Snakes are a high for a 23 year old from Bardez By Frederick Noronha
PANJIM, June 29: In a land stereotyped as one filled with snakes and tigers, 23-year-old Rahul Alvares has penned a book narrating his exciting encounters with reptiles, and explaining why you shouldn't get frightened of them. One of Goa's youngest authors, Rahul has trained at the snake park in Pune and the crocodile bank near Chennai, and his advice to those who get hysterical when the see a snake is simply one word: don't. Rahul who "catches snakes and also plays the guitar" narrates a number of his 'snakescapades' across the 152-page book just published here. "I felt a lot of people know so little about snakes, sadly. After handling so many snake calls and reading upon snakes I found I was quite good at giving information to people about snakes," Rahul explains how he got started. He told this correspondent: "People were always interested to know things like was I bitten, or do snakes seek revenge?" He found that his experiences with attending to 'snake calls' were also "quite funny" and "exciting" most of the time. So, he struck upon the idea of consolidating his stories and experiences, to "make an interesting and funny book on snakes for people". His book was published by the Mapusa-based Other India Press, and is titled 'The Call of the Snake: Real Life Stories by a Young Snake Catcher from Goa'. Just out, the paperback is priced at Rs 110 and has a foreword by union minister Maneka Gandhi. Some of his experiences include going for three 'snake-calls' on a day when he had just donated blood, growing up with city-bred parents on a rural Valpoi farm, and getting all sorts of life forms take shelter in his house -- from a Brahminy kite, to a large back scorpion and two wildcats named 'History' and 'Civics' at his Parra home, making it "a kind of Noah's Ark". Rahul feels a build-up of awareness on snake-related issues is necessary in Goa. In addition, he suggests more 'snake talks' be organised and harmless snakes are handled by people. "Handling of harmless snakes takes away a lot of the fear associated with snakes," as he puts it. He estimates he has, so far, saved 300-400 snakes. Most got released back in the wild. But isn't the work risky? He admits: "The work is quite risky, considering most of the time I have to catch snakes in huge piles of litter or rubbish where I have to expect the unexpected. Many calls are also at night. And handling a snake in the dark is most dangerous." "How I haven't been bitten so far could be pure luck, or the reason that I take very little risks and try to avoid getting carried away. This can be very easy when there is a large crowd of people watching you and most of my friends have been bitten like this," he cautions. Goans, regrets Rahul, just want to get rid of snakes when they see them. It makes no difference at all if the reptile it is killed by someone or taken away by him. "The only reason many people hesitate to kill snakes is because of their extreme paranoia and fear that snakes seek revenge, or cobras can jump and such beliefs. Snakes rarely find any sympathy among humans," he adds. If they do recognise a snake to be harmless they wouldn't hesitate taking a bat to its head. "I don't know how many people die of snake bites. But I know that most of the people could be saved if they didn't panic nd went straight to a hospital. Instead of wasting time tying torniquets or running around quack doctors," says the youngster. In Goa itself, there are 10-15 youngsters into snake-catching, estimates Rahul. "In my view it is a daring and dangerous interest," says he. So, can't youngsters' aggressive energy be harnessed for "constructive" work such as this, he asks. He explains: "It's the adrenaline rush like when you get sparring in boxing or martial arts. Frankly speaking I couldn't pacify this energy with a harmless hobby like bird watching which i never liked until now." The younger breed of sometimes middle-class, nature-loving snake catchers in Goa, says Rahul, mostly never try to fool the people. "We give them straight facts. We don't use mantras (spells) and we catch snakes without a fuss. Mantras are only needed by traditional catcher because they need to put on a big show for the people to obtain more money," he adds But it's probably this that leads to more myths about snakes. "Making snakes seem more devious and dangerous earns them more money. One other thing is that traditional snake catchers de-fang their snakes. we don't," says this nature enthusiast. What's his formula for a more snake-friendly Goa? "More snake shows, and snake handling sessions should be held. Schools are the best place to start with. The laws about harming snakes should be enforced also. But it will be a long time before anyone can be charged with the same sentence for killing a rat-snake that one receives for killing a tiger," says he. What has the response been like? Says the young author: "Most people have loved the book. people have said they couldn't put it down and most people have finished it in a day." Groups of twentish-something youngsters -- like Green Cross and Southern Birdwing -- have already been doing school-based and village talks on snakes. Perhaps it's not entirely coincidental that a new crop is growing green, nearly a generation after Rahul's dad -- one-time journalist and environmentalist Claude Alvares -- launched his first campaigns here in the 'seventies and 'eighties. (ENDS) ########################################################################## # Send submissions for Goanet to [EMAIL PROTECTED] # # PLEASE remember to stay on-topic (related to Goa), and avoid top-posts # # More details on Goanet at http://joingoanet.shorturl.com/ # # Please keep your discussion/tone polite, to reflect respect to others # ##########################################################################
