The snake charmer belongs to the wandering class of people. He earns his bread by his shows and feats which we cannot do. He goes from town to town and does not stay at one place for a long time.
The snake charmer puts on a peculiar dress. He wears a large turban, a loose kurta and loose tehmad. You can see large rings on his ears and steel bangles on his wrist. He carries two baskets with him hanging on the ends of a long bamboo. He has a special type
of flute with him. When he enters a town he goes on playing upon his flute. The children hear the music and follow him to see snakes.
They persuade their mothers to stop him and show his programme. Then the snake charmer sits down on the ground and puts his baskets before him. He plays upon his flute for some time and then opens the basket. There are a number of snakes coiling together. He touches one of the snakes on the head and the snake at once raises its hood. It begins to swing from side to side as the flute moves this way or that way When the snake charmer takes his ' hand or flute very near to the snake, it strikes its hood furiously and makes a hissing sound.
The snake charmer shows his snakes one by one. They are of different colours and sizes. He sometimes lets them to craw! on the ground. This makes the children run away. Sometimes he puts a snake round his neck, then he goes from man to man begging for some amount of money. He talks to snakes and they seem to understand his hints.
Every snake-charmer says that he knows the mantras to bring a snake under his control. It does not seem to be true. of course, he keeps some herbs with him which snake fears and which makes
it gentle. He also knows the art of catching snakes. He takes out the poisonous teeth of the snake. The cobra is really a dangerous snake but without teeth and poison bag, he can do no harm to anyone.
The life of a snake-charmer is full of adventure. His life is always in danger. When a snake charmer fails to catch the snake at the right time, the snake bites him and he dies. Thus the snake-charmer deserves our sympathy.
I do not play hockey but I love to watch the game. And few occasions provide better hockey than the annual Sindhia Hockey Tournament at Gwalior.
Last Sunday I saw the final match of the tournament. It was a sunny day-the best weather games. A large number of prominent people and hockey lovers had gathered to watch the match. The Governor of Madhya Pradesh along with the Chief Minister and other high officials, was present there. All round the field, students and common public had gathered. The spectators were impatiently waiting for the match to begin.
The players took the field exactly at 4 p.m. The yellow dresses of the Jhansi Heroes presented a striking contrast to the blue and red dresses of the Bombay Eleven. Deep Chand and some other famous Olympic players were playing for Jhansi. On the other side the Bombay Eleven were the hockey champions of their province. I (once every body expected a very good game.
From the very beginning the game proved thrilling. The Jhansi Heroes were active and began their attack with great vigour. They showed the excellent combination and real team spirit. Their forward players combined well and passed the ball with great skill. Thus they were able to make repeated attacks on the Bombay Eleven who had to play a defensive game. The defence line of the Bombay was quite strong. Their centre half was a tower of strength for his side. Again and again, he had a tough contest with Deep Chand who would not easily get the better of him.
During the first half of the game the Bombay Eleven were hard pressed. After the half time the game began with fresh enthusiasm. Deep Chand, the captain of the Jhansi Heroes seemed rather vexed at the inability of his side to score. Now he decided to lead the attack. On the other hand the Bombay Eleven changed their tactics. Now they also began to attack fiercely For a few moments the game was extremely contested. At first seemed that Bombay Eleven would defeat their opponents. But soon it became clear that they were more or less tired. Moreover, they were individually good players, but lacked combination and team spirit.
The game reached its height during the last 15 minutes. Deep Chand carried the ball to the goal circle, passed it to right out who gave a hard hit. The ball went straight to the net. The spectators were wild with joy. Amar Nath Sharma who had given the lucky shot became the hero of the crowd.
Now the game became highly excited. The Bombay Eleven made every effort to score but Jhansi backs and half-backs put up a hard defence. They would not let the ball touch even their goal circle. Deep Chand scored another goal. This was a decisive blow. Now Bombay Eleven knew that it was all over. So the match ended in a victory for the Jhansi Heroes who received the gold trophy from the Governor.
