At first glance, the photograph feels disarming. An elderly man, calm and assured, holds a snake with the ease of someone greeting an old friend. There is no bravado here, no spectacle. Just familiarity. The man is Romulus Whitaker, and this image carries decades of a relationship that changed how India understands snakes.

Whitaker’s story begins far from research stations and reptile parks. As a child, he spent hours watching ants through a magnifying glass, fascinated by their tiny disputes and alliances. That early curiosity grew into a lifelong........

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