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| The Rashtrapathi Nilayam in Secunderabad. Picture by G. Vijayalakshmi |
Hyderabad, July 2: India may have outgrown the label of “the land of snake charmers” but when the commander-in-chief comes calling, it is best to summon all hands to the deck. Among the few hundred commandos assigned to protect President Patil during her stay in Andhra Pradesh this week are four snake charmers and a monkey catcher. Authorities in the Andhra capital have hired them to sterilise the Rashtrapathi Nilayam, the 90-acre presidential retreat in Secunderabad that was built in 1860 for the British regent. But the reptile-cum-simian shield is not more than 10 years old — all because four snakes had slithered past the iron-clad protocol of the Republic and sneaked into the premises during then President K.R. Narayanan’s visit. The state was then ruled by the Chandrababu Naidu government, the skin of which was apparently not thick enough to shrug off such a breach. Since then, the Nehru Zoological Park has been tasked with the hair-raising mission of protecting the First Citizen from unwelcome non-human guests. Monkeys used to be a menace even two years ago. The latest threat assessment suggests Patil can rest assured. “The situation is not that alarming this year,” said Waheed, the curator of Nehru Zoological Park. “Mostly, we found rat-snakes and some scorpions and no monkeys this year.” Still, zoo and public works officials are not taking any chances, given the heavy vegetation and open land around the presidential building. Workers have cleared shrubs and unwanted vegetation from the entire complex. Patil arrived today in Hyderabad to heavy security deployment because of the Telangana agitation. Two paramilitary companies and 200 civil police will guard her before she leaves for Mumbai on July 7 after a trip to Tirupati. A senior caretaker of the presidential estates division also has reassuring words for the President. The sightings of snakes have subsided, he said. “Since last year, we have commenced clearance of snakes twice a year,” the caretaker added. Still, it cannot be said with certainty that every conceivable chink has been plugged, especially since Patil had once disclosed she had had a conversation with the spirit of a guru when she was Rajasthan governor. So, will ghosts rush in where snakes fear to tread? A senior public works official said there was no record of any “haunting presence” in the complex. “But as part of tradition, we normally conduct some rituals a few days before the arrival of the VVIP to ward off any evil spirits and elements as is normally done in any government-managed mansions and bungalows,” the official added. “There is no set procedure in the protocol book for performance of such rituals but it is normally done,” said another official. A senior chef in the Andhra hospitality department, who has cooked for nearly every visiting President, had the last word — or hiss. “No bhoot (ghost) could dare to invade the land and premises of our saap (snakes),” he said. | 
