Once he ‘sat’ with snakes, in protest

Thiruvananthapuram: It was a terrible turn of fate for Harshad. Six years ago, Harshad who was then a daily-wage zoo keeper, had locked himself up in the cobra enclosure in a suicide bid. He was frustrated over the endless wait for a permanent post at the zoo. He later became a permanent employee and died from the bite of the same snake he had reared all these years
In 2015, Harshad sat inside the enclosure with around 30 poisonous snakes for an hour. He demanded that he needed assurance from the minister’s office that he would be made permanent. The matter was communicated to the minister’s office and senior officials assured him over phone that his grievance would be immediately addressed. He then voluntarily came out of the cage.
A native of Kattakkada, Harshad had been a daily wage keeper at the zoo for more than 15 years before he was recently enrolled into a permanent job.
Harshad had always flirted with danger handling dangerous reptiles. When the anacondas were brought to the city zoo, the officials were warned. Once Harshad was feeding the anacondas when one leapt from the water and bit him on his right arm after coiling around his hands. Harshad kept his cool, slowly undid the knots and released the snake as though it was a plastic, harmless rope. Under his care, anacondas became popular exhibits at the zoo and when they started dying, nobody was more hurt than Harshad.
Two years ago, he had his arm lacerated by a crocodile. He underwent a plastic surgery and was back for duty soon.
Even when he was bitten by the snake, Harshad showed presence of mind to keep the latch locked or else the King cobra would have slipped outside causing even further danger.