Day 3
It was late afternoon as we left Ooty after all sightseeing so we thought we halt at Mysore. We started from Ooty at 3:00 PM and believe me the route to Mysore to Ooty is extremely scenic. Every other town we passed by made both of us think of getting down and enquiring the land rates, so that we could build our holiday home there. We were above the cloud line and there was dense fog around us, this made us feel as if we were the only people on these roads, it was magical. We stopped at the Bandhipur reserve and took a 45 minutes safari. Was upset that there were not many animals there, Jeni hates the noise these safari buses create and was constantly telling me that we are destroying their homes. We could only spot some dear and some Bison, which made other people in the bus very excited. We started again from Bandhipur and reached mysore by 7:30 PM and slept.
Day 4
Jeni sees an SMS on her phone and she is excited, her loud yell wakes me up. Its Gauri Shankar’s number, she had a dislocated shoulder and the way she threw both her hands in the air due to excitement made my heart come to my mouth. She speaks to him and hands over the phone to me for directions, I asked Gauri for a phone number for which he told me to ask anyone in Mysore, and guess what he was right. This Man is a living legend; yes some of you have guessed it right and for the others who don’t know him. Hmmmm well his name is Snake Shyam, I wanted to write things like he is a living legend and blah blah but there are hardly any words to describe this man. Well I have seen him on discovery he drives an auto (doesn’t own any more) he picks and drops school kids and what else. So thats all I knew about him, I call him and he tells me to come to ontikoppal venkateswara temple and he will guide me. I have no idea how to speak kannada though my mom speaks fluent kannada, mom if you are reading this I do regret of not learning this language and made you learn Hindi to speak to me. Anyways you ask for directions its always straight hoge.. Left hoge etc…so as you have all thought I got lost, jeni was like we have seen the railway station thrice and I hope they don’t have 3 railway stations in Mysore. I called him again and guess what he is so nice that he tells me the way and also tells me that he is on a call hmmmmm its now getting better we reach the temple in no time and we see a yellow bike coming and standing in front of us. And we see this man in a weird outfit Jeni takes her cam out and started taking pics.
Guys the guy is so passionate about his work that reasons his eccentric looks, he takes us to his home, there is a red SS80 standing fully restored spot less but reasonably dirty, Jeni warns me about the stench the snakes carry, but who cares I have already booked my tickets to the seventh heaven. The entire Mysore knows this guy and his right arm is literally out all the time to wave at people, he is so down to earth that you do not feel that you are with a person who carries such an importance, his phone is constantly ringing (some snake movie ring tone) and that make me think how much we have invaded into the animal habitat. He tells me that he had documented over 20000 catches and releases and he is about to release a DVD on his experiences, Shyam if you are reading this I am definitely going to order two, he is a one man army he does this from his pocket, he is been bitten thrice, twice by a cobra once by a Russell’s viper he still does it regardless to his doctors warning him about his body being allergic to anti venom, he is the ultimate guy, quite shocking Jeni who is like been there done that all opens her mouth
Jeni: How do you manage your expenses?
Shyam: Smiles mostly my own pocket, some people are generous
Jeni: Can’t you fix a fee.
Shyam: No they will kill the snake, they don’t even give me fresh pillow covers to put the snakes in, its because of by hero and he touches his locket (Satya Sai Baba) that I am alive
Jeni: Any help from the Govt.
Shyam: None as of now
I just wonder how many lives he saves both man and animal then why don’t we do something. I wish I could raise some fund for him but I am just a small spot on the map, anyways. On the way he speaks a lot about how people come take pics with him and finally claim they caught the snake and put them on the net, I was very inquisitive and Jeni was upset with the way I was putting my questions to him. I asked him from why he catches the snake to the ICE in his SS80 which BTW is good. His love for Bappi lahiri and his fetish for tattoos and rings. I can write 10 pages about this guy, anyways we reached the first rescue spot it was a highway dhaba, there is a snake on the roof of a shack they have, and I quickly took a snap.
All my excitement turns quickly into fears, next thing I see is he drags out a very angry serpent and Jeni is like I will bag it, thanks that Shyam who took the bag from her and bagged it. We then document it and leave from there. The next two rescues the snakes escape before we reached there and guess what the guys don’t even tell that before we arrive. He drove close to 50 KMS and all that was right out of his pocket. I wish some people with heart read this and help him in his quest any ways I tell him that I am going to Agumbe and if he wanted to join us and this is what he says.
“If I leave Mysore for a day there will be havoc”
So I finally conclude it’s not just the love for the animal but also because of his commitment to the society he does that. So we go back to his home he lets Jeni handle some snakes (I am scared and shameless to admit) and finally after thanking him big time we take the directions and leave, the distance is roughly 350 KMS from Mysore. So the first major city we head to is Hassan, and since we start somewhere at 3ish we reach Hassan by 6:00 PM and then we had our lunch/Dinner, and headed towards Singeri it was pitch dark so could not see any major landmarks on the road and we saw 2 snakes on the road, We reach Agumbe by 9:30 and we see a police check post and a shop. I walk into the check post and ask for Gauri Shankar’s house and they tell me the way. I go straight and then take a left about 1 KM from the check post and I am about 4 kms in dense forest, both of us thought we got lost hence headed back to the last human settlement (Little dramatic again) the check post, the guy comes along till the mouth of the forest and tells me follow the tire tracks, finally we see a man holding a torch about 4 Kms inside the jungle and we finally stop. There were jungle sounds all around us and trust me it’s not for the week hearted. Cannot see a thing and finally we meet Prashanth who was holding the torch, we were greeted in nicely, Gauri was not there in Agumbe he was in Bangalore. Prashanth took us inside the main building and introduced us to Gautam. He showed us the place around. Jeni wanted to know how they get power (typical woman, there were 100 other things which she could talk about, but power?), so he showed the solar panels and left us at the cottage, it was beautiful. Within no time I was sleeping like a small baby and woke up in the morning, really fresh.
To be continued....