[b]Village of Snakes[/b]

[left]Saperagaon isn't an ordinary Indian village- it's a village of snake charmers. In every house in the village there are a lot of poisonous snakes: vipers, kraits and cobras. Each of these snakes is poisonous enough to kill you, but the children love playing with them.
It's the beginning of a new day in Saperagaon. The sun is coming up. Twelve-year-old Ravi is happy because it's warm enough to wake the cobras. He opens the basket and a king cobra lifts it's head. It hisses and then tries to bite. ' it doesn't like waking up!' says Ravi, laughing.
The villagers use the snakes to earn money for food. 'every day we walk for 15 or 20 kilometers to the nearest town, 'says Ravi. ' we play music on the pipes and snakes dance. People enjoy the show, but they don't like paying. Each day I earn only 25 or 30 rupees.'(that's not enough for an ice cream in the UK.)
'There aren't many snake charmers in India now,' says Sanjay Nath, Rafi's father.
'Do many snake charmers die from snake bites?' I ask.
'No, not many.' Says sanjay, 'but that isn't the problem. We haven't got much money or food. It's too difficult to earn money. This is not a good life enough for my children. They go to school now. They're learning a different way to live.'
[b]