helplessness. The helpline has long ceased to exit, he regretted. Then asking my mother to stay safe, distant and quiet but keep a close watch on its movements, I hurried to a guy I knew- a workman in the employ of a contractor I had recently hired. I had the gut feeling that he would be the perfect person to address the problem. On returning home, to my relief, mother had kept to her assignment in letter and spirit. The snake had moved just a little from its original position and had now hid itself under a small wooden plank close by. The young fellow came and picked up a bamboo stick and had me lead him to the site. Then, cool as cucumber, he lifted the plank with absolute ease and without fear, and as we held our breaths, lifted the reptile from the end of the stick and hurled it outside into the no-man’s-land full of bush and scrub. Thus it turned out to be hardly a 5-second job requiring nothing but a bit of nerve and some pluck.  We heaved a sigh of relief and thanked him as generously as we could, but it took some time for me to settle down after this ‘snaky’ start to a dream-filled, poetic morn!

And this also set me thinking about the need for restoring the ‘snake helpline’. As we are all so well aware, with the monsoons, snake encounters and snake bite cases suddenly peak up. Many deaths too result partly because of delay in getting to the nearest hospital for immediate medical help. And the snake-capturers have a field day in playing with the ignorance of people and extorting hefty amounts of money from them in the bargain. Some are even duped by selling them the so-called 'मणी' which doesn’t exist.

It will therefore be ideal if the Vety college at the Agricultural University Palampur revives the helpline to provide the much-needed help and relief  to the people at least in the adjoining areas in case of a man-snake face-off.

I am contemplating to address a communication to the Vice-Chancellor in this regard which I would of course share with you all; maybe next week.

                                                   

A snake  ( the photo downloaded from net)

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      A poem from Tagore's Gitanjali

It is my prayer to thee my Lord

Strike, strike at the root of penury in my heart

Give me the strength lightly to bear my joys and sorrows

Give me the strength to  make my love fruitful in service

Give me the strength never to disown the poor

Or bend my knees before insolent might
Give me the strength to raise my mind high above the daily trifles
And give me the strength to surrender my strength to thy will with love

Translation

दुआ यही है तुमसे मेरी ओ मेरे ख़ुदा 
दिल में पसरी ग़ुरबत को कर दो  जड़ से जुदा 

सहूँ सहजता से चाहे ग़म हों या ख़ुशियाँ हज़ार 

दो शक्ति कि प्यार को अर्पित करूँ जन सेवा के द्वार 

निर्धन से कभी ना मुंह मोडूं- दो शक्ति हे भगवान 

ना घुटने टेकूं दंभ के आगे, हो चाहे वह  कितना बलवान 

प्रतिदिन की छूट-पुट बातों से  उभरे मेरा मन कहीं ऊँचे, ऊपर,

और दो शक्ति कि अर्पित करूँ यह क्षमता अपनी प्रभु-इच्छा  के  पादु पर  

                                                 (The image above has been downloaded from the internet)

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Quotes of the week

You are in such good shape and beautiful : US President Trump to France President Emmanuel Macron's wife (NDTV; Google news)

Green card rules unfair for Indians and Chinese:Promimnt US Lawmakers (NDTV; Google news)

Malabar is a signal to China we are one: US Commander (Times of India; Google news)

I can't sing, it is my disadvantage as an actor: Ranbir Kapoor (The Indian Express; Google news)


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Random news headlines

Even if every country on the planet cuts emissions, climate would still be screwed (Business Insider; Google news)

Indians among the laziest people in the world: study (Times of India; google news)

Having sex at least once in a week may help women live longer: study (News Nation; Google news)

New Zealand woman dies after jet blast at world's 'scariest' airport (The Guardian; Google news) 

Is this the end of the world? Enormous 'black hole' appears on sun's surface (Daily News; Google news)

Elephant rescued  from ocean ten miles off Sri Lanka coast (The Guardian; Google news)

Nepali teen, banished for having her period, dies of snakebite (NDTV; Google news)

India to become largest milk producer in 2026: report (Deccan Herald)

Earth's sixth mass extinction event already undwerway:scientists warn (CNN; Google news)

Discovered: Saraswati, a super cluster of galaxies (The Indian Express; Google news)

NASA is developing nuclear reactors that would operate on the planet Mars (Trendin Tech, Google news)

To mine the moon, private company Moon Express plans to build a fleet of robotic landers (The Guardian; Google news)

Ravens parallel great apes in flexible planning for tool-use and bartering/Science (NPR; Google news)

A new study links plastics to chronic diseases in men (Oneindia; Google news)

Generous people live happier lives: study (Deccan Herald)

Plants can turn caterpillars into cannibals to avoid getting eaten (National Geographic, Google news)

Drinking coffee could lead to longer life: scientists (Science Daily; Google news)


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