The Elephant Whisperers

The message from Shruti (my colleague n friend)was brief 'Tomorrow is World Wildlife Day). Obviously the idea was a trigger to think of a campaign.

Which set me thinking - if I were to do something what would that be.

I am sure we will see many dramatic press / TV / social media advertising talking about how wildlife is getting affected by rise in pollution, felling of trees & hence disappearing of many species from the planet. 

But what would create ‘wonderment’ in my children, friends, family so that we can take home a  castaway cat / dog or give food to a deprived dog in our bylane rather than chasing them.

As I sat thinking I recollected the documentary which I have been promoting to all my friends, children & family.

The Elephant Whisperers on Netflix

The documentary was filmed in the Theppakadu elephant camp in the forests of Mudumalai Tiger Reserve in Tamil Nadu. It follows Bomman and Bellie, middle-aged baby elephant caretakers who belong to the Kattunayakan tribe and their unique relationship with Raghu and Ammu, baby elephants separated from their herds. 

It was one of the most immersive experiences of last year. Unlike other wildlife documentaries which are great to look at because of their unique & never before seen exposure of the animals, this was about a relationship & trust built by a parent and child belonging to 2 different species & their unconditional love.

The film runtime is only 39 minutes, but in this 39 minutes you would have seen:

#unconditional love from a human being on a baby elephant - the other way round is of course given and stated many times over

#team spirit between 2 people thrown together 

#growing up tantrums 

#harsh reality of life when love is also followed by separation

&

# elephants playing football & doing all the tricks you would have seen in many Hindi movies.

If this does not move you to be kind, I wonder what will.

Is Progress equal to 8% growth in GDP?

I just finished reading “A fine Balance” by Rohinston Mistry. It has been in my “to read” list for a long time. Thanks to my frequent travel I could finish the book in 4/5 sittings. It was a book of shocking human endurance and to borrow from Obama an audacity of hope.

3 thoughts came to my mind.

One as someone who loves to write – “how can someone describe the scenes in so much vivid detail”. Especially, if the author has left the city and stays in some other country. I have stayed in Mumbai, so I could relive the city through the pages of the book. As I read the book it was more like screen play – because I could literally pick the characters from my Mumbai stay and visualize them. It’s an art, I am still quite at a loss. Maybe I will give it a shot by writing a scene from my college.

Second as someone who loves India - “we know/appreciate so little about our past/history/heritage”. I do not know if it’s an Indian phenomenon or it’s just about me being dumb but reading through the travails of Om & Ishvar during emergency days I felt the events described in the book were not very different from what we have read and seen about Nazi ghetto camps. But while tons of books / movies have been made about Nazi but Emergency which I guess played an important role in Indian politics is not something we have read much about. Emergency is just an example but even our history is taught in the LIFO principle – last in first out. The relevance is limited to passing the exams or maybe at another extreme is the politicization of our ideals which leads to an unfortunate event like Babri Masjid demolition.

Third as someone who is part of the new India – on our so called “great Indian growth story”. “A fine Balance” is story of 4/5 characters during the time of emergency that is 1971. We are in 2011 that’s 40 years from the time when the story was written but I am quite sure that we can change the names and the entire story could be happening now. If I walk down Dharavi or any other slum I am sure I can find beggar-master who maims child so that they can beg, migrant workers who have left everything and keep doing odd jobs to survive, public toilet / station as their home etc etc.

I was also reading somewhere that 45% of India does not have electricity, clear drinking water and does not get basic health & education. If we think realistically I can explain that yes India has progressed to – create Infosys, Metro in all metros, commonwealth games, CEO’s, best Institutes where people from all over the world come and study.

It makes me feel proud being an Indian but it also forces me to question whether we have really progressed if half of our population is still living 50 yrs behind.