KOCHI: TNIE photographer A Sanesh travels to Kodanad Elephant Training Centre at Abhayaranyam in Ernakulam district to meet the inhabitants and listen to their tales
Asha, 18
She fell into a well on private property near the forest when she was two. She was rescued and brought
to the Kodanad camp for rehabilitation
Peelandi Chandru, 43
Peelandi of Attappadi had once been branded a rowdy. However, the tribal people of the region still adore him. When he reigned supreme, raiding the farms of Attapadi, nine people lost their lives. It is said these deaths were caused by accidents during panic, rather than Peelandi going berserk. He, however, was captured and brought to Kodanad, where he is calm and enjoys his ration of boiled rice, horse gram, jaggery, grass, jackfruit leaves and melons.
Parvathy, 14
Parvathy was just six months old when she fell into a river, and got caught in a torrent. She eventually got trapped in a barbed-wire fence. The badly injured calf was nursed back to health at Kodanad
Hariprasad, 44
After going berserk near Poonkunnam railway station several years ago, the High Court ordered Hariprasad to be taken to Kodanad for rehabilitation. The elephant is generally calm but can get naughty at times, say his mahouts
Abhimanyu, around 40
Abhimanyu is blind, probably blinded by his earlier mahouts. Earlier this year, the High Court asked authorities to shift him to Kodanad after it was found that he was brutally tortured by his mahouts. Today, he is relatively calm, regaining a sense of peace that humans snatched from him
Sunitha, 49
She was brought to the camp from Muthanga while she was pregnant at the age of 19. She gave birth to baby elephant, Sunny, in 1991
Anjana, 14
When she was 1.5 years old, she fell into a well on a private property and got injured. She was brought to Kodanad for rehabilitation