Reality Bites - An Investigative Documentary Film

We fear snakes, and we are in awe of them, but have we understood them? They may not get our love, but do they really deserve to be feared? These pressing questions drove us, as undergraduates, to film Reality Bites, an investigative documentary into the way snakes get treated in the city.

"The fear of snakes is known as ophidiophobia," says Professor Swarnalatha Iyer of Christ College, Bangalore. "It is only a very few people who have an abnormal fear of snakes."

She adds that the fear of such reptiles is instinctual and inborn. It has two effects - in the positive way, people avoid going to areas where there are snakes, and in the negative way, people spot the snakes in a residential neighbourhood and kill them.

"I used to see lots of snakes getting mercilessly killed, particularly the big, non-venomous creatures like the rat snakes, and then the keelback snakes," says Rahmath Ataaz, a professor of zoology from Al-Ameen College, Bangalore. When the subject of snake charmers was addressed, Ataaz explains that they trap snakes, and sometimes defang them, which can lead to oral infections.

We had earlier visited a colony in Bangalore, where poverty-stricken settlers earn their livelihood as street performers. Some of them are snake charmers, and one of the performers admitted that the fangs of snakes are extracted.

Professor Ataaz understands a snake's role in the ecosystem. "30 per cent of the food grains of India," says Ataaz, while quoting Salim Ali the ornithologist, "are being consumed by rodents." Ataaz adds, "[A snake's] body is so beautifully designed that the body can easily get into burrows, track down the rats, and eat them."

It takes experience to handle snakes, and Janaki Iyengar, chairperson of Animal Rescue and Rehabilitation Trust, tackles one with utmost ease. Her son is Dr. M.K. Srinath, who had once served as a Director of the World Wildlife Fund in India. Once he explained how to handle a snake, it became clear that just like how a snake sheds its skin, we must shed our fear of it.

Kudos to my fellow writers, presenters, and interviewers, whose inputs form the backbone of this student documentary film:

Poornima R. Chandran

Patsy R. Paul

Arpita Misra

Trini Thomas

Donna Joy

Sanghamitra Mitra

Peter Rajesh Joachim

And without the support of the crew, this documentary film would not have seen the light of day:

Jinesh Mathew

Anish Mathew

Solvin Mathew