Do elephants run? Scientifically speaking they don’t. All feet should be up in the air at any given moment for it to be defined as running. This doesn’t happen when elephants run. But they still ‘run’ or amble at high speeds. The speed could be over
40 kmph. Even Usain Bolt, the fastest man in the world, can’t outrun a charging elephant for long. So can a 12-year-old boy escape a charging elephant on a narrow road?
When strongman Arnold Schwarzenegger was chased by an elephant in South Africa, the news made the headlines. But even for him, there was no question of fight or flight. Flight was the only option. Now consider the plight of a young boy.
This incident occurred over half a century ago. I was returning from school. I was alone because I stayed back in school for our regular football game. My home was just a kilometre away.
The road was almost deserted. I was walking on the right side. It was a straight stretch. Then I saw him coming—a young male elephant. The mahout was on top. The elephant was some 100 metres away but on the road’s left side. Then I spotted an unusual thing. I still wonder how I spotted it then. The elephant was slowly, but deliberately inching away from the left side and towards me.
The next thing I saw was a charging elephant. It was coming straight at me. Even flight was not an option. And outrunning it was out of question. In those days compound walls were only mud walls unlike the high concrete walls of today. Luckily they were always poorly maintained and the place where I stood, there was a small gap. I jumped over the wall to a nearby field and ran with all my might. When I thought I was a safe distance away I stopped to look back.
What I saw was startling. The elephant was trying to climb the mud wall; both its front legs were on top of the wall. The mahout was completely at a loss as to why the elephant chased this poor soul. He somehow controlled the elephant and waved to me to quickly go away. When I neared home I saw my mother anxiously waiting outside. The story is that some months ago when this elephant passed our house, we children gave it plenty of fruits and the elephant relished them.
Now when it came near our house again he wanted the fruits, but there was nobody. My mother told me the elephant put a tantrum in front of our house. The mahout had a tough time controlling it. I was part of the children’s squad that gave the fruits and my mother was concerned that the elephant would meet me on the road! And we did.
Dr Titus Sankaramangalam
Email: drtitusjohn@gmail.com