India
has long been known as the land of the snake charmers. But here’s
something very unusual. An 8-year-old Indian girl who plays all day not
with other girls, but with her pet King Cobras.
Kajol
Khan lives in the village of Ghatampur in Uttar Pradesh, with her
parents, six sisters, two brothers and six pet Cobras, her best friends.
She comes from a family of snake catchers and hopes to carry on in her
father’s footsteps someday. Her father, 55-year-old Taj Mohammad has
been working as a snake catcher in Ghatampur for the past 45 years.
While he has already passed on his skills to his son, he’s unexpectedly
found himself a mentor to his daughter Kajol. The little girl has been
used to snakes crawling around her since she was a baby, and hence feels
nothing out of the ordinary in their presence. In fact, she prefers
hanging out with her slithering buddies rather than go to school. She
has been bitten – on her stomach, cheeks and hands – but this is hardly
of any concern to her. Kajol has always been able to make a full
recovery, thanks to her father’s herbal medicine, which has been a
family secret for generations. “I have a lot of fun with the cobras. It
hurts when they bite me but sometimes it’s my own fault because I tease
them. It’s quite funny.”
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