Imrana Mukhtar's Deadly Charm

This story was a sad one after a year of this being published, this same girl was bitten by a deadly cobra and she could not survive the poison gushing through her veins. Imrana was a very brave girl who could handle all kind of poisonous snakes with ease. But thanks to the frenzy media she had to loose her life a year after she held her first solo show in Bhopal on September 29th 2003. This story was published after she gave a special shoot for the Hindustan Times – Bhopal edition and the next year (in 2004) when she was going to hold her second solo show the fotog’s wanted her to hold three king cobra’s together and pose for her, when tragedy struck her. I was not part of the second show, and was very upset when i got the news of her sudden demise, and the undue hunger of the fotog’s which claimed an innocent, youngster’s life. This in a way was her last interview and hence I dedicate this space in memory to "IMRANA MUKTHAR" - the women snake charmer.

It’s difficult to say what is deadlier, her looks or her cobras. The 18-year-old Imrana Mukthar – one of the few women snake charmers in the country – carries both with equal ease. To top it all, she handles her venomous snakes as easily as her duties as an intern nurse at Anushri Nursing Home in Arera Colony here in Bhopal.
The deadliest of snakes dangle around her neck. She holds them as if it were a child’s play. Being related to snake charmers obviously did the trick for her. She took to the snake business some sic years ago and has come a long way, says her Ustad Hakim Babu Bhai. “She knows how to treat herself in case she gets bitten by any kind of snake,” he says with pride.
His understudy wasn’t so deft with deadly cobras to begin with. She used to be very scared of snakes, as any women would be. But after she saw her nine-year-old nephew play with snakes at her sister’s house, she mustered courage to handle non-poisonous snakes to begin with.

Imrana has put up a solo show at Aish Bagh Stadium encouraging the locals around the area to come and see her handle snakes with ease. She has put up this show with the help of her family members and says, “All the women should take a cue from me and not get afraid of reptiles.”
She plans to hold this show till October 2 and is very happy with the response she received on the first day itself. Imrana says that any snakebite can be cured. “Even a person bitten by a cobra or a padam nag can be saved if he/ she treats self within half hour of the bite,” she says.
She says that snakes have different levels of poison. For instance, a person can survive a ‘Karat’ bite for up to 24 hours and a viper bite up to six days. “So, there is no need to fear these docile reptiles,” she adds.
Snakes o no snakes, one thing is sure. She has gone a step ahead of most men who run away on seeing a snake. She hopes that more women from the City and the Country will follow her by taking care of the reptiles and not killing them.

Faithful Women

These pictures of Indian Hindu woman show the religious side of them. They were captured by me during my visits for the Maha Kumbh Mela at the Mahakaleshwar temple near the river Kshipra at Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh in 2004. The Hindu woman flocked in large numbers to drench themselves with the holy water, which takes place once in twelve years. Apart from the Indian Hindu Woman they were some foreigners too.


A elderly lady and a sadhvi from orrisa performs the aarti on the banks of the river kshipra in Ujjain on the first Shahi Snan at Simhastha Maha Kumbh Mela.



Hindu ladies take a holy dip at Kshipra river on the eve of the beginning for the holy month at the Simhastha in Ujjain.






A local woman pushes other Hindu woman to the Kshipra River in her push cart for rupees 10 per person, (left) even as a couple take a dip at the river kshipra in the foreground of a partly submerged shivling and nandhi in Ujjain. Thousands of Hindus have already started to take the holy dip to avoid the huge gathering during the holy month of Simhastha alos know as the Maha Kumbh Mela.

Male family members hold on to a lady claiming to be possessed by ghosts even as a pundit try's to perform a pooja to route out the evil spirit at the Asha Ram Bapu Akhara (left), as a Hindu Devout pray in front of the more than 1.8 corer mini clay Shiv lings which was made by the devotees attending the Simhastha Maha Kumbh Mela in Ujjain.

Hindu devotees offering their prayers on the banks of river Kshipra during the first shahi snan in the month long Simhastha Maha Kumbh Mela in Ujjainnear the Mahakaleshwara Temple.




A Hindu Devotee silhouetted against the sun rays from the river Kshipra at Ujjain while she washes her clothes from the holy water, (left) as another woman pours the holy water to seek the blessings of the Sun god during the Holy month of the Maha Kumbh Mela in the once in 12 years Simhastha.



A lady walks back to the banks of river Kshipra after taking a dip on the eve of the beginning of the holy month (top left) A Hindu devout seen offering her prayers to the sun god on the banks of river Kshipra on the first shahi snan (top) and woman volunteers of a Hindu group seen with caps showing the anti cow slaughter movement of the state government of Madhya Pradesh in Ujjain during the Month long Simhastha Maha Kumbh Mela.


