Few days ago, a snake charmer came to me introducing himself as the brother-in-law of snake charmer Yenkta and told me that Yenkta died of a snake bite. Fever suffering Yenkta went on a call to catch a cobra and grabbed the snake by its neck instead of the head giving an opportunity to the cobra to bite him and died within few hours!
“Listen, you guys sell us roots, herbals and stones claiming that these will remove the poison and save lives from snake bites. Why didn’t you guys make medicine out of it for Yenkta? What will happen if we try to save lives believing you folks?” I asked.
“Ours is the genuine medicine, Sir. There is no cheating. We have saved many lives out of it! But if the snake bites on the spot between two fingers then no one can save them. Yenkta had the snake bite right on that spot.” He replied.
“Poor Yenkta, whenever he came here, he used to catch snakes around here. What a tragedy!” I showed my condolences.
“He died in Belur, Sir. Poor guy was remembering you while dieing” the snake charmer lied to raise the level of my sympathy. I was not the only one closest to Yenkta to remember me while dieing. Moreover it’s impossible for this snake charmer to recognize me as I am the one that Yenkta remembered because I am seeing this guy for the first time. Since I inquired about Yenkta, he got a clue that I am known to Yenkta and wants to make use of this to his benefit. Sensing that he is a cheat, I said concluding the conversation “These are the dangers in snake charming. Tragedies do occur but the life must go on.”
“Yes Sir, tragedies do occur. Yenkta closed his eyes leaving behind his responsibilities. He left his orphan daughter behind. Now we have to take care of his orphan daughter” he said.
I neither knew that Yenkta had a daughter nor seen. All that I had seen was Yenkta roaming around with his wife and an infant hanging to his wife and I also remember that Yenkta told me that his baby died within few months of the birth. I suspect that this snake charmer talking about the right Yenkta or some one else with the same name. Or may be this guy is banking on the opportunity of my publicly expressed condolences for Yenkta’s death.
“You know about his wife’s death, right?” said the snake charmer laying an intro to another sympathetic story. Yenkta’s wife had died several years before Yenkta died. Her death had raised several suspicious assumptions as Yenkta was trying to marry again. Cautioned about his another hour of long story, I said “I know about that. That’s when I saw Yenkta for the first time, besides his wife’s corpse.”
The guy was still standing after reporting all this. “Do you catch snakes?” I asked. “No Sir, I don’t know how to play the snake flute” he replied. But he still stood without showing any sign of getting out. Wanting to get rid of him, finally I asked “What do you want? Why are you still here?”
“Nothing Sir, I am just collecting some change from people like you to buy some clothes to Yenkta’s daughter” he lied again.
He was just concerned about adjusting enough money for a belly full of toddy for that evening. I did not want to waste any more time investigating his lies and witness more of his drama, I gave him a rupee. He left happily wishing for Yenkta’s soul to rest in peace.
May be its true that snake charmer Yenkta died of the snake bite! It’s been more than two years that I had seen him for the last time. He and Kariappa came to me on a bicycle double riding from an eight mile distant Alandur and quarreled. They were angry that I have written unfairly on them. Both are illiterates. Kariappa was teased by some college students while waiting for the bus in the bus station. They laughed at him saying that I have written that Yenkta’s wife is Kariappa’s mistress and so on in my book. So raged Kariappa brought Yenkta along with him and showed up in the early morning itself to conduct an ‘investigation’.
“It may be true that I am a womanizer as you wrote. Male means we tend to go into ditch wherever we find and wash off whenever we find water. But you should consider my caste status. How can I have a relation with such a low caste one” Kariappa yelled.
Perhaps none of the writers would have faced off their characters coming out of the story and conducting an ‘investigation’. Its been a while that I had written that story that’s now been included as a text for the teenaged college students who spiced up the things that are written and not written and told Kariappa. I had never dreamt that all these things would happen. I told them that no such things are written. If there are such matters, I will write them properly. Their anger was so momentous that it disappeared immediately after hearing my words. They did not even ask what I had written.
Yenkta told “You know everything about me, Sir. Please write all about it instead of something else” while leaving. That’s the last time I had seen Yenkta.
