Tuesday, November 24, 2009 RANCHI: A young man named Pilu Sahay of Bansjhal village in India’s Chhattisgarh Jashpur district has a bizarre addiction of consuming snake venom.To fulfill his need for venom, Sahay first catches a snake from the forests or other open fields in the vicinity of his village, extracts venom and stores it for his use.Sahay, now in his thirties, claims to have been consuming venom for the past two decades, 21 years to be precise.He also catches poisonous snakes from the adjoining villages and later frees them in the forests for the safety of fellow villagers."I have an addiction for snakes, I get myself bitten from the snakes. I eat the venom by mixing it with uncooked rice. The bites do not scare me, in fact, I love being bitten by the snakes. For me, consuming snake venom is like consuming any other food like pulses," Sahay said.Sahay further mentioned that he learnt this skill from his master whose name was not disclosed and who also had a habit of consuming venom.
Friday, August 14, 2009 MUMBAI: A 26-year-old woman died Thursday of H1N1 swine flu in the southern city of Bangalore, raising India's death toll from the virus to 20, authorities said.The death was the first reported in India's information technology capital, the Press Trust of India reported.Meanwhile in Pune, the worst-affected in India, two more victims of the virus died Thursday, raising the death toll in that western city near Mumbai to 12, the report said. The victims were an 11-month-old boy and a 75-year-old old woman.US media reported movie halls, schools and colleges were ordered closed Thursday for three days to a week in Mumbai, the commercial and financial capital of the country, as fear of the pandemic spread.Prajakata Lavangare, a spokeswoman for the government of Maharashtra state of which Mumbai is the capital, said similar orders were issued in Pune, which is also located in the state.The woman who died in Bangalore was identified only as Roopa, a teacher in...
Comments