Krait

On visiting the General Hospital, on the morning of the 22nd of August, I was informed that one of the punkah coolies had been bitten about 8.30 p.m., the night before, by a krait, whose venom is virulently poisonous.

Now, if you run into one of these kraits, you better NOT run away else you're a goner. It'll catch you for sure and you will die in your tracks.

Very much in my thoughts is Joe Slowinski, a herpetologist killed a few years earlier by a misidentified juvenile krait, a snake so small that he couldn't tell if the fang had punctured the skin.

India has a healthy share of poisonous snakes, including kraits, cobras, and two species of vipers, yet Hindu traditions are overwhelmingly snake-friendly.