When I saw Yenkta for the first time, he was viewed as a murderer by the people gathered around. His wife was dead in front of the tent he had put up in the open land of the village. All passersby were gathered around his tent. Yenkta was crying loud near his wife’s corpse. I didn’t know Yenkta personally then. So I asked the guy standing next to me what’s going on. “He tells us that someone murdered his wife! Who would kill this beggar lady in the broad daylight in an open area? Did she have any money or worthy things?” He exclaimed.
Another guy standing by said “It’s not a murder at all. There are no wounds on the body. The body looks like as though she is sleeping! I guess this bastard have choked her to death and now acting crying in loud.”
“Look there! He has all twenty eight varieties of snakes in those baskets in his tent. Perhaps one of them might have bitten her to death” another guy claimed.
I looked at his tent from where I was standing. A big snake was sleeping rolled up to a pole of the tent. I thought it may be a python by gauging its size. But another passerby told me that it’s a Boa constrictor and not a python. It’s surprising that his wife survived so far with all the death messenger snakes around in the tent. Still nobody could understand how she died. Despite her healthy looking, it’s evident that she is dead. Everyone opinioned that either she died of a snake bite or Yenkta might have choked her to death.
“I just came from the city and saw her dead! Why should I murder her?” Yenkta told pointing someone that he also accompanied him while coming from the city. He also didn’t agree of the snakebite saying if its snakebite the body should turn into blue.
Rather focusing on how his wife died Yenkta’s crying in loud made the people gathered to think that he might have murdered his wife. “It looks like he might have given her a death beat. Realizing her death, he would have laid the body in sleeping position and made a city trip and now crying out loud. Look at him, not even a single drop of tear, just faking a loud cry” someone in the crowd stated with the proof of evidence of not having tear in his eyes.
Finally, most of the crowd gave some spare change to him saying “Whatsoever happened, happened. Go get her a proper cremation. Don’t use this money on drinking.” I also gave some spare money and left.
Given this background, I had a suspicion on Yenkta when he came to my farm saying he will catch the snakes around my farm by playing snake flute. I had seen snake charmers charming snakes by playing snake flute but I had never seen nor believed that they catch snakes also by playing a snake flute. I yelled at him to get out of my farm when he asked me. My logic was that it’s a cheat to claim that the earless snakes come to him by listening to his music.
Yenkta didn’t get discouraged a bit by my reaction. Perhaps most of the people might react the same way as me. Also he needs to be patient as this is his living. He pulled dirty torn out papers from the pocket of his dirty coat claiming that these are the certificates of appreciation given to him for catching venomous snakes. It was impossible to read those torn out certificates as they were folded and unfolded countless times.
Yenkta caught many snakes that day around our house by playing the snake flute! He filled his baskets with cobras and vipers after yanking their fangs out. I was stunned to see him pull the snakes by the tail by the side of flower pots, and below the surface of fallen leaves. I became worried thinking of what a dangerous situation I am living in. I asked him to come frequently and catch all the snakes around here. I was surprised thinking where they were hiding all these days without coming to our sight at once.
Now the murderer looking Yenkta looked like a lifesaver.
When I explained this miracle of Yenkta’s magic of catching snakes by playing the snake flute to others, everyone discouraged me and seeded suspicions in their own way into my head.
“He is a cheat bastard! He created illusions to pull some money out of you. Let him come to us and play his snake flute!” Kariappa degraded Yenkta.
“What do you mean by illusion, Kariappa? I have seen him catching the snakes with my very own eyes!” I said.
“He is an illusionist. By playing the snake flute he puts spell on you and makes you to see all the ropes, vines in his hands to look like snakes. That’s what the illusion means” Kariappa said.
So it means Yenkta made me mentally disoriented temporarily! It seems in some village the snake charmer was not paid for his work and the snake charmer didn’t remove the spell on the villagers. So for those villagers all vines, ropes started to look like snakes it seems. Finally, when the villagers brought the snake charmer back and paid him the due money, the spell broke by itself it seems!
Someone told me “He would release his pet snakes around your house without your knowledge before his play. Then he catches the same snakes by playing the snake flute. Why would wild snakes come for a man’s call and get their teeth yanked? It’s all his play for the living.”
Another person told me “He would hide his pet snakes in his waste line cloth. While playing the snake flute, he would distract you and release those snakes and catch the same. Have you tested him by patting his body and the waste line?”
