Raju Paswan Shares his Experience with the Jogi Nath Snake Charmers

YOUR VIEWS

The Sarprakshak Training Program was organized in Pune and Ahmedabad by Craft Revival Trust in association with Jeevika. The aim of the workshop was to train the snake charmers as snake educators. The snake charmers were taken to the Zoo in Ahmedabad, exposed to lecture-demonstrations at the Pune Snake Park. They interacted with forest officers to educate them about wildlife laws. This was crucial as there is a ban on the snake charmers occupation as per the Wildlife Protection Act. The focus of the Sarprakshak project is to use the traditional knowledge of the snake charmers for conservation. Over 30 lectures were organized by the country’s leading snake experts and 21 snake charmers traveled from Rajasthan, Haryana and Delhi to attend the workshop.

The piece below is by Raju Paswan, Community Coordinator, Sarprakshak Project. He has been working closely with the snake charmers and shares some of his experiences here. Prior to this workshop, whenever the name of the Jogi Nath snake charmers was mentioned the popular image of men with snakes draped around their necks, arms and in cane baskets in their bags would arise in my minds eye. My vision would blur with the image of thousands of snakes. Upon encountering and working with the snake charmers I came to realize that there was nothing to fear from them, that they were men just like me, earning a living, keeping alive ...