KAYATTUVA: They have braved several encounters with wild elephants. And even though they say and believe that ‘elephants are intelligent and they will only resort to violence only if humans hurt them’ fear loomed large in their eyes. This constant fear has forced the families living here to shift their base from Kayattuva, which is a deserted place 2 km away by road from Paniyeli.
A year ago, 25 families used to live here. Each family has one or two acres of rubber plantation. However, there are only nine empty houses in the village now. Wrought to leave behind their only source of income, the settlers come back to the village at the crack of the dawn, tend to their land and leave before 5 pm as, usually, it is after 5 pm, that elephants swagger down to Kayattuva.
Thankappan, who stands barely five feet tall, is the only one among them who is not afraid of living there.
“I am not afraid of elephants. They won’t hurt me. I light a candle and place it in a bucket. This scares them away. They hurt you, when you hurt them,” he said. However, a few days ago, the brave-heart had to take refuge on a roof when an elephant chased him.
To reach Kayattuva, one has to traverse through the woods. Coco trees stand like sentinels on either side of the road. It is not easy to walk down the long winding path.
The information that jackals, deer and even sometimes tiger have been spotted along this route had us quaking.
The elephant menace started a year ago, said M M Binu, president, Vana Samrakshana Samithi. “The elephants who to cross the canal sometimes are not be able to return and it is then that they enter the village,” he said. Interestingly, till date, the elephants have harmed anyone. “But we can’t rely on their present behaviour,” said Eldho, while pointing out many huts which had been destroyed by an elephant.
“We can’t take the risk as we have children,” he said. But he is ready to come back if the government provides them electricity. “It will help reduce this menace to a great extend.”
Govindan had to shift his family as his newly wedded wife had a scare of her life when she saw a tusker standing at her door with its trunk raised. It devoured eight jackfruits from our jackfruit tree. “My wife told me that she would not have married me if she had known that she would have to live in such a place,” he said. While we were there, we were informed that an elephant is coming towards the place.
On our way back, we met ‘Mathai chettan’, who was on his way to a hospital where his wife has been admitted. We gave him a lift otherwise he would have to walk all the way out of the forest to board a bus.
He said, “I can not understand the MLA’s logic. He said development should be brought in thickly populated area. May be since there are only a few families here we still do not have electricity.”