Charmed to Meet You, I'm Sure

To the left, we have a picture of the happy groom. Yes, groom. Thirty year old Bimbala Das of Bhubaneswar in Orissa state married the cobra in a ceremony attended by 2000 guests. Her mother was thrilled. The family is from a lower caste, and the mother has two other daughters and two sons to marry off. No doubt the snake's family didn't even demand a dowry, which must have been no small consideration to her mother.

The reluctant snake refused to come out of the ant hill in which it lives, so a brass snake was used as a stand-in. The woman had been sick, and started leaving milk for the snake to drink by the ant hill, then fell in love with the snake when it "cured" her.

After the wedding, Bimbala moved into a hut near the ant hill.

Another girl in the Vaishnav sect was married off earlier this year to a dog. Now, I have nothing against animals. I love cats and dogs, and most wildlife, except maybe deer, rabbits, and chipmunks that destroy my garden, but I can't help thinking that a real live man might be a little cozier between the sheets.