Featured image courtesy: BBC

A snake slides out of a bamboo basket, its scales catching the light. An Irula tribesman grips it gently, calm and focused. Within minutes, a few drops of venom fall into a glass vial — enough to save lives miles away.

This simple act carries enormous weight. Every year, India accounts for nearly half of the world’s snakebite deaths, according to the World Health Organization. In a country where thousands die from snakebites, anti-venom is survival—and it starts with this moment.

At the heart of this work is the Irula community. Once feared as snake........

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