It all started when he took a snake bite -- just for kicks. Disregarding all consequences, including possible death, some City youths are seeking their high from snake bites. A number of them (all of them teenagers) are now under psychiatric treatment to come out of the dilemma and trauma that followed.

Rohit, (not his real name) is 18-years-old and studies in Class XII. His struggle began when he was introduced to this "addiction" by a friend two years ago. "Although I had not heard of snake bites earlier, my friends dared me to try it and I overcame my initial revulsion and went ahead with it,'' says Rohit. He won Rs 50 on that little bet ... little suspecting that it was the beginning of an addiction that would ruin two precious years of his life besides turning him into a fearful, depressed young man under psychiatric care.

Another addict, Munish (not his real name), explained: "It's done like this ... a snake-charmer places the snake in a bamboo pipe or a hollow gourd and teases it until it strikes. You pay him for each bite." Like Rohit, Munish is a student and is trying to come out of the nightmare.

Dr Manjit Khurana, a City psychiatrist who has treated a few cases, describes his patients as "sons of well-to-do families; kids who had everything from their parents except time, care and attention. The first time was out of curiosity and as there was no one to check on their activities, they just got in deeper and deeper until their condition became critical."

All the cases reportedly had a history of tobacco and alcohol use though not of smack and other stronger intoxicants.

"We usually took the bite on the palm of the hand or the tongue. The experience in itself the sight of the furious snake, knowing it was about to strike was so horrifying that it put me in a kind of shock. I'd feel drowsy and just want to collapse. The `kick' lasted for some time but after effects were nightmarish -- fear of death, snakes coming after me -- became so great that all peace, concentration, happiness was lost. I could not study, I failed in exams and wasted one year. When my parents found out, it was unbearable. They were shocked and humiliated and I felt it very deeply. It is only with more than a year of psychiatric help that I have learnt to be little `normal' again,'' says Munish.