BELAGAVI: On the Naag Panchami festival, snakes are worshipped around the corner. Anand Chitti and his wife Nirzara, a couple engaged in rescuing snakes from concrete jungles and eradicating blind beliefs associated with snakes for more than a decade, had geared up to develop a snake-friendly society on the occasion.Chitti, who has passed SSLC, has done a thorough study on snakes and spreads knowledge about them among people, especially to the new generation, through educational institutes.
He was just 18 when he started handling snakes barehanded in his field at Yellur village of Belagavi. Soon, he turned out to be a noted snake rescuer in the area and surrounding villages. This 36-year-old snake rescuer has been bitten 20 times by different snakes while rescuing them. If there are some bitter experiences, there are some sweet ones too, Chitti said.
When Chitti got married to Nirzara about 11 years ago, she was the most snake-fearing woman he had ever met in his life. He thought it was only right to begin at home with Nirzara the creation of awareness of snakes, and dispel fears and blind beliefs people had about the reptiles.“It took me five years to quell the fear that Nirzara had for snakes, and instil in her the expertise to handle snakes in order to rescue them. Today, she is reportedly the only woman snake rescuer in Karnataka,” said Chitti with pride. He revealed that Nirzara handles all types of snakes and she has taught the art to their children too.