Snake helpline: Letter to the Vice-Chancellor, Dr Ashok Sarial

Respected Vice-Chancellor Dr Sarial ji,

At the very outset I would like to compliment and commend you for your able stewardship and ensuring smooth and efficient running of the University. I say this not just from a rather narrow viewpoint that you have so far ensured timely and regular disbursement of wages/pension to us  but also because during your tenure the University has been in the news for all the good reasons and has not been bogged down by unseemly and unhealthy controversies.

That said, I would like to come to the primary objective of my addressing you this communication. This relates to a public issue where the University can provide a direly needed service.

As you yourself might be quite aware, during the summers, particularly when the monsoon is at its peak, the number of man-snake encounters touches an all-time high. Innumerable cases of snake bites with quite a good number of them leading to deaths become recurring news in the media. The deaths are due to ignorance about and delay in obtaining immediate first aid, superstitious beliefs leading to unscientific quick-fix measures at the local level instead of rushing to the hospital and so on. What is more, the snake capturers have a field day exploiting the fear and panic aroused by the sudden appearance of a snake in or around a house and charging huge amounts of money for snake capture. I personally know of a case in Palampur a few years back when a snake sneaked into the closed courtyard of a prominent local resident. At once a snake capturer was summoned from a distant place who charged a tidy and incredible 40,000 rupees and some additional money for the “मणि” too, which I know for sure, doesn’t actually exist except in mythological stories and in the imagination of people!

It is in this context that I solicit your kind help. I know it for a fact that earlier the Veterinary College of our University had put in place a ‘snake helpline’ with a phone number to contact in case of a snake making an appearance in or around any household. A team of bright and brilliant PG students lead by public-spirited faculty members were handling the helpline. Despite constraints and limited means, it was providing excellent help and support to the people of the area. However, sadly, as of now, this helpline has become defunct and doesn’t exist anymore.

Sir, if through your kind initiative, this helpline could be revived, it would serve a great social purpose. If ready help is thus made available, it would help reduce snake bite cases and mitigate the suffering and exploitation of people. Further, it would also have a conservational value as many snakes even if non-venomous that are killed simply out of scare and panic, would then be saved by the capture-release strategy such a helpline team would obviously follow.

For this to happen, some Vet students could perhaps be sent to herpetology centres in the country for proper training on a regular basis and it could also be made a part of course curriculum.

Personally, I strongly feel that the academic institutes  - such as the prestigious Agricultural University of ours - besides concentrating on the prescribed objectives in the fields of teaching, research and extension education etc (which it is executing with dedication and commitment) must also have some local social focus as well. By this I mean that instead of existing in a kind of academic cacoon, the institutes should utilize their physical and human resources for addressing the local environmental, conservational and public issues of the area also, to the extent possible. Naturally therefore, a snake helpline would be a welcome step in that direction which could perhaps be expanded to also include monkeys, stray dogs and cattle  later on with active public participation.

I am sure Sir, that being a public-spirited person that you are, you will kindly give due consideration to my humble submission above. And I am very sure that with your kind efforts we shall soon have an active and effective ‘snake helpline’ in place, for which, needless to say, we all shall feel immensely grateful to you.

With best wishes and regards,
With warm regards,

Subhash Sharma  

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Sun set at Palampur

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Gudiya Rape Case: What a shame!

                                         

The 'Gudiya Rape Case' makes me hang my head in total  shame

As I pray for peace and justice with frozen tears and heart aflame

Can we humans be so depraved, so brutal and so violent?

I shudder and squirm with moans and cries intense but silent

Even our gods above writhe in horror and shed many a tear

And the blood-soaked  Mother Earth shakes with rage and fear

"We made you in our own image", the gods loudly yell,

"Curse on you to descend to such depths of stinking hell."

Let all Gudiyas  sing and smile, and dream and dance

Let's make this world a home of love where hatred has no chance

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