“What is this Sir, well-educated, intellectual, scientific thinking, teasing those who shave their head at temples, people like you believe this? There is no surprise in common villagers talking about ghosts, magic, spells. How can you believe that the snakes come forward by listening to music! It didn’t even flash you the simple fact of snakes not having ears?” teased my Agriculture Research Center friends.
So whenever I raise Yenkta’s topic, my friends would tease me considering as though I am converted. Yenkta became the spokesperson of superstitions that converted me.
My gratitude towards Yenkta of protecting me by catching all those vicious snakes around my house slowly started to dissolve as my friends seeded the seeds of suspicions. My observations of Yenkta’s wit, talk and tricks also made me to think that he might be a cheater. He had pulled four to six rupees out of me negotiating a rupee per cobra and half a rupee per snake of any other type. I was not worried about the money. But the fact that I got cheated on was bugging me.
Yenkta’s arrival and capturing of snakes for living slowly started to raise principles problems in me.
I decided that I should expose his tricks and scold him to my content and kick him out without paying him a single paisa (penny) when he shows up next time. I discussed all the different possibilities to put him to test with my friend Entomologist Siddappa. I was mainly worried about how to figure out if he is making us mentally disoriented by his illusions. We decided to photograph his snake catching thinking that his illusion may cheat our eyes but not the camera lens.
Yenkta started to look like a cheat and a murderer again!
But Yenkta didn’t show up for a long time. His tent at Mudigere open ground was disappeared. I figured he might have camped somewhere else. Snake charmers are nomads roam all around the state camping at many places. I have seen him in Dharwad, Harihar, Hunsur and many other places in the past fifteen years. He needed to go in search for his community people as he plans his wedding bells again. I wonder how he searches these no address people!
As I was waiting to expose his tricks, I spotted him at Sakleshpur. He had piled up the herbals and roots on the roadside trying to sell to onlookers claiming those herbals cure skin diseases and some save lives from the snake bites. There were bunch of taxidermy snake skins laid neatly next to him. Foreign tourists are the only customers that those skins would attract.
The boa constrictor was rolled into a bundle and sleeping near him looking totally lifeless. Occasional flash of its split tongue was the only indication that it’s alive. It didn’t seem to be reacting to the snake flute. I guess Yenkta was keeping it just to attract the crowd and try to sell the herbal roots to the people coming to see it.
I didn’t go near his crowd. If I go, I am sure that he would say something and pull some money out of me. I also didn’t want to negotiate in public with him. Even though the itch on my tongue to scold him by revealing his tricks was strong, I controlled it and kept quite.
I felt pity when I looked at Yenkta from a distance. His traditional profession, culture, tricks were slowly becoming useless. He was not making any money after the government banned export of snake skins. His herbals, roots, nuts had lost customers to modern medicines. The forest preserve departments were not even permitting the hunting of small games such as quails and rabbits as he used to do earlier.
Deep inside him, Yenkta might be aware that he is becoming lonely and lost. I have seen him struggling to earn bread by playing the snake flute in front of the sleeping boa constrictor using all his wit and tricks to entertain people, and also his patience in answering to all those people who scold him ‘Cheat bastard’. Yenkta was also waiting as the Indian forests; rivers, creeks, and their habitats were waiting patiently for their extinction. History has long decided his future. He was battling in the war that is destined to loose standing by the street side.
Ready to purchase the book? Please click here.Few of the scientists from the Agriculture Research Center came to me asking where they can find Yenkta before I could see him for the next time. The reason was that a snake sneaked into their office. While the snake was struggling to slither on the smooth surface of the concrete, people thought it’s trying to bite someone and ran out of office. How scary it is to spot a snake as there is a direct relation between the death and the snakes!
“Why would do you need Yenkta to kill the snake that slithered into the office? One may need him to play the snake flute and call the snake if the snake is hiding in a snake hill or bushes of the jungle. You guys would have killed it” I asked.
“My wife is pregnant. I can’t hit a snake during these times” one replied.
“I am a Lingayath, We worship cobras. How can you suggest me to kill the snake?” another declined.
“It’s listed as endangered species. It’s against the law to kill it” another declared.
So everyone ran out of the office fearing their conscience and the law. Someone reminded them about me talking about some snake charmer. So they sent me some people to enquire about Yenkta.
