A rib-tickling ridiculous incident recently in Fatehpur city in Uttar Pradesh makes us wonder whether the superstitions of our people would ever have an end.
A 24 year old young man Vikas Dubey is reported to have been bitten by a snake, seven times in forty days. Every bite has been only on Saturdays. After each snake-bite he has been undergoing medical treatment in a hospital and saving his life.
He has approached the District Collector for financial help since he had already spent much for treatment. A team of three doctors has been formed to conduct an enquiry about this rare issue, which has blown up to an alarming proportion.
Serious investigation is going on by the Collector’s orders to find out if Vikas was bitten every time by the same snake. Gullible people in Fatehpur have been gossiping that Vikas might have sinned against the snake which had made it bent upon revenge. The enquiry commission is busy, obeying the instruction of the District Collector.
Such superstitions are not new or unheard of. In 1995, in a Village near Aligarh city in Uttar Pradesh, a farmer accidentally killed two snakes crushing them under the wheels of his tractor. There was a wide spread fear all around that the entire village would be avenged in retaliation by a bevy of snakes. Rituals of various kinds were performed to make amends and pacify the spirits of those two dead snakes. On the crops in the fields strange layers appeared resembling skins of snakes. People were gripped by extreme fear. The Department of Botany in Aligarh Muslim University investigated and declared that the changes on crops were caused by some virus. Only then people heaved a sigh of relief.
There was another funny tale doing the rounds about a girl in Hadras (U.P.). It was told, a snake had an intimacy with her and bit her many times as a token of its love. People used to say she was safe since it was not a venomous snake. We also had some people who said the girl made up just for sensation to become talk of the town.
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The Joint Director of “Wild Life S.O.S.” Unit, Karthik Satyanarayanan had an interaction recently with the leading Tamil Daily “Hindu Tamil Disai”. He has commented that the western part of U.P. is notorious for such tales and reports of superstition. Most of them are fabricated out of blind faith. In some of the Uttar Pradesh cities Monday is considered the favourite day of snakes and every Monday there are ridiculous rituals associated with this blind belief. Let us hope, atleast in future these people acquire scientific temper and give up their irrational practices and ludicrous outlook.
