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An Elephant’s Tale
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By Meera Ravi
s the summer heat dries up water sources deep inside the jungle, wild animals move closer to human habitation in search of food and water. Every year there are disasters arising from these encounters – sometimes, unintentional cruelty leads to horrible death for either man or animal. In the wake of some elephant deaths, we at Salaam Bahrain thought we would ask a local elephant owner resident, Suresh Vaidyanathan, what the real truth was about humans and pachyderms. Are elephants cruelly mistreated and over-worked in India as animal rights activists would have us believe? What is the relationship between humans and these majestic and almost mythical beasts with their mighty intelligence and sophisticated social behavior? “In Kerala, it is true that there is increasing encroachment of forest land by humans and this leads to elephant-human conflict,” Vaidyanathan, who has lived in Bahrain since 1975, said, “However, the elephant is revered as an aspect of Lord Ganesha and although the animal is used extensively for ceremonies and for work, there are very strict rules about its treatment and these are enforced by the wildlife and forestry officers.” Most of the accidents happen in summer – between May and July when the water sources deep in the forests dry up and elephants and tigers tend to come closer to human settlements in search of food and water, he said.
Temple gift Vaidyanathan had always nurtured a childhood dream to own an elephant and at one point he owned not one but THREE elephants! They were Megharjun, named after his children (daughter Meghana and son Arjuna). Since the elephant was gifted to the Sree Koodalmanikkam temple in Vaidyanathan’s hometown of Irinjalakuda, he is officially called Sree Koodalmanikkam Megharjun. The elephant is quite popular and often celebrities come to take photos with him as he is a magnificent tusker but has a gentle personality. “Megharjun is a Mysore-born elephant and his height will not go over 10 feet,” Vaidyanathan said, “He is particularly well-known for his beautiful, wide ears and has been nick-named ‘Thamara chevviyan’ or Lotus-eared one. Since he is a youngster, his personality is frisky and he can be naughty. He remembers people – especially those who feed him.” Although Megharjun belongs to the Temple, the management keeps Vaidyanathan in the loop about his welfare. Megharjun participates in all temple festivals in Kerala. The festival season is from mid-September of every year to the end of May – although this year there was a lull because most temples cancelled public gatherings due to COVID-19.”
Megharjun is a Mysore-born elephant and his height will not go over 10 feet.
The Vaidyanathans host Bahraini friends at their home Villa Al Bahrain in Irinjyalakuda.
The family also owned two other elephants briefly – Meghanathan was an Assamese pachyderm, a calm and gentle giant. Unfortunately, in the fifth year of his time with the family, Meghanathan was electrocuted during a monsoon storm. The death of the beloved elephant deeply upset Vaidyanathan and he found he could not concentrate on caring for his third pet, Meghavarnan. This tall and elegant Bihar elephant is today among the top ten elephants in Kerala and very photogenic. He is now owned by a friend of Vaidyanathan. Maintaining an elephant is no child’s play. “We do hire them out for temple festivals and with that income we can cover the expenses provided we get their food ( leaves /Aana Patta or palm leaves ) available freely from homes and nearby town lands,” Vaidyanathan said, “Monthly expenses roughly comes a lakh of rupees or BD 505.”
Forest police duties Elaborating on how seriously elephant care is taken, Vaidyanathan said, there are two elephant-owners’ associations, one exclusively for the elephants of Southern Kerala. These associations meet and participate in drafting laws for caring and training the elephants. “There are many rules issued by the Kerala Government wild life protection department and also strict laws for temple festival parades. The associations also have mobile vans and volunteers ready volunteers to take care if elephants get out of control in any festivals.” It is one of the duties of wildlife forest police and the District Collector to ensure the ‘working’ elephants are well-cared for. Each elephant carries a number chip near the neck area, so that at all times, the authorities can know all the details of the elephant. The Vaidyanathan family hails from Irinjyalakuda and after nearly four decades in Bahrain, they have a very large mansion in their hometown called Villa Al Bahrain. “I am the only person in the family to have owned elephants and my siblings – six sisters and three brothers – love them too,” Vaidyanathan said. Suresh and Radhika have a daughter Meghana who is married to Dr. Deepak and has a baby son, Rishi. Son Arjuna is a banker in Bahrain.