One of Rahul Alvares' book (I think, The Call of the Snakes) has a bizarre account of how he and a friend took the slow scooter all the way to the Goa Medical College after he was bitten for a snake. On the way, they even stopped at Rahul's parents' office to search for anti-snake venom, if I recall right. By the time he reached the GMC, Rahul was fit enough to pass out.
But then, both were snake-catchers themselves, and didn't have the element of I-am-going-to-die shock. There are a growing number of snake-catchers in Goa. Even our friends Mario and Muriel's ("Another Goa") kids Tarika and Sohail are working on learning this skill, again if not mistaken. But more than the snakes, the rats are also a big issue here (not to speak of the bees), if you go by my postings over the years. Gabe Menezes should know, as he attempted to gift me a solution. Rahul (the same person mentioned above) pointed out that good ole rat traps work best in good ole Goa. After all, he should know, as he does need the occasional rat for his pet snake. How's this for an instant treatise? Would you offer me a left-of-centre cyberPhD for these few callous lines? FN 2009/7/21 Mario Goveia <mgov...@sbcglobal.net>: > When I was growing up in Jabalpur it was customary > to sleep on cots in the yard in summer and we kept > guard dogs to warn us of snakes, which became > more visible when the monsoons arrived. Keeping > an area well lit seems to help as well, so a lamp may help. > > I have no idea where antidotes for snakebite are > available in Goa. -- FN * http://fredericknoronha.wordpress.com http://twitter.com/fn M +91-9822122436 P +91-832-2409490 http://fredericknoronha.multiply.com/ http://goa1556.goa-india.org "A baby is an inestimable blessing and bother." - Mark Twain