Artist From England seen sketching the Simhastha Camp area in Ujjain at the month long Kumbh Mela from one of the Akhara (left) as a Japnese lady chats with a Indian sadhu at an akhara (right). The Kumbh mela is an huge International attraction in which hundreds of foreign tourist come over to India to witness the Indian religious ethos.

A Japanese woman along with her friend from Brazil who did not want to give their names pray to the sun god with both their palms locked into one on the banks of the river Kshipra (left) as another woman from Germany enjoys her holy bath with the holy water in the river Kshipra during the holy month of Maha Kumbh Mela at Ujjain in 2004.

*** Please scroll down for more on Simhastha ***

100 Naga Sadhvis From Nepal te take Holy Dip on April 22

Ujjain, April 20, 2004: More than 100 Mais or Naga Sadhvis have come all the way from Nepal to take the holy dip in river Kshipra during the Shahi Snan in Ujjain on April 22.
The Maiwada Akhara adjoining the Naga Babas Akhara in the fair area has added a lot of color. Most of the Naga Sadhvis are around 40 years of age and above, while some are below the age of 20.


The group flew to Indore via New Delhi8 before reaching the Smihastha Mela last week.

According to Mai Heera Giri, who is the leader of the Nepalese woman's group, they would join the Naga Babas in the Snan on April 22. When asked how many times she had visited the Simhastha, she replied that this was the fourth Simhastha Mela that she was attending and added that the scene had considerably from her first trip.

Mai Heera Giri getting ready for the evening pooja at her tent inside the Mai Akhara.


When asked as to why she became a Sadhvi, Mai Heera Giri said that most of the Sadhvis back home in Nepal belonged to affluent families and had become Mais aftre facing a lot of personal problems.
As for herself, she said that since she was born to her father's first wife, his second wife threw her out of the house. Around that time she met a Naga Baba in the Himalayas and decided to become a Mai.
Another Mai, Sona, said that she could not tolerate her husband having an affair with another woman and thus she opted to become Mai. With a smile she said that she is very happy now as she had the opportunity to serve the Hindu community. He statement is also endorsed by Mai Heera Giri.
When asked whether Mais smoked grass, she said that it was not a regular habit, but they do smoke occasionally to remain in a 'happy mood'.

The Nepal Mais along with their counterparts from India bath a Sadhu which they say is a divine blessing as they have adopted these sadhus as their gurus.
*** Scroll down for more on Simhastha ***

Inagural World 10K Marathon

With the second edition of the World 10K Marathon round the corner in the month of May, I thought to rewind and put together some of the last year's World 10K marathon in images showcasing the professional runners and then the cross section of society who ran for their city's pride.
The World 10K run was organized by Procam International, which also organizes the Mumbai International full marathon and New Delhi’s International half marathon.
The World 10K run also became the richest one by summing up a total of 41.35 lakh rupees towards charity. The second edition will be held on May 31st 2009.




Ashwini Nachappa and Dhanraj Pillai along with other runners at the Sunfeast World 10K Marathon in Bangalore on Sunday 18th May 2008.





Young and old run shoulder to shoulder during the Open and Maja run in the inaugural Sunfeast World 10K marathon in Bangalore on Sunday 18th May 2008.

Hari and his wife Ashiwini along with their 11 month old baby run during the Open and Maja run in the inaugural Sunfeast World 10K marathon in Bangalore on Sunday 18th May 2008 (Left) as A father carries his son on his shoulders during the Open and Maja run (right), all they had in mind was complete the 10 kilometers.





So What if we are tired to run as participants we will walk to complete the Open and Maja run in the inaugural Sunfeast World 10K marathon in Bangalore on Sunday 18th May 2008.




One for the album: a group of runners get them selves photographed near the Vidhan Soudha during the Open and Maja run in the inaugural Sunfeast World 10K marathon in Bangalore on Sunday 18th May 2008 (Left) as a woman poses and shows her thumps up sign while being photographed (right).

Some of the participants came dressed up for the occasion and ran to kill the onlookers but ensured that they did not slip on their way to completing the World 10K Maja run.

Some of the participants did not get deterred by their children or their pets but instead ensured that they complete the Maja run and get the certificate for completing the first World 10K Marathon.

The determination with which the garden city responded was just great as seen from the two pictures above where one got to see elderly people along with the blind and disabled not only participating but completing the run with sheer grit of any Bangalorean has.

Elite men runners speed through the streets of Bangalore in the inaugural Sunfeast World 10K marathon (left top), Zersenay Tadese from Eritrea and Moses Kipsiro from Uganda approach the Kantreeva stadium as they run in Cubbon Park with the majestic Bangalore Central Library building in the backdrop (top right) and then finish first and second respectively.

