Free from School

by Rahul Alvares

Snakes were kept in mud pots that were placed in the snake room (no different from an ordinary bedroom). Outside, a board merely announced: `Danger: Snakes Loose'. This was done to discourage intruders. But really speaking, snakes were let loose only under supervision. There was a small canal of water outside to prevent ants from entering the room. (You may not believe it but ants can reduce a snake to a skeleton.) Next, there was a little space outside the room and about 1 to 2 metres after, a smooth wall, about a metre high. I used to remove the snakes from their pots, put them to drink water in the canal and then clean the pots. During this exercise I would take the opportunity to improve my skills at handling the snakes. Basically one has to hold the tail with one hand and control the snake using the snake hook (a long stick with an iron hook at the end) with the other.

Bites! That's practically the first question anyone asks me when I talk of my croc bank vacation. Did I get bitten? Yes, several times, mostly by accident. But sometimes I allowed myself to be bitten just for the heck of it. I recall once when a ratsnake gave me a bite on the nose. I tried to prevent Rom seeing it but he found out soon enough by the blood on my shirt. A bite from a ratsnake is not painful but it bleeds like a leaking tap. "Don't worry, Rahul," Rom said cheerfully, "the venom will not take effect for another half an hour." (Ratsnakes are non-poisonous.)

Another time I was getting a picture taken of myself with a baby crocodile when it turned round and bit me. That was quite bad! Imagine a sawing machine running over your hand. But I was cool, and happy that I had been bitten by a crocodile!

Then I was dumb enough to try the bite of a wall lizard that Gerry had caught to feed to his pit vipers. The scar, still on my hand, reminds me also of the chequered keelback bite I got in Pune (the one which got so bad that I couldn't wear my watch for a few days).

And on the last day of my stay at Croc Bank the red-eared turtle which I was taking away as my gift and souvenir from Croc Bank bit me so bad that I could see my flesh and I could barely use my hand for a few days.

Now when I look back I think I was collecting bites in much the same way that some people collect trophies. Although this may appear quite a foolish thing to do and perhaps it was too (some of the bites were quite painful), one good thing did come out of all those bites. I have no paranoid fear of such bites any longer. I am very careful when I handle reptiles and take all the precautions that I have been taught but I know that I would not be terror stricken should I get bitten and would know what remedial steps to take.

Apart from my practical studies, there was a huge library at the Croc Bank where I would browse through several books on crocs, snakes, monitors, turtles, the works. It was always with great pleasure that I would search for information about something that I had learnt or seen that day. And the best part is that although I didn't have to memorize the facts for any examination, nothing of what I read has gone out of my head.

And then, there was always time for fun. Sometimes I would go to Harry's house where Tharaq and I played music or recorded songs. Other times, I would watch a movie at Rom's. There was time for barbecues of field rats, froglegs, frankfurters, parrot fish, chicken and beef, rounded off with chocolate cake. The beach at the back was for swimming during the day and catching crabs during the night.

One of the interesting happenings at the time that I was there was the arrival of a film team from the magazine National Geographic to film the King Cobras at the Bank. I became one of the many hands-on they had for the job: I would assist in various ways like holding the flash, helping with the setting up of shots, catching and re-catching the frogs as they scampered off during the numerous retakes.

One lazy afternoon Tharaq suggested a haircut for me. My hair was by then really long. In fact I had not put a scissor to it since the beginning of my sabbatical. So now it stood nearly at shoulder length. He told me he had one and a half months' experience in hair cutting. I was thus persuaded to take up his offer of a "free" haircut in the "latest style".