The surprise element in the three-day Ratnagiri mountaineering camp organised by Nature Knights was the ‘Snake familiarisation’ session by the Ratnadurg Mountaineers. For some of us, it was a pleasant surprise while for others it was perhaps a dreadful one. A bagful of snakes. All captured/rescued from the human habitat around Ratnagiri town, and ready to be let out to the forests. The session was to make us, the city folks, understand and appreciate the ‘other’ friends around us. There were a few varieties of them. Some of us touched them, felt them, and almost all of us allowed the…