My fear of snakes

During my second day of travels in India, I came face to face with my greatest fear, the cobra snake. The cobra snake is common in the jungles of India, which is where they capture and bring these snakes into the city as a tourist attraction. My first encounter was outside a historical attraction which is considered one of the great “wonders of the world”. I saw a man sitting under a tree, shading himself from the hot Indian sun. As I approached the bus, he uncovered his hat he had laying on the ground. I saw my first glimpse of this creature rise from the hat and begin to sway side to side. The snake’s owner quickly began playing a musical instrument similar to the flute. As the man played his flute, the cobra bobbed up and down, side to side, until the his owner stopped and begged for money from us. I was taking hundreds of photos and videos of his pet snake and its dance, so I offered him 20 rupees. As the man leaned forward to grab the money out of my hand, the snake jumped forward and tried to bite my hand. I quickly jumped back in shock and looked at my hand to make sure there were no bite marks in it. The tour guide that had been taking us around the city neglected to tell me that after they catch the cobras in the wild, they cut off their fangs for personal protection. Once the fangs grow back, the owner will take the cobra back to the jungle. Cobras have no eyes, so they use vibrations as a way of navigating. The vibrations from the musical instrument put the cobra in a trance/comma like state. Once the music stops, the cobra feels lost and threatened because there are no more vibrations. He lunges forward at anything he feels threatening him, including my hand. I felt a sense of relief that this snake was powerless without his fangs. I saw many cobras hiss and launch at tourists throughout the duration of my travels in India. Nevertheless, I never walked towards another cobra snake after this incident. 

~Cristina Mollis