The
village patriarch with whom I eventually met can be found in a few of
the photos below. He is the gentleman with the long white chin-beard,
white robe, and red scarf. You can also see him in a clip from the
show below. Jewel knew the man and promised to help with the
arrangements. After a few phone calls I had a guide who would
accompany me from Dhaka and act as liaison with the locals.
Having
a guide proved to be most expedient as arranging all of this myself
would have been a colossal headache and potentially even more
expensive. I met my guide (Nayeem) near Dhaka University and we
quickly hopped on a bus to Munshiganj, a town very close to the
village of Rahmapatur (our destination). After arriving we hailed a
rickshaw and made our way to the village. It was there that I met one
of the most experienced snake handlers around, Shoporaj Dholu (he
served as mentor to the five blokes in Tough Guy or Chicken.
He spoke no English making my guide an invaluable asset).
