Snakes

~ sotmar

-9 days until departure to Bangalore.

I recently joined a FB group called ‘Super Mums of India.’ Earlier this week the following post was shared with the group by a mum who is from Boston, but lives with her husband (who is originally from Bangalore) and 2 kids in Bangalore:

“The other day near our home a bunch of baby cobras hatched, which led to me to wonder what to do if a snake bites, I’m sure a lot of you already know but for those who don’t, this is a good read”

 Which was followed by a link to this article from Bangalore’s Citizen Matters:
“Dealing with snakes and snakebites: Deepa Mohan – Citizen Matters, Bangalore News
Snakes can be found quite commonly in Bengaluru. Here’s a quick guide to what you need to do in case you spot one or are bitten by one.
M.BANGALORE.CITIZENMATTERS.IN”
This post was commented on by several people who posted pictures of the snakes they had seen in their own ‘gardens’ AKA yards. One woman posted 4 pictures of 4 different types of snakes she had seen in her garden in one evening. She is joking, right? RIGHT???? My frantic replies about the prevalence of snakes in Bangalore and whether or not they get into houses were responded to with calm reassurances by the mums that snakes are much less likely to be in neighborhoods such as ours, Adarsh Palms, which are well maintained and without too many rats. What struck me most about this FB interaction was 2 things: 1) that these super mums of India were so calm and matter-of-fact about deadly snakes living among them (soon to be us?!?). 2) there was no mention in the article of how to KILL THE F–K out of these snakes when you see them. That’s frowned upon, apparently. Instead, you are supposed to call someone to come and remove them. You shouldn’t touch them in case they are poisonous. And there are 4 types of poisonous snakes in Bangalore.
So clearly I have snakes on the brain, and I have probably been too vocal about my snake warnings to the girls because Masan has had nightmares and Evie is only “a little bit excited to go to India” because of her concern about them. Last night I had a dream that I was in the midst of a group of family members who were standing around watching a snake do its thing. I was the only one who was terrified, and ran to another room. To prove the point that snakes are not dangerous, one member of the family (I am deliberately not specifying who  because Freud would have a ton to say about this) put a black snake in the room with me. I ran up on a desk, but this was some ‘Snakes on a Plane’ s–t and that snake could MOVE. It made a bee-line for me and bit me on both hands, right between the thumb and pointer fingers, which is the anti-inflammatory acupressure point of LI 4, which very interestingly is the point that removes inflammation and pain throughout the body. It was venomous, and I rushed myself to the hospital because Dan was working (thoughts, Freud?).
According to dreamscloud.com:
Sigmund Freud saw a snake as a phallic symbol and so it may represent a male figure that you find sexually attractive or threatening, depending upon how you feel in the dream. 
Ummm…maybe not. Because of what’s happening at the moment, I think Jung’s interpretation is much more relevant:

Carl Jung considered it to be a sign of transformation because it sheds its skin.

We are transforming our lives, our kids’ lives and our future for what is scary and unknown, but will also hopefully prove to be a great adventure. And it will change us in ways that we can’t imagine or picture right now. 

I could go into what a snake bite in a dream means, but that’s definitely enough psychoanalyzing for one morning, at least pre-breakfast and shower.

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