Monsoon has set in our area. Yesterday we had the first shower. The sizzling temperature in our hometown has drastically fallen down. This year the monsoon is not late. To that extent it's a welcome development. What is scary is that snakes of all species too have come out of their holes.

Fortunately we don't live in the particular area of our neighboring state, Chhatisgarh. This part of our neighboring state has been famous [ or, infamous ] as the 'Nagaloka', meaning, 'the world of cobras.' It is the area where a large number of cases of death due to snakebite have been recorded every year. Come monsoon, and the area gets infested with all species of poisonous snakes including cobras. Don't blame them, please. They have no alternative. The rainwater fills their holes and they have no option other than come out of their holes and crawl around looking for their food.

What makes the situation worse is inadequate supply of electricity there, especially in rural areas. People who venture out at night for their works can't notice a snake crawling along the road and trample it. Angry snakes retaliate and bite them. Illiterate villagers prefer resorting to occult practices to save the victim's life instead of seeking proper medical treatment. Consequently the victim dies.

It is the rainy season. We can't stop rains. Nor can we save snakes from turning homeless due to rainwater filled in their holes. We can't prevent them from biting human beings. The question therefore is how to save ourselves from snakebites.

I have visited the area many times and come across stories of deaths due to snakebites. Frightened I first thanked God that I am not living there, and then wondered how people residing there manage to save themselves from snakes. I neither asked anybody nor anybody ever told me. The other day I chanced to read an article published in a newspaper and came to know what precautions they take to keep themselves safe from snakes. One thing they do is surround their houses with circular lines of salt powder poured around their houses. The writer says that snakes actually can't cross the circumference of this circle to enter the house. Why and how, I don't know.

This is the first precaution the villagers take to prevent snakes from entering their houses. Other tips suggested by the writer are as below.

1. Villagers like to sleep on the floor. They do so not because they don't have cots, but because they feel themselves comfortable there. It is found  that snakes bite people who sleep on the floor. The writer warns people against doing so. He suggests them to use cots to sleep on.
2. He insists the villagers to carry a torch with them whenever they go out, especially at night, and be careful and vigilant before putting a step forward.
3. He insists them to fill the atmosphere in and around their houses with smoke produced by burning ' neem ' leaves. This too prevents snakes from entering the houses.
4. The writer insists the villagers not to waste time in resorting to occult practices in case someone is bitten by a poisonous snake and take the victim immediately to the hospital.

Out of these five tips, surrouding the house with a circle drawn with salt powder poured down on earth and filling the atmosphere with smoke produced by burning 'neem' leaves were unknown to me.