When I went there, I saw a pile of empty sericulture trays, some age old files and books in front of the office. When the snake got in, everyone got out and did not see the snake going out. When they got in after a while, everyone was scared to death and afraid of snake spring popping and attacking them out of any table’s drawer or file they open. Unable to continue their work in this constant fear they decided to pile up all the office sundries and giving a ‘thorough checkup’. Someone was claiming that the snakes are attracted to the fragrance of cardamom stored in the office and another was claiming that they come for the mice that are holed up in the office.
The one advantage of this incident to me was my scientist friends greatly reduced their teasing on me in the matter of snake charmer Yenkta.
It’s been a longtime past after this incident occurred when I met Yenkta for the second time. Yenkta quickly recognized my change in opinion on him by the way of my talking itself.
“There is no doubt that you release your pet snakes around and catch them. Tell me, how is it possible to catch so many snakes in a day when we don’t even spot a single snake for these many days?” I yelled.
“Common Sir, When did I come to spread my pets around here? If I spread them the night before for instance, do you think they wait for me until I come and catch them next day? Even now I have two cobras in my basket. I caught them at Krishnegowda’s estate. I can release them here and play my flute. See for yourself that they run into the jungle hearing the flute or they come to me” Yenkta released those cobras and started to play his snake flute. The snakes were trying to escape. Worrying what if they escape, I asked Yenkta to put them back in his basket.
“May be you create illusions to us as told by Kariappa” I said.
“Did Mr. Kariappa say that? What does he has to loose by saying it, Sir. He keeps saying it to everyone. Isn’t it if I knew magic or illusions, instead of catching snakes and begging people for spare change money, I would have put spell on people to bring all their money and drop it into my rag sack?”
“Then show me the snake’s ears. How can they come hearing your music?”
“Sir, does it mean snakes can’t hear if they don’t have ears like us? In that case, they don’t have legs like us either. Does it mean they can’t move? It’s all the strange illusions created by the master, the God. Such a learned scholar like you should not talk like an illiterate villager, Sir!”
Yenkta answered snappily in his own way to all of the suspicions raised in me by my scientist friends. I became the fool stuck between my scientist friends and Yenkta. Both had teased me that I talk like an illiterate villager. I felt I can’t defeat Yenkta logically by arguing with him. I decided I should catch him red-handedly while catching the snake but definitely not by arguing. I don’t know whether he knows any magic or not but he was sure indeed putting some magical spells in his talking! I started my predetermined tests deciding whatsoever I should not get mesmerized by his talks. I checked his waste line whether he hid any snakes around his waste. I just found some bunch of herbal roots there.
“If you are so suspicious, I can bear down to underwear and catch the snakes” he said.
Looking him pulling his snake flute out, I asked “Do snakes come if anyone plays it?”
“Sure they come. But one should have the sharp eye to spot and catch them. They just pop their head out and watch hiding in the fallen dry leaves and twigs and run back. Haven’t you heard the news that a cobra came into the movie theater when they played snake flute music on the record player in Hassan? Similarly, we call the snake conveying that there are kids around here, infants around here, people walk around here, this is not the place for you, and there is only trouble and nothing else for you around here. So please come to me, I give you eggs, I give you milk, I give you chicken. Please come to me; let’s not stay any more here. Once the snakes believe us and come to us, we catch them and yank their fangs and put them into our basket” he enacted his snake flute music verbally in the very own snake flute tune.
It seemed by his instantaneous answers that these are all very common questions to him. He was giving readymade answers. I felt obligated myself to prove him cheater since my scientist friends somehow linked Yenkta and the superstitions. His answers convinced more of his wit rather than his skill of catching snakes by playing the snake flute.
I asked Mara and Pyara to stand vigil in different directions and keep an eye whether the snakes really come or some cheating going on. I guessed its impossible this time to cheat as we were alert and prepared. Either he will be exposed or he will return without catching a snake.
Yenkta playing his snake flute in all directions for a while started to concentrate on one direction.
“What’s up, not a snake yet!” I teased.
“There is a snake around here, Sir. The snake flute is blocking the notes. But still the cobra king is not coming out” said Yenkta.
“How do you know?”
“While playing the flute, one of the flute holes gets blocked. That’s how we know the snake is responding” he said.
