Nagpur: The city’s chaotic traffic threw up a spine-chilling surprise on Monday evening when a two-wheeler rider suddenly found himself sharing his scooter with a highly venomous snake, mid-ride.
Taj Nagar resident Mohammad Nasir Sheikh was riding his Activa scooter (MH-49 BJ 8169) towards Tukdoji Putla when he noticed something straight out of a nightmare. From the scooter’s dash panel, a snake began wriggling its way out, its forked tongue flicking menacingly as it tested the air.
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The reptile slithered through a tiny opening meant for wiring connections and climbed towards the handlebar, inching dangerously close to the accelerator grip. Realising the grave danger, a visibly shaken Sheikh somehow managed to keep his composure and pulled over to the roadside just in time.
Heart pounding, he took a closer look, and froze. Staring back at him were cold, piercing eyes on a conical head, with a flicking forked tongue confirming his worst fear. Without wasting a second, Sheikh alerted snake rescuer Anand Shelke of the Wildlife Welfare Society.
Shelke immediately deputed rescuer Aditya Shastrakar, who rushed to the spot and identified the intruder as a saw-scaled viper, one of India’s four most venomous snake species. The snake is believed to have taken shelter inside the scooter’s headlight box while it was parked, drawn by warmth, and was forced out by the jerks of Nagpur’s potholed roads.
Carefully opening the scooter’s dashboard cover, Shastrakar safely rescued the deadly reptile, drawing sighs of relief from shocked onlookers. The snake was later released into a forested area.
Though unharmed, Sheikh was left visibly shaken. Before riding off, he was seen thumping the headlight assembly repeatedly, just to be sure there were no more uninvited passengers.
The terrifying episode has left him with more than just a story to tell, it’s a lesson he’s unlikely to forget, and one that might make many Nagpurians think twice before starting their vehicles, especially during the winter.
