Snake Shyam

Shyam was born to M.R.Subbarao and A.Nagalakshmi Mirle in Cheluvaamba Hospital, Krishnarajanagara, Mysore State, now in Karnataka, India.^[11] He demonstrated his interest in snakes at an early age, when a snake invaded a neighbor's home. After convincing those around not to kill the snake, he caught it and released it into the garden. From this incident, he earned his nickname.

By profession, Shyam was a driver, transporting children to school, but beginning in 1982 he began to be frequently called upon to retrieve snakes that had encroached on people's properties, a job for which he receives no pay.^[5][11] Called multiple times each day, Shyam uses a pillowcase and a badminton racquet without strings to net the snakes, which he then releases into the forest.^[5] Though his avocation to safely remove these snakes has cost him considerable expense, Shyam continues from the desire to see these snakes released rather than killed.^[8] Recently, authorities in Mysore have offered to defray some of Shyam's expenses by paying his telephone bills.^[3]

In 2004, he estimated that he may have caught and released over 40,000 snakes since he began in 1980;^[5] as of February 2008, the official record, which he began in 1980(Unofficially he has caught nearly 40,000 Snakes between 1980-1997), was 11,755.^[3] Though Shyam has only been bitten four times in his rescue work,^[3] he has developed an allergy to antivenin, which requires that he exercise great care in handling snakes.^[8]

His knowledge of snakes—he can identify 28-30 local species of snakes—is founded on personal experience, but supplemented by reading the works of or speaking to professionals such as Romulus Whitaker, J.C. Daniel and faculty at Mysore University.^[5] Shyam's van features paintings depicting snakes and also displays his slogans: "Snakes are not as poisonous as human beings" and "Care for the rare".^[8]

Snake Shyam was elected to Mysore City Corporation in the elections held in March 2013, sponsored by the BJP.^[1] In August 2018, he was expelled from the party for "anti-party activities" and chose to contest as an independent, unsuccessfully.^[4][12]

In 2019, he completed another record by catching 32,000 Snakes.