Without the knowledge of snake fluting, I did not understand how to feel the block of those holes. Yenkta continued to play his flute in the same direction again. We all three were alert and watching even a slightest withering of a leaf. I was feeling happy that I will expose his tricks today.
Suddenly, Yenkta screamed “Sir, jump next to me! See besides your feet, there is a snake, a cobra!”
I jumped towards Yenkta in shock. Screaming ‘Oh, mama’, Pyara ran away. There’s a six feet long cobra at a ten feet distance from where I was standing, with its hood spread, stood hissingly alerted by my jump.
“Oh Lord Shiva, What a tragedy would have happened, Sir. What if it would have bit you? May be the cobra king heard you teasing it as an illusion and wanted to show you whether it’s real or not he came by your feet! But it’s OK when I am here, there is no danger” he dramatically teased seeing us in shock. I didn’t get it! How in the world had snake popped beside my feet from the fallen leaves when we all three were on such a watchful alert.
“Is this what you were watching?” I scolded Mara and Pyara.
“We were looking towards the jungle. Why would we watch your feet” Mara answered.
The cobra was furious. It was hissing and swinging its head in all directions and waiting to pass a deadly blow to anyone who comes near it.
“What a hissing! It seems even the feel of its breath would kill people. Grab it quickly and put it into your basket” Mara requested Yenkta looking at the snake’s anger.
“Senior, do me a favor! The master has promised me a rupee for each snake I catch. I will add another rupee to it and give it to you. Can you please catch the snake; don’t be afraid when I am here” Yenkta asked Mara.
“Oh, no my friend, I am planning on living for a few more days. I beg you please put it into your basket” frightened Mara begged Yenkta as though he was death sentenced.
“Sir, this is not an ordinary cobra. It’s a special one. See that horizontal line below its head. That means people have a fraction of an hour to survive from its bite. That’s why it took all my breath to call it. I worked hard playing the snake flute for more than an hour, Sir. You must tip me five rupees. You should not negotiate on the tip once I catch the snake. ” Yenkta said looking at me.
I was raged by his blackmail tactics. “I agreed to pay a rupee and that’s all I pay” I said.
“Then let’s do this. I have a cobra stone in my pocket that defuses the cobra. You please take it and catch the snake. I will not take any money. I will take care if anything goes wrong” said Yenkta. It was clear to me that he is teasing us taking revenge on me for suspecting and yelling at him.
“Who came to me asking a rupee for each snake caught? You better catch that snake. Don’t you dare to negotiate now after calling the jungle bound snake by playing your flute” I warned.
“What is this bargaining, Sir? If I try to catch it then my life is in danger, if I quit then your life is in danger. Isn’t the human life worth just five rupees? Isn’t it if you dust off your pants, hundreds of such five rupees will fall?” Yenkta said in a bit of ‘R’ rated referring to body hair beneath my pants.
The snake slowly started to slither back keeping wide spread hood position. The firewood storage was at a reachable distance. If this snake gets in that storage, Mara and Pyara would never go near it to fetch the firewood from there. Yenkta though utilizing the opportunity, started negotiation under the cobra’s spread hood. It’s my mistake that I went on testing him. I felt the quest for the truth becoming expensive.
“Look Sir, the snake is slithering back now. If the snake called returns in fear, it would never come back no matter you offer hundred rupees. No matter how long I play the snake flute later, it won’t come back. Please don’t drop the ball on five rupees” he said. His words sounded like a last warning to me.
“Why do you behave as though you live just for money? Alright, I will pay you five, catch it” I said. Yenkta held the snake’s head by pressing its neck with a stick. I was shocked to see the snake hissing and slapping its head towards Yenkta when he tried to catch it. There was a lot of difference in the behavior of this snake and the fangs removed snakes that were in the basket.
Showing the wild fleece on the snake’s body, Yenkta said “Observe this Sir, Don’t you see the wild fleece on the snake body? Don’t just yell that its an illusion, magic, pet snakes, bla, bla believing what others say” and shown the fangs of the snake by split opening its mouth with his knife and removed the fangs.
Yenkta also caught a huge Russell’s viper that day. Russell’s vipers are slow and sluggish. They don’t escape by hearing the foot steps. They are just laid until someone steps on them. If bitten, people suffer the necrosis of legs.
