Laughing Budha, Cobra Hunter
Laughing Budha, Cobra Hunter
Hampi
South India is the home of cobras, the real home of cobras. In other places in India, travelling showmen carry cobras in baskets. Then they sit in the street and put on a show for small change.
In South India, the showmen exist. But they don't have to go far for the cobras. This is the land of Rikki-Tikki-Tavi. They are everywhere here. Walking through the woods, you will see "cobra houses": mounds of muds with fist sized holes all over. Cobras deep inside are scared away by approaching footsteps.
The other day at Laughing Budha Guesthouse in Hampi, the staff found a cobra in the storage room behind the kitchen. They called Ivan, the resident Swiss doctor, to get it out.
After a lot of commotion and excitement by everyone, the cobra was pinned down with two very long sticks. It was a small cobra, about three feet long.
As soon as it was pinned, it flared its hood and struck one of the sticks, leaving venom stains.
The King Cobra in South India grows as long as six meters, and when it flares its hood to strike, it is taller than a man. Even the small ones are deadly, killing in about half an hour. There is no anti-venom in Hampi, and no air medical transport to get you in time to somewhere you could be saved.
After the cobra was pinned, it was manipulated into a grain sack. What do we do with it now? It was taken to the rice field nearby and released. A little bit of excitement in Hampi.
Laughing Budha, Cobra Hunter
