The veil of the Tusker
In the spice-laden land of Kerala, there is an obsession the state and its statesmen share — elephants. At about 8–9 feet tall, this majestic animal is the monumental equivalent of the coastal state’s culture and age old traditions. If you happen to be in Kerala in the month of Medam (April-May), during which the very acclaimed Thrissur Pooram is celebrated, you can witness a grand display that includes lofty, decked up, caparisoned tuskers against an alluring backdrop of the Thekkinkaadu Maidanam, leading vibrantly colourful processions amidst all the mayhem and the firework barrages. Needless to say, the sight is extravagant and UNESCO has declared it as the ‘most spectacular festival event on the planet.’ However, over the years, this spectacle has outgrown the boundaries of Thrissur and the eventful month of Medam. In-fact elephants have become a necessary part of almost all events these days in Kerala that they have acquired a certain celebrity-like reputation over time.
From having been a status symbol in the feudal era to becoming the face of temple festivals and to remaining a defining mascot of Thrissur Pooram — the elephant has come a long way whilst giving form to the Malayalee’s secret cupidity. The grandees amongst the many star elephants, like Guruvayoor Keshavan(late), Pambadi Rajan, Thechikottukavu Ramachandran, Mangalamkkunnu Karnan and many, many more, who adorn/used to adorn the list of “Top elephants of Kerala”, have serious dedicated fan followings, active Facebook pages and wikipedia mentions to their credit. They are often invited to inaugurations, ceremonies and other functions that may need to gather up large crowds. They are also constantly nominated for various elephant honorary awards like — ‘Gajakesari’, ‘Gajarakthnam’, ‘Gajarajaprajapathi’ etc, following which the winner’s presence at events thereafter becomes a pricey affair. Even if the average elephant weren’t a ‘Gajaratnam’, simply parading it along the street would still draw people’s attention and admiration.
Recently however, an incident shook the haven of elephant lovers in Kerala and world over, when the death of a pregnant elephant from Palakkad hit the headlines…
There are still two contesting accounts to what occurred at Palakkad, and how it all did and should have played out…but look, sometimes details aren’t the crux of the matter, because at the end of the day, an animal still lost its life in a very painful way and that shouldn’t have happened.
Nonetheless, this very incident also prompts us to ask an even bigger question. Can parallels be drawn between the lives of the tamed and the untamed? Are the celebrity tuskers with their long names, titular designations and unparalleled stardom really living in an elephant paradise or are they much like their counterparts in the wild, being exploited at the careless expense of human behaviour?
The dynamic of abuse towards wild animals is particularly insidious. It’s not one thing, but many — trade, tourism, heritage-stays, adventure-rides and more! Even the yearning for short lived fame is a passable cause. A wild animal in your selfie apparently can make you a Joe Exotic or a Bear Grylls, atleast on Instagram! But this tendency isn’t just limited to wild animals really. And truth be told, even the entire pretext of compassion that comes to play when we see an account like that of the Kerala elephant’s, is extremely conditional. It’s just bits of a larger fallacious moral fabric, that otherwise blinds us from seeing the agony of animals in captivity.
The whole idea of capturing exotic or wild animals and forever imprisoning them or holding them captive for the mere entertainment of a public who couldn’t care less about animal welfare is in itself flawed to begin with and ideally there shouldn’t be any room for this kind of cruelty in a civilised society.
The Gajah report of 2010, released by the Elephant Task Force functioning under the Ministry of environment and forests of the Government of India, summarises thus — “India can secure the future for Gajah(elephant) and its forest home. It will be a challenge but one we possess the ability to surmount, provided we have the will to demonstrate the wisdom and deploy the means necessary.” That is well encapsulated, except it’s an age of irony, and wisdom is more hard earned than it should be. Morality only has the short life span that is offered by the changing continuum of the internet. It won’t be long before people camp to watch another full fletched pooram where the elephant’s miseries will be overlooked and will remain veiled behind its decorated Nettipattom!
