LUCKNOW: Snakes can give the jitters to even the strong-hearted. But a two-and-a-half-month old baby, Fatima Abidi, who has not even learnt to say "mamma" plays with live snakes.
A snake is let loose near her. She grabs hold of it, and in a minute, the creature wraps itself around her neck.
"I did not detect even an iota of fear on her face when her father wrapped a snake around her neck for the first time. She perturbed me. I was very scared. But I knew the snake was non-poisonous. So I did not oppose," said her mother Rumi Abidi. Explaining how all this happened, her father Ali Hasnain Abidi said, "I was showing a snake to a friend and explaining details about it. As I held it in one hand, Fatima was cradled in my other arm. I noticed her trying to grab at the snake. I wrapped the snake around her neck and she started playing with it."
Her mother said Fatima is very fond of cats and dogs as well. "She reaches out and grabs the tail. I think she is a special child," she said. The parents attribute this behaviour of the baby to the animal-friendly atmosphere in the household. They have been working for rehabilitation of snakes for the last six years. "Normally, we have more than six snakes in our house at a time. The number increases in winter," said Ali adding that not all snakes are poisonous. He said that the snake is called rough-scaled boya snake which lives in crop- bearing fields and survives on rats. | 
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