Tryst with Tusker

Dear Bhargavi,

Hope you don't mind my addressing you as such, I thought it sounded better than the alphabets 'knbg'! Congratulations on being nominated to the FP by SudhaKailas and others! After reading Sudha's recommendation of this post, I raced at once to read this and was more than impressed! Though my feedback is happening only now, this post and the pictures you painted with your words remains etched in my mind.

Elephants are awe inspiring. As a child, I used to watch them with amazement and regard whenever they were in the temple premises or walking the roads. They always looked kind and benevolent. This could be an Indian thing though as we are brought up to think of our Ganesha as the remover of obstacles and often offer bananas to elephants and get blessed by their trunks! Hence, it is difficult to imagine that the elephant could become some sort of obstacle in our way! Thankfully, your experience too turned into a pleasant one in the end after the initial apprehension. Just to imagine what an elephant herd could do if provoked makes me shiver!

You do write very well and glad to note that you intend to write about your impressions of North East life. I look forward to it.

Must add, though this was on a happy note, I was reminded of the very sad incident of how elephants were killed last year in a train accident. I think it was in Assam. That piece of news bothered me a lot and I was very saddened. I still think of that incident with a lot of grief. Elephants are magnificent creatures.

L,Kamla

 

Dear Bhargavi,

nice write up and you are lucky to have lived in such close proximity to nature and for having even met them in such natural settings! Elephants are such magnificent animals - just love them! Yesterday I was weatching a program on BBC about elephant poaching in Africa which said that some 100s of thousands of tonns of tusks were being smuggled into Asia and that alone had caused the death of 2500 elephants last year alone. I believe with more Asian immigration happening, this is only bound to increase :-( It wrenched my gut to see all those tusks being burnt! And when I read about the fact that driver stopped for the elephant to pass, it reinforce my faith in humanity! I am glad I could write a feed back only after watching that BBC segment - your snippet throws in a different light - of understanding & respect and appreciation of this Lrd Ganesha!