Meet Sathisha: Infosys executive by day, and snakes-wildlife specialist in free time

BENGALURU: While at work, Sathisha (52) manages infrastructure at the Infosys campus in Mysuru. Otherwise, he is a herpetologist, conservationist and a wildlife photographer.

The first time he rescued a snake was when he was 13. It had entered his house in Udupi and he lifted it with his hand when his family members were screaming in panic and released it in a farm nearby. It is another matter that he received a slap or two later from his father but the news spread far and wide. And, he started getting calls whenever people spotted a snake.

“I gradually developed interest in snakes and studied them in depth. That is when I realised that there has been a lot of myth and superstition around snakes,” said Sathisha, whose 320-page coffee-table book ‘My Journey of Discovery’ was released on Friday by Sudha Murty, chairperson of Infosys Foundation, and conservationist Ullas Karanth. The book captures 21 years of his wildlife experience.

In 2006, Coorg Wildlife Society published his book, both in English and Kannada, that demolishes myths around snakes. According to N Ravindra Kumar, assistant conservator of forests (ACF), Sathisha has rescued thousands of snakes, including many King Cobras .

Sathisha, born in Udupi, has been with Infosys for the past four years as regional manager (infrastructure). Before that he worked as warden and estate manager at Coorg Public School in Kodagu district. He remembers KM Chinnappa, a retired range forest officer (RFO), as the one who helped him learn the aspects of nature, and guided him in animal census, tiger tracking and camera-trap. He later worked under Karanth, who says: “In those days, we needed lots of youngsters to participate in conservation efforts. But 90% of people would disappear after a trip or two unable to bear the hardship. But very few, like Sathisha, endured and stayed on.”

While releasing hundreds of rescued snakes in Talacauvery forests, Sathisha was once bitten by a Russell’s viper. “I rushed him to a hospital in Madikeri and fortunately, he was alright and discharged the next day,” said Kumar, the ACF. The Infoscion also had a cobra bite in 2002.