KOCHI: It’s pooram season in Kerala. Invariably, this also means elephants. No temple festival is complete without a majestic line of pachyderms, caparisoned in gold. There are more than 7,000 temples in the state, but only 400 captive elephants to cater to festivals.
This is precisely why trucks carrying elephants on Kerala roads are a common sight. This journey to faraway temples would have been bearable for the elephant had it been accompanied by its mahout, with whom the jumbo has formed a bond. However, things are not as rosy as before.
Mahouts change more frequently than before, making it a struggle to form a bond with the beast. To make the elephants obedient quickly, most mahouts resort to violence.
So, the big question: isn’t a free-roaming wild elephant in its natural habitat more majestic than a captive one?