Dr J S Sarkaria joined the army shortly after outbreak of the Second World War.  He was a Captain in the I.M.S. (Indian Medical Service) and was in the frontlines during the entire Burma campaign.  His field hospital was once virtually bombed out of existence by the Japanese, with very heavy casualties, and he was mentioned in dispatches for his bravery under fire. Sometime after the end of the war he joined P.C.M.S. (Punjab Civil Medical Service), and post-1947 his first posting was in Palampur.  He served subsequently in a number of stations: Amritsar, Rewari, Simla, Sirsa, Ludhiana, Simla again, Bhatinda, Nangal, etc., etc.

When he sought premature retirement he had been Medical Superintendent of Rajindra Hospital, Patiala for 2-3 years. Previous to that he had served in Chandigarh as Assistant Director of Health Services and Drug Controller at Chandigarh for some years.

He had obtained M.S. (Master in Surgery) early on in his service, when he was posted in remote Rewari (Haryana), a feat in itself because (at least at that time) this degree was very demanding even for people posted in medical colleges.  My father was acclaimed as a brilliant surgeon and had a fantastic amount of energy and drive.

Single-handedly he converted — through donations that he sought from the public directly — the ramshackled and run-down civil hospital in the desert town of Sirsa to a really good facility.  This was during the Chief Minister Mr Kairon.  He was quite impressed when he came there for an opening ceremony.  It is a great pity we now have very few (even in those days such people were rare) government officers with this kind of dedication and drive, which Dr JS Sarkaria had.

The biographic details of Dr Sarkaria, that are directly relevant to the Cactus Garden pertain to the years after he took retirement from P.C.M.S.  Quite a lot about these is in his book on this garden. The book can be accessed via this Link.

More will be written about Dr JS Sarkaria later probably with photos, if I can get from his family. I have written this as extracted from the e-mail sent to me by Mr Karanbir S Sarkaria, son of Dr JS Sarkaria.

Snakes, however, play important environmental roles in the fragile ecosystems and can play a very important role in agriculture. They control the population of harmful rodents and pests, thus helping people. Though sometimes dangerous, snakes can be useful, and, as any living creature, they have the right to exist.

In spite of being the most dreaded animal, snakes evoke curiosity like no other animal on earth. I have observed that people love to look at snakes, even when they scream and shiver with the sighting of a snake. Snakes have always been on the centre stage of special attention in the folklore and mythology, all over the world. On seeing a snake, reaction varies from screams, detestation, advocating the extermination of snakes from earth, worship, urge to touch and feel, etc.

Snakes never harm you, unless they perceive threat from you, when you move too close or you step on them. They are like a naked electrical wire, maintain distance and you are safe; both are very useful to us.
Basically, it’s the lack of information which leads to fear and chaos. I have experienced that if people are given the right information, their fear will be reduced and the confrontation will be converted into being more friendlier.

My mission is to remove the fear of snakes from the minds of people and save the snakes. The Snake Cell is a unique step in this direction and undoubtedly has been effective, so far.

MISSION: SAVE INNOCENT SNAKES AND IGNORANT PEOPLE, WITH MY CAMERA

I remember the days vividly, when I used to accompany my father on bicycle from our ancestral village Kanthala to Panchkula area, at that time Panchkula was not even a village. Panchkula derived its name from the five irrigation canals known as `kuls’, making it `Panch Kul Wala’  thus Panchkula. We used to come from our ancestral village Kanthala (now The Tribune building, one of the most well known landmarks of Chandigarh) to Panchkula, about 5 kms, to buy plants from the plant nurseries to be planted in our farm.

Chandigarh was developed as the most well planned city of India, post independence. But it engulfed many villages and swallowed the rich regional cultural heritage. It displaced so many families by paying them pittance as compensation, most of which could never regain their lost paradise and are fighting futile legal battles, withering away. The poor families of these villages had to bear the brunt of this forced displacement. Which proved a point, we often discuss, in India only rich and powerful have their way and lead life the way they like, commoner suffers as they did for centuries. In spite of the right to equality, we are not equals.

