Role reversal-Man caged by snakes

Hansi, Haryana, Oct 12: A middle-aged man locked in a cage surrounded by hissing snakes slithering outside.

This is no horror flick but the horrifying reality of a farm labourer living in terror of the deadly reptiles in Hansi village of Haryana.

For about a decade now, the 42-year-old Sant Ram Saini has been chased and bitten by at least 22 snakes and has killed almost 30 in self-defence.

The fear for his life has now driven him to build an iron net cage into which he takes refuge as soon as the sun sets. He ventures out only when the sun dawns.

''It all began about ten years ago when on my way to the fields I was chased by a snake. I ran back and hid in my home but the next morning as soon as I left for work, the snake fell down from the tree outside my home. I somehow managed to kill it but since that day I am chased by snakes of all kinds all the time, making life hell for me,'' says a harassed Sant Ram.

''I had never killed even a minor snake in my life before this incident and I do not know why they are after my life ?'', a harried Sant Ram says.

Sant Ram's peculiar predicament has also brought his family on the verge of ruin. While he can hardly work for the fear of snake-bites, his wife has to slog extra hard to bring up their two sons and two daughters.

Saini's eldest son Praveen could not pursue studies due to the attacks of reptiles on his father whom he accompanies for treatment. The serpents generally encircle Saini's legs to bring him down before digging their fangs into him. Most of the times he loses his eye-sight first and then becomes unconscious for two to three days. The allopathic medicines are not able to treat him but the 'desi' herbal medicines provided by a Baba of nearby Data village cure him within two-three days, he claims.

As all the worshipping, fasting, charms and amulets have failed Saini, he is now resigned to his fate but is worried about the future of his family. ''The baba has told me that the poison of snakes has created an odour which attracts the reptiles and so it will go only when my body is consigned to flames,'' an anguished Sant Ram says.

Now, Sant Ram claims that he can 'smell' the presence of snakes.

The only saving grace is that the serpents have so far spared his family members from their deadly touch.

Sunita, his wife, says, ''The snakes have ruined our family. We have gifted many items to the snake-charmers and worshipped the gods as advised by the Babas but to no avail. My husband is getting frail day by day and I am worried about the marriage of my daughters. No hope is forthcoming from any corner.'' ''This is a fit case for deeper and wider research and help. May be due to his actions of last birth or owing to the bizarre chemistry of his body, the snakes have targeted him for attacks. And strangely, every time it is a new snake who comes around him.'' The latest attack came about ten days back in presence of a local doctor who was called in to administer glucose to the emaciated Saini but the doctor managed to kill the reptile.

Even doctors here marvel at the fact that despite being bitten 22 times, Sant Ram though pale and perennially sick, has managed to survive. The snakes still move around his cage during night but run away when some member of the family reaches there.

UNI