While posturing as censors of other peoples’ morals (never their own), these people should bear a hard fact in mind. Never in the history of the world has any government succeeded in stamping out prostitution or its moral sophisticated forms any more than prohibition has succeeded in stopping people from drinking. Paid-for sex serves a social need and attempts made to suppress it have only forced it underground with worse consequences. These self-righteous busy-bodies should also know that poor women who take to prostitution for a livelihood get less than half of what their patrons pay for their services. Big chunks are taken by pimps, madams who own brothels and the police. The police on whom the governments rely to clean up the dirt is knee-deep in the same filth. Our duty as citizens is to see that no girls are forced to take to prostitution. Treat them as we would our own sisters.

The Government of Maharashtra is on weaker ground imposing a ban on nightclubs. Girls who work there are not prostitutes or call girls. Some are respectable housewives with children or have been abandoned by their husbands. Dancing, singing and serving drinks is their only means of livelihood. What moral right has anyone to deprive them of their bread and butter? Hasn’t the state government more important things to do than to succumb to the pressures of fundoos and at their behest act as kill-joys?

Never, ever kill a snake; not even if it is venomous. Snakes never attack humans; they bite only when trodden on by mistake in the dark or when they feel threatened. Around 10,000 die of snake-bite every year. More die in road accidents and are bitten by mad dogs. Nevertheless, snakes are the most feared and loathed of God’s creatures. We should understand that if we killed all snakes, we will be over-run by rats which not only eat our crops but also cause plague epidemics. Snakes keep the rat population under control. In any case, of the 270 species of Indian snakes only four are poisonous — cobras, vipers, adders and kraits. There is no need to panic when you see a snake and go for it with sticks and stones; check yourself from this stupid knee-jerk reaction. Killing a snake is like killing any other of God’s creatures.

There are many myths about snakes. One is that they drink milk. Every Nag Panchami, thousands of gallons of milk are given to snake charmers who go begging for it in bazaars and marketplaces. They drink the milk themselves. Snakes only eat mice, frogs, lizards and small birds. Another equally prevalent myth is that cobras sway their heads to the notes of the been. As a matter of fact, snakes are stone-deaf. Cobras sway their heads to the movement of the been because they fear it will attack them; they often hiss and go for the been. More serious of these myths about curing snake bite is by the use of snake-stones which are said to suck up poison and these most snake charmers display. Snake charmers defang the cobras before they take them round for display. As a result, these poor toothless cobras can eat nothing and soon starve to death. How cruel can we be?

What is true about snakes is equally true of other members of the reptile family like crocodiles including alligators and gharials, lizards, turtles and tortoises. Left to themselves they preserve the delicate balance of nature. Their worst enemy is man. We have encroached upon their domains, depleted their number to near-extinction. However, there are a few people desperately involved in restoring the balance by breeding threatened species in captivity and restoring them to their habitats. The best-known among them was the bird-man Salim Ali, his nephew Zafar Futehally, his wife Laeeq and their daughter Zai Whitaker. It is best to start with knowing something about the reptilians. As an appetiser, I can recommend Zai Whitaker’s Cobra in my Kitchen (Rupa). It is lucidly written, full of real-life experiences with a touch of humour, lots of delectable verse and profusely illustrated by Suddhasattva Basu. It is meant both for the children and grown-ups. An ideal birthday, Eid, Divali or Christmas present. Take it from me there is nothing better on the subject for the sheer joy of reading and information.

Zai inherited her passion for nature from her parents Zafar and Laeeq Futehally and grand-uncle Salim Ali. It brought her into contact with Whitaker, an Indian-born Australian. They got married and have two sons. They set up a snake farm in the Madras Zoo and supplied anti-snake bite serum to hospitals. For many years they lived among Irula tribes famous for their skills as snake catchers. The diet of Irulas includes rates (also relished by Moosars of Bihar) and roasted termites. Snake meat is regarded as a delicacy as it is in China. I tasted it once in a Hong Kong restaurant. It was as delicate as delectable trout.

The Whitakers later set up a crocodile farm about 70 miles south of Chennai. They bred different species of crocodiles, alligators and gharials, protected against predators. The crocodile farm was soon full to overflowing. The surplus was sold to countries whose stocks had fallen to dangerous levels. The Whitakers were invited by foreign countries to advise them about preserving their reptiles. They spent a couple of years in Papua New Guinea. They attended world conferences on the preservation of wildlife. Back home, they organised parties of volunteers to prevent poachers from stealing turtle eggs laid in sand beaches of the Bay of Bengal and rousing peoples’ conscience against slaughtering turtles for food. We have much to be grateful for to Zai Whitaker and her family.

Pasted site-by-side inadvertently were two posters condemning dowry taking. One read: "Dulhan hi dahej hai" — bride herself is a dowry."

The other alongside read: "Dahej lena paap hai — to accept dowry is a sin."

An unmarried couple were making love. The girl asked her lover: "Will you keep loving me like this after marriage?"

"Of course", replied the boy, "provided your husband does not object."