Elite women runners speed through the streets of Bangalore in the inaugural Sunfeast World 10K marathon in Bangalore on Sunday 18th May 2008 (top left), Elvan Abeylegesse (24) and Grace Momanyi of Kenya (27) lead the pack to the Kantreeva Stadium on Cubbon road, (top right) and then declared as the joint winners after the organizers could not get a photo finish picture to finalize the results.



Through out the event the traffic came a to a stand still and the daily commuters cheered the participants all along the 10 kilometers stretch heralding an new era of marathon running for the sport loving residents of the silicon city of Bangalore.

Jhabua the Land of Tribe's

Jhabua is a predominantly tribal district located in the western part of Madhya Pradesh. It is surrounded by Panchamahal and Baroda districts of Gujrat, Banswara district of Rajasthan and Dhar and Ratlam districts of Madhya Pradesh. River Narmada forms the southern boundary of the district.

The terrain is hilly, undulating typically known as 'Jhabua hills topography'. In this Jhabua hill topography the difference between the highest and the lowest points is varies between 20 to 50 meters. But this difference goes on increasing as we move towards south of Jhabua.

In Alirajpur division which is in the south of Jhabua the areas is almost entire hilly and intersected by narrow valleys and low Vindhayan ranges covered with jungles. But most part of Jhabua is without any forest cover because of low fertility of land and soil erosion even mere existence becomes a hard problem and with the failure of rains the Bhils take to crime.
Jhabua is sparsely populated area with the total population of 13.94 lakhs.

The total area is 6793 Sq Kms. There are about 1313 inhabited villages. Out of which 47 per cent of the people live below the poverty line. Thus, Jhabua is an overwhelmingly tribal and poor district. The district is devoid of vegetation cover except Katthiwada and other patches and is full of undulated, hilly areas.


The area suffers from poor and skeletal soils with shallow to very shallow depth and erratic rainfall , high temperature . This area has two tribes named the Bhil and Bhilala.

BHIL Tribe
The Bhils are the third largest tribe in India. In the state of Madhya Pradesh, they are prominently found in the Dhar, Jhabua, and West Nimar regions. Anthropologists believe that the word Bhil is derived from the Dravidian word bil or vil, meaning a bow.

Over a period of time, the Bhils have given up hunting, and have taken to agriculture. They use very primitive tools, and even their agricultural style is very simplistic.

Bhil villages are generally dispersed, and each village consists of thirty to forty families. They worship numerous Hindu deities, chiefly a deity by the name of Raja Pantha. Bhils also worship crops, fields, water, the forest, and the mountains.


The Bhil dialect consists of Rajsthani, Gujarati, Hindi, Marathi words, and also some unique words without any non-Sanskrit elements in it. Sawang is a popular form of entertainment among the Bhil tribals that consists of story telling combined with dancing and music. In the 1940s Uday Shankar tried to expose the performing arts of this tribe to the outside world.

Bhilala
Bhilala tribe is a tribal group located in the states of western and central India. They speak the Bhilala language which belongs to the Indo-Aryan linguistic family. The Bhilalas are descendants of the Bhil and Rajput immigrants.


The Bhilalas primarily work as farmers, farm servants, field laborers, and village watchmen. They grow crops such as millet, maize, wheat, and barley in the fields. The highlanders live in houses made with walls of sticks intertwined with twigs and small branches. Clay tiles, straw and leaves are used for the roof.

Each village is led by a head man, Mandoi, who takes care of the domestic disputes in his village. Familial ties are very strong, and they believe in the connection between the living and the dead. Male descendants inherit the property. The Bhilalas marry from their own class. For marrying into a different class, they have to convert to the higher class and leave behind all family ties. The Bhagoria festival of the Bhilala and other tribes in this area is unique in its own way.


This annual festival is celebrated with great fun and frolic, where a young man gets a chance to choose his bride from the crowd of women gathered there. The groom has to pay a dowry to the brides parents.

Bhilalas are known for their colorful, embroidered garments. Tattooing is very common among the villagers. Bhilalas love dance, drama, and music. They practice some type of ethnic religion. Hindu gods are worshipped commonly but catholic Bhilalas are known to exist in some states. Every family has its own guardian deity. Bhilalas are very superstitious and they believe in taboos and curses.

The Bhilalas are experts in handling the bow and arrow. The bow is a characteristic weapon of this tribe and they usually carry their bows and arrows with them. But with the change in technology they have started to use the double barrel guns.







The transport to these villages is by overloaded buses, jeeps, cycles and of course our last stretch will be by foot. Get ready to lose some weight if you do plan to visit these traibal of Jhabua but anyway one can still stay high on their toddy.