First question, and it's already a stupid question. STUPID I TELL YOU.

CHOTO PASHLA, India (AFP) - For some people, a poisonous snake hissing in their
courtyard is the stuff of nightmares. But in this sleepy village in eastern
India, the reptiles are welcome and abundant.

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The
village of Choto Pashla in West Bengal state has one snake for every two
residents, mainly the poisonous monocled cobra, a black reptile with a yellow
ring around its neck that can grow to seven feet (two metres) in length.

Such snakes are found everywhere -- in rice fields, ditches, muddy ponds
and even sometimes sunning themselves by houses -- and no one appears to fear
them.

"The poison-fanged reptiles represent a way of life in Choto
Pashla. People of the neighbouring villages are scared to come here," said Samir
Chatterjee, the local school headmaster, who has written a book about the
snakes.

"A recent count by the villagers found there are more than 3,000
snakes in this village of 6,000 people."

The Geological Survey of India
is studying the village to figure out why the cobras are flourishing there, an
official said.

"We wonder why a particular species of snakes is thriving
in this village," said the official, asking not to be named. "We are looking
into the topography of the village."

Local lore has it that the reptiles
first came to the little rice-farming village 130 kilometres (80 miles)
northwest of the state capital Kolkata en masse six centuries ago during a
flood.

The Hindu village began worshipping the snakes as the
representatives of a goddess and believe that their farms have consequently
prospered ever since.

"Women offer milk to the reptiles at midday when
the priest worships the goddess of snakes, Manasa, in the temple," said
Chatterjee.

When a snake dies, the villagers place it in an earthen jar
and then immerses it in the sacred Ganges River.

Still, apart from
feeding them and performing their last rites, the villagers do try to keep the
snakes at arm's length, or more.

"Our customs forbid us from touching
the snakes," said 25-year-old Dipu Majhi who was bitten by a snake nearly five
years ago while fishing in a pond.

Nearly a dozen villagers die of
snake-bite every year, locals say, with the village still relying on traditional
treatments.

"I was asked to bathe in the pond beside the temple of the
goddess of snakes and then a pinch of mud from the temple compound was rubbed on
the injury," said Majhi, a fish and vegetable seller.

"My hand swelled
but healed after a week."

Anti-venom drugs are available at some
hospitals in the state, but these may not be near enough for the villagers to
get to in time.

"It's a unique village where poisonous cobras are
co-existing with human beings," said Dipak Mitra, a herpetologist. Mitra also
runs a snake park in Kolkata with 700 species of the reptiles, and has visited
the village.

"It's simply incredible," he said.