Anyway, Chandigarh was forced to grow as expected and it was a sleepy modern city till about 20 years ago, considered as a nice city for the retired and working class; in spite of being capital of two states and having status of Union Territory.  There is no city in India, which enjoys this unique status like Chandigarh does. Now, its teeming with materialistic life. It has become business  capital of northern region. I strongly believe, city of Panchkula is the product of political agenda. The Haryana government speculated that Chandigarh might be transferred to Punjab, as there have been many attempts in the past. Which lead to some violent protests in Haryana, in last four decades. The think-tanks of Haryana government opted for Panchkula, as the best suited site for the contingency. It’s next to Chandigarh and still in Haryana. If suddenly government decides about Chandigarh to be handed over to Punjab, then Haryana will have its own capital ready in place and fully operational. In fact, Panchkula has reduced the congestion of offices in Chandigarh.

Dr JS Sarkaria, had good collection of cactus and succulents. As he was growing old and he worried about his treasure of cactus. He decided to donate it to the ones who will care. He had given adverts in newspapers about it and at that time HUDA (Haryana Urban Development Authority) came forward and offered land. The present Cactus Garden was started here and Dr Sarkaria devoted most of his time at site, working under the Sun, even the younger lot could not keep pace with him in the field. He is admired and revered all the time by the staff of the Garden.

MORE WILL COME HERE ABOUT THE CACTUS GARDEN SHORTLY.

MISSION: SAVE INNOCENT SNAKES AND IGNORANT PEOPLE, WITH MY CAMERA

We all know that `an image is worth thousand words’!  I say that a good image is worth million words! Isn’t it?

So, I decided  to accomplish my mission by educating people about snakes and snakebite, basically to make them comfortable with the presence of snakes, through good quality photos. I strongly felt that good photos will project snakes as beautiful creatures and handsome, thus hoping that the hostile attitude of common man may get friendlier towards snakes after seeing their beauty through my photos.  So far, I have been encouraged by the remarks and comments of the viewers of every quality snake image I have shown to public through my websites, blogs and others forums on internet.

I am sure, this endeavour will save the snakes from being misunderstood, as most dreaded animals. There are reports that in pre-independence India, British government promoted extermination of venomous snake species from certain areas, though it turned out to be a futile effort. This indicates how hostile we can be against innocent creatures, without even making an attempt to understand our neighbours,  who cohabit this beautiful planet Earth. I do not blame the commoner squarely, as he struggles to muster for basics for his living. It’s the government agencies who have to organise the right type of educational material and effective strategy, which has had glaring failures in the field of  `nature conservation education’ so far. For the will to do quality work is missing at all levels in the government department of wildlife.

My endeavour will be to bridge the gap between  `INNOCENT SNAKES, IGNORANT PEOPLE’, through well written literature containing good information about snakes alongwith good quality images; common man needs it the most, to join hands to `SAVE OUR BEAUTIFUL PLANET’.

Finally, I said, “What the heck, why I can’t do photos of snakes, so what if I am poor at this stage, if I start now then one day I shall create good snake photos”. That was enough to motivate me. I started trying my hand with snake photography, while using rescued snakes,  and as the time passed by, with practice I started getting reasonably good photos, ever since I have been improving. I am happy with the results.

Here, I would like to advise you to be careful about buying any camera equipment `on line’, especially the one you have not used before, one must refer existing users of equipment, first. I bought Canon macro lens 180mm L series and a 2x converter to compliment it, alongwith a Canon Ring Flash MR 14-EX. Soon, after some photography with snakes, I discovered that ring flash had no role in snake photography for me. Also, I realised that snake photography can be done with other lenses i.e. tele lens, wide angle lens, etc. Most people think that snake photography means macro lenses.

Now, I love doing snake photography, though I have a long way to go, before I can make my snake photos stunning for quality. I am dreaming to do some quality shots for the `snakes & snakebite poster’, which should be able to attract and stop any onlooker with its quality of images and get them read the text.