The viper withered its tail struggling and dropped bunch of juveniles from its tummy when Yenkta was removing its fangs. I was surprised to see it giving birth to babies as I thought snake laid eggs. Yenkta told me that the Russell’s vipers give birth to babies and make an unusual sound while giving birth, then the coucal birds hearing this sound would come and eat all the juveniles sparing just two to live on.
I had seen greater coucal birds eating the juvenile snakes. But it may be Yenkta’s imagination that the coucals spare two to live. Mara cursed “Oh, my god! These many are quite enough to destroy a town. Death to these snake generations” and beat the juvenile snakes to death accompanied by Pyara.
“What do you do with the snakes you caught? I asked Yenkta. Since snake catching is his living, I suspected that he release them around later. He said that he keeps them for sometime and milk venom from them and sell it to some swamiji (medicine man) in Coimbatore. After enough venom milking for some days, he would skin them and feed them to his boa constrictor it seems.
Yenkta collected his pay along with a tip of five rupees. Mara couldn’t stomach Yenkta getting that much money. Tight lipped until he is gone, “Bastard, all he does is create this illusion to pull some money out of people like you” Mara said.
“In that case, why didn’t you catch the snake when he said he will give all the reward money to you?” I asked.
“I wouldn’t touch a snake even if you offer one thousand rupees” he replied. He himself didn’t know why he is so disgusted.
I still see something secretive about Yenkta even after testing and confirming that he caught the real wild snakes. Why didn’t the snake come to our sight when we three were so alert? How did that cobra appeared besides my feet without any signs? Isn’t it that his behavior was quite dramatic after spotting the snake? Is it a coincidence or accidental?
After Yenkta left, I remembered about photographing his snake catching. I had totally forgotten about it arguing with Yenkta.
Three months later, right before the monsoons I met Yenkta accidentally on the street. I asked him to see me later so I can photograph his snake catching. But I didn’t tell him the reason behind photographing. He responded immediately saying “Please ask me anything except that” expressing his worrisome.
Something suspicious about it! He used to agree happily for all the tests but why not this one? I thought I got him.
“Yoh Yenkta, May be you are cheating. Otherwise why not photograph? I asked.
“There are no tricks, Sir. Once I had almost died posing for a photograph. That’s why I said no” he said. Curiously, I asked “what’s the matter?” Exclaiming it’s a long story, he elaborated the whole story for an hour standing on the street itself.
It seems once Yenkta camped at Hangare on a market day selling his usual herbals, roots along with his boa constrictor next to him. It was a typical day for him in the market. Some travelers heading Belur were enrooted through here. Seeing his snake skins they stopped by him to buy or just to have a closer look. One of them had a camera. He asked Yenkta to pose with his cobra for a photograph promising him some money. Yenkta opened his basket and poked the cobra to make it lift its hood and enticed the snake playing his snake flute. After taking couple of pictures, the photographer asked Yenkta to pose with the boa constrictor. Yenkta told him that it’s a dumb snake and it won’t play for the tunes of the snake flute.
Determined to take some photographs with boa, the photographer asked Yenkta to pose holding the snake on his neck. Yenkta posed wearing the snake around his neck. When the photographer was moving around figuring a best angle, the snake slowly started to move around Yenkta’s chest. Once it surrounded a complete circle around his chest including the right hand, it started to constrict. It all happened pretty quickly. Yenkta ran out of air by it’s constrict and couldn’t speak. The crowd thought that he is suffering from fits and did not figure it’s the snake that’s constricting him. Even if the crowd would have figured, it wouldn’t be possible for them to release Yenkta from the snake.
Yenkta fell down struggling to escape. In his struggle, the snake basket got opened and freed three to four cobras that were in there. The crowded people got scared by these cobras ran away. Yenkta became alone and the boa was constricting him to death. Before he went blackout, Yenkta pulled his knife and slit the boa’s body. The snake’s grip slowly started release.
When Yenkta woke up from the unconscious pass out, he saw the boa constrictor trying to escape passing the street along with the knife stuck to its body. It couldn’t escape further blocked by the knife stuck between the fence and its body.
When Yenkta explained me all this, suddenly I remembered his wife’s mysterious death. The pictures of her corpse lying, the boa constrictor rolled up to the tent pole and the crowded people suspecting Yenkta slowly came on my mind one after another.
When I thought more about it, it became strongly evident that the boa constrictor was the reason for her death.
