‘Saanp saanp!‘ came the startled cry from someone standing not too far away from where I stood.
‘Arre…cobra hai, cobra hai…!‘ another voice chipped in, almost immediately.
Wandering around the grounds of Orchha Fort complex, my attention was promptly diverted from the fading murals on the fort walls to the rocky ground under my feet. Nothing there. No saanp, no cobra.
Given my penchant for video recording trivial (and inconsequential) details while travelling, I promptly got occupied in capturing this small clip, while the local hanger-ons carried on with their contemplation about the snake’s fate.
In the time it took me to record this little clip, the fate of the snake was sealed – it was to live! After much to and fro, the ‘mighty’ crowd had ultimately decided to spare the cobra’s life and had allowed it to slither away into a nook in one of the fort walls. Wise decision!
Post this little adventurous distraction, as I got back to the walking tour of the fort complex, the guide accompanying me too had his share of snake anecdotes ready. The one story that I recall right away is how during a light and sound show inside the fort complex, a tourist found a snake coiled around the leg of his plastic chair. While this story was goosebumps inducing enough to convince me to pull out of the light and sound show scheduled for that evening, I eventually stayed put. It’s a different matter however that throughout the two-hour-long show, I sat cross-legged on the plastic chair and intermittently kept distracting others with flashes of my torch light scanning the dark ground for hint of suspicious movement.
So this was my little snake story that I recalled while browsing through my travel diary today. Have you ever had any snake encounter while travelling or even otherwise? If yes, then do share your story in the comment box below!
Bye for now. Happy travels!
