Unfailing agility and vision are assets of 80-year-old Kannamma of Kothur village in the Yadamarri mandal near Chittoor. This snake-catcher is a household name.
The woman caught her first snake at the age of 10. She then went after the reptiles, dealing with them in not hundreds, but thousands, spread over two dozen villages along the Chittoor-Tamil Nadu border.
She leads a happy life all by herself in a thatched hut. Her husband, Krishnaiah, passed away three decades ago. Though Kannamma’s daughter and son support her, she doesn’t like the idea of depending on them. She keeps herself busy, working in the fields and running errands for neighbours.
Whenever a snake is seen in the households of villages surrounding Kothur, Kannamma’s services are sought. In no time, she reaches the venue and solves the problem. The fate of the snakes rests on her mood.
At times, she kills them. She can also be kind and release them into the forests.
One look at their forked tongues, Kannamma knows whether the snakes are “good or bad,” she claims. She has caught not only cobras but also deadly vipers and Indian kraits. She can plunge into the bushes, and climb trees and walls with ease.
Kannamma’ does not use a stick or anything else to catch snakes. Her hands do the magic. She thumps the ground close to the snake hideouts in a peculiar manner.
Luring them out, she lifts them in the air and makes them coil around her arms. Though she has been bitten by snakes many times, there has been no instance of her being treated in hospitals.
In the latest episode, she caught a cobra at Kothur village on Tuesday and killed it. “I sensed its wrath under its belly. It was not showing signs of leaving the village. So I killed it.”
