ALAPPUZHA: Krishnap rasad would soon know whether rearing elephants is easier compared to winning the confidence of the electorate. For Krishnaprasad, the LDF candidate in the Alappuzha Assembly constituency in the coming bypolls, is known for his ardent love for elephants.
However, unlike the average elephant-lover, he need not wait for the festival season in the neighbourhood temple to spot an elephant. He simply comes out of his house when he likes to see one, since three tuskers owned by his family are paraded in front of the courtyard.
The tuskers Seetharaman, Vishnu Narayanan and Chandran, have a real bonding with Krishnan (as is being called here). And he personally takes care of their needs.
Perhaps, his love for elephants is hereditary. Krishnaprasad’s grandfather adv. K K Krishnapillai, a native of Changanassery, was less a lover of elephants and the “dynasty” of elephants in the family goes back to his period. Krishnapillai owned a tusker named Narayanankutty.
When Krishnapillai passed away, Kirshnan’s father Gopalakrishna Panicker took over and looked after Narayanankutty.
Panicker settled at Kottoor in Alappuzha after marrying K K Seethamma.
Panicker shared his father’s love for elephants.
He started to sent his elephants to attend festivals across the State and also lend them. It proved a profitable business and soon became the major source of income for his family. Panicker’s two children Krishnaprasad and Praseetha were literally brought up amidst elephants which proved to be their biggest friends. Krishnaprasad had a special love towards Narayanankutty brought up by his grandfather.
The family, however, had a painful separation from the beloved elephant when they sold it around 10 years ago. Panicker claims that a contractor who took the elephant for a festival on lease deployed Narayanankutty for other jobs in contravention of the understanding.
The contractor, Panicker said, filed a case against the family in connection with the incident.
“The judgement was in our favour.
But we went through a lot of pain at that time,” he says.
Though the family regained possession of Narayanankutty, they decided to sell it. It was a very painful decision, he says. “Krishnaprasad and I often go to see him,’ says Panicker.
At present, Krishnaprasad finds time to attend to the elephants and their mahouts. The question is what if he becomes an MLA.
Whether he wins or losses the electoral battle, Krishnan should consider himself lucky. For a couple of decades ago, he could not have dreamt of winning the candidature of the Left.
There was a time when party of the working class would have called someone like him who owned not one but three elephants a bourgeois.
Perhaps, that’s what one calls the “shift in ideology.”