India, Sept. 20 -- Shiva temples have spectacled/Indian cobras woven into mythical iconography. Live cobras also "surface" mysteriously in shrines to kindle devotee fervour around the time of religious/cultural events. In New Delhi's Pusa institutional area, a cobra was rescued from the Shri Shiva Hanuman Mandir on Dev Prakash Shastri Marg recently. A genuine resident of the temple, it had been living quietly in the dark, cluttered storeroom and had gained impressive size and distinction of physical feature, indicating it was many years old. Storerooms and godowns often harbour serpents, who utilise the hideouts afforded by clutter. Rodents frequent the same haunt of disuse. For cobras and Russell's vipers, rodents are preferred prey, a delicacy much like 'kaala gulab jamuns' for humans! The temple priest spotted the snake and mistook it as a non-venomous rat snake. But choosing discretion over valour, he summoned the rescue team of Wildlife SOS. After methodically clearing and shifting a substantial amount of material, the team located the hiding cobra. "Despite the challenging circumstances and confined surroundings, the cobra remained unusually calm throughout the rescue operation allowing our trained team to safely secure and contain it. I assess that the cobra's calm demeanour was due to it being an adult. Like mature humans, who maintain a sober approach in critical situations, the cobra remained calm. Also, our rescue team is experienced and it handled the cobra with a deftness that ensured the snake did not panic and get aggressive. In contrast, juvenile cobras can be very aggressive," Baiju Raj MV, Director, Conservation Projects, Wildlife SOS, and a veteran snake rescue expert, told this writer. If not handled adroitly, cobras have wrapped the tail around the rescue personnel's hand/arm and leveraged the grip to deliver a bite. That said, a cobra is generally reckoned a ''good snake''. By resort to bouts of harmless hissing and flaring of hood, the cobra delivers ample warning to keep away. In contrast, a common krait will bite without a warning hiss or a pronounced display such as a flared hood. Even the viper will retreat into 'jalebi-like' coils and vocalise hisses so pronounced that they mimic a pressure cooker's warning whistles of being done with delicious 'rajmas' for lunch!...