Bonanza Elephant Sightings

I still become absurdly, inordinately, thrilled and delighted whenever my path crosses that of an elephant. Even when I know I should expect to see them as they amble back to their basecamp at the local temple, I feel happy. Yesterday, however, I saw a few unexpected ones on the two hour trip to Kochi, and that added to the excitement.

The best sighting of all was during a monsoon-like downpour. One joyous elephant was aswaying, aweaving and abobbing, grinning his delight at this unexpected bath. The view was akin to watching young children throw themselves into the hilarious joy of puddle-jumping.

My initial thrill is always followed by a wave or sadness and remorse. To see the very noble and highly socialized elephant all alone, sublimated as man's beast of burden seems unfair and wrong.

And the elephants are rebelling, although I am not sure that it will ultimately work to their advantage.

While the rest of India burns from soaring temperatures, our little corner of Kerala has stayed relatively cool and soggy from all of the unusual rainfall.
This has resulted in more worms/millipedes/earwhigs being driven from the soil and hanging out on my front porch, and really vicious mosquitos, fortunately still free from the chikungunya virus. But more alarming is the spate of elephants running amok, killing their mahouts and anyone in their path.

This is being attributed to the early monsoon-like weather, which has caused them to musth earlier. When males (16-60 years old) enter this three-month cycle, they are highly unpredictable and can suddenly become violent. The catch-22 that makes them even more dangerous is there is no way of knowing that they are in musth until they go on a rampage. I fear that these magnificent beings will be unreasonably punished. I can only hope that the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals follows them closely.
Read more at The Hindu