As a mathematics teacher, N. Sivan Pandiyan, 37, inspires a love for numbers and innovates techniques to get his students to answer any challenging question. But it is his self-trained ability to rescue snakes that fascinates his students more.
“Your skills matter in both; it takes acute observation, razor-sharp brain, quick reflexes and solution,” he says. At 22, he instinctively rescued a rat snake in his brother’s house. The maiden success put him on a high and he began reading extensively to learn more. Between 2006 and now, he has been on emergency calls and helped over 7,000 snakes return to their wild habitation. And is still counting.
His claim is supported by the Forest Office in Madurai, where he is registered as a certified snake rescuer. He has caught cobras, common krait, Russell’s viper, besides several non-poisonous snakes, and released them in the forests of Alagar Koil, Pasumalai, Nagamalai Pudukkottai, depending on the area from where the snake was secured.
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On an average, he receives 8-10 calls a day. With good rain during the two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, the call load increased to 12-14. With a snake hook, a cotton cloth bag, one-foot PVC pipe and innate confidence, Mr. Siva Pandiyan zooms off on his bike any time of the day and night.
“As a child, I was scared of snakes; They were often sighted in our house at the Pasumalai foothills. My family members many times beat them to death. That disturbed me,” he says.
The first reaction on spotting a snake is fear and the first instinct is to kill. After each rescue mission, he spends time explaining to the gathered crowd how to identify venomous snakes (only 2% of the 300 species found in India are poisonous). His maths classes begin with an ode to snakes, which, he tells his students, are equally scared to be out of their natural habitat and are compelled to encroach into the places where we live because of deforestation; they come out during monsoons in search of frogs and rats; are farmer’s friend as they can control the rodent population.
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In the pre-pandemic days, he regularly addressed college environment clubs on how to mitigate snake-man conflicts. He plans to publish free pamphlets on the importance of conserving snakes for a healthy ecosystem. “I do not charge money for my services; some residents pay me a token amount for petrol.”
His love for snakes cost him his school teacher’s job in 2019. When he saw a viper in the bathroom, he quietly took it to the nearby dense area, missing his next class. He did not tell anybody thinking it would create a scare.
During questioning, the truth came out and the administration instead of appreciating asked him to leave as it did not want the information to be leaked. Sivan Pandiyan takes tuitions now.
Snakes continue to intrigue him. He rarely misses shows on wildlife channels. “They are the most peace-loving creatures and will not harm you, unless you harm them,” he says. “My daily yoga helps me remain calm. I maintain eye-contact and even talk to the snakes.”