Nag Panchami special: Children play with snake as if it is their toy in MP village

Chhatarpur (Madhya Pradesh) [India], August 21 (ANI): Snake is the other name of death, but the children of Mauraha village in Madhya Pradesh’s Chhatarpur district play with it as if it were their toy.
People belonging to a special community called ‘Nath’ have been living for generations in the village and their children not only play with snakes but also treat them as their friends and even named these snakes.
No wonder that we get shocked and trembled after seeing a snake but these children have zero fear of snakes. These children play with them by rotating the snakes around their neck and sometimes by garlanding their fellow. The family members, however, claimed that the snakes haven’t harmed them till date.
Speaking to ANI, a villager Raju Nath said, “Our children play with snakes, we are not rich enough to be able to buy toys, so our children play with snakes. Our forefathers, fathers used to play with snakes, we have been playing with snakes since childhood. Children even name these snakes while playing; some call them ‘Sonu’, some call them ‘Monu’ and other names.
The children are not afraid of snakes. They have been playing with them since childhood. It has been their toy from childhood as they are not able to buy toys, there is not enough money to buy toys, Raju added.
“The benefits which we receive from the government from their schemes help us in our livelihood a bit and rest we roam around other villages and cities with snakes, with the help of which we are living our life,” he said.
When asked about where they got the snake, the villager further said that they visited many forests, caught snakes from there and then the children kept playing with them.
Meanwhile, talking about snake bites, he added that so far it had not happened that snakes bit the children. None had not gone to the hospital yet. The children were not afraid of snakes.
A boy Dipendra told ANI, “We play with snakes and we sleep with them. We are not afraid of them (snakes) and they are our friends. My father catches them from the forest and after that we play with them.”
A girl studying in Class X, Lakshmi told ANI, “We have been playing with snakes since childhood. We don't have toys, so we play with snakes and they are our friends. My younger brothers and sisters also play with them. We are not afraid of them as they are our friends.”
When asked about study, she says, all the children of the village go to school. (ANI)