In the past, whenever I posted my snake photos on my Flickr account, I used to get mails from viewers, who were curious to know how to go about snake photography. And I was quite surprised that there wasn’t much on the subject on the net. Therefore, I decided to publish about this subject on the internet, in stead of writing individual mails. Be rest assured that I have explained all about snake photography on my own blog and websites, as much as I know, nothing has been hidden. I love to share my experiences and knowledge with everyone. So, this will be a sincere  endeavour to disseminate knowledge about snakes through my Canon.

Snake photography is not at all difficult, provided you know the snakes well (like you are supposed to know your subject well, in any branch of good photography), one should have a competent snake handler for the snake shoot, follow the safety instructions, suitable camera equipment, etc.

Many Flickr viewers have commented on my snake photos there that I am gutsy, bold, brave and what not. I do not agree with all that. Fact remains, when you know about snakes well and about the consequences of snakebite, you are more scared and respect snakes more ! Its a matter of practice and knowing your subject, keeping in mind the safety.

Good discipline is the key to snake photography!

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They Fascinate, They Repel
Some Pose Danger, Others are Harmless
They are a beauty from Nature’s Parlour

‘What man does not understand, he fears, what he fears he destroys…’  Snakes are a victim of this mentality of man, as man has been impotent to understand true power and humility of this divine animal.

Snakes are considered by many, as perhaps the most dreadful of all animals that co-inhabit our planet. Fear about snakes prevails due to the total ignorance about these graceful, agile and useful creatures. In India, snakes are part of our mythology, yet, first reaction on seeing a snake is panic, fear and thought to exterminate the species. Non-poisonous snakes do not pose any major problems for humans besides fear and sometimes being pests. Lack of basic knowledge about snakes, leads to `fear of the unknown’ and then panic, which further leads to disastrous results.

Snakes, however, play important environmental roles in the fragile ecosystems and play a very important role in agriculture. They control the population of harmful rodents and pests, thus helping people. Though sometimes dangerous, snakes can be useful, and, as any living creature, they have also the right to exist.

There are about 255 species of snakes in India, of which about 52 are venomous and only four pose threat to human beings, as they are found in the vicinity of human settlements, especially in rural areas which are agricultural and have rats in abundance. The four venomous snakes are called Big Four - Cobra, Common Krait, Russell’s Viper and Saw Scaled Viper.

Know About Snakes & Snakebite

I live at Panchkula (Haryana, India) and consider myself very lucky to be living near its famous Cactus Garden, sadly not very well known amongst the denizens of even this modern city, as it should have been. Thanks to all the moronic superstitions, which had some reason to come into practice, people do NOT grow any kind of cactus or succulent at home. Most Indians believe that its not a good omen to grow cactus at home. I may agree with a logic for not growing cactus at home, where there is small space and kids are around, cactus thorns being a safety concern. Lest they get hurt by the steely strong thorns of cactus. But some obtusely brains have created a superstition -`since cactus grows in desert and arid place, it brings unhappiness like desert in the house and the family’. How silly ! On the contrary, cactus gives me immense inspiration – it grows in harshest conditions, needs no extra care, still smiles with flowers, fights hard life all alone (sort of alone, otherwise ecosystem does support them to live). In fact, cacti and succulents are great plants to grow for decoration, need far lesser space (not much of spread slow growth) and abysmally scanty water supply. If you are away for a holiday, most of the cactus varieties can survive for a month without water.

During my last three four visits to the Garden, I have been viewing only these tiny flowers (not more than 5mm wide) through my macro lens, which grow in bunch. This cactus bush is thronged by the bees and the work starts with daybreak itself and that’s why the phrase `busy like bee’. I find this place teeming with small insect life also, sometimes I get to see insects moving on flowers only through the lens, otherwise too small to get noticed. Its always very satisfying.

You will see some nice photos of cactus flowers here, often. I hope you will enjoy and start looking at cactus differently, also hoping locals will change their superstition towards cactus.

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