God's Forsaken

As a kid, family trips invariably meant trips to temples in Kerala with the Krishna temple at Guruvayur being the most popular destination. My fascination for elephants probably started there. Stories of Guruvayur Kesavan and the sights of the fully caparisoned elephants during the temple rituals captivated me. I would stand spell bound and watch these giants for hours together, prayers to the gods were almost an afterthought. The sight of an elephant was always the highlight of any trip to Kerala. Until recently a trip to Guruvayur temple to watch the night “shiveli” was my idea of a spiritual reset. The combination of the traditional drumbeats, the wicker lamps and the caparisoned elephants always mesmerized me. The local temple “pooram” was also the high point of my summer vacations at my granny’s place. Twenty plus elephants lined up, with the tallest one carrying the god/goddess, the spectacle was magnificent enough for me to believe that even the gods were having a grand time. The Thrissur pooram has for long been considered the “pooram of all poorams” and it has always been on my mind to witness this event as well. So when I realized that the day of the pooram coincided with my trip home with some friends, I decided to make that trip to Thrissur. Much has been published about this event and a simple web search would provide as much information and photographs as you ever care to see. This post really isn’t about the Thrissur pooram.

I am a self-professed animal lover. I also eat all kinds of meat, I have murdered fishes by the hundreds as part of my tropical fish-keeping hobby, and I have owned and continue to have a fascination for purebred dogs. My life’s ambitions include owning a pet store. I have always sensed the obvious contradiction, but haven’t had the will power to resolve them or question my primary premises. Until now.

I enjoyed the Thrissur pooram just as much as anyone else standing in that multitude of people did. In fact I walked away feeling quite privileged to witness to such a wonderful spectacle. What first set off the fuses in my head was news of one of the elephants collapsing due to sheer fatigue in the middle of the pooram. The next was probably the sight of an elephant on a lorry during the drive back home. I spent the next day looking up the general conditions of domestic elephants on the web. What I found has left me appalled. In truth though, what’s shocked me even more is that I always knew these things existed but did nothing about it. I mean, was I naïve enough to just assume that the temple elephants were just born this way? Had I never seen an elephant being punished by his mahout? Had I never read newspaper reports of elephant deaths at the hands of drunken mahouts? Like all other contradictions in my life, I just chose to ignore inconvenient facts. Mea culpa. Mea máxima culpa.

The following videos are extremely disturbing.

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I am now forced to ask myself what was so spectacular about the sight of elephants lined up pressed to each other for hours together in the sweltering heat, chained with heavy irons and prodded by their mahouts, listening to sounds and noises that distress them and carrying a bunch of people who keep waving some umbrellas and other colorful items. Spectacular perhaps, if the intent was a demonstration of man’s might. Shameful surely, if the intent was to celebrate divinity. Man does much in the name of the Gods, but if a God’s sense of festivities did in fact require activities of this nature, one would have to do a rethink on all matters divine. I am tempted to condemn mankind and its cruel ways. But of what use is condemning myself. I may have not been the prime perpetuator of many of these atrocities, but was I not an essential part of the charade?

I am confused right now. It will be a while before I can make sense of what I feel and decide on what I can do about it. For now I do know that the night shiveli at Guruvayur will no longer be a spiritual reset. They maybe denizens of God’s own country, but for these four legged giants on duty divine, God’s forsaken might be a more apt title.

An animal lover I can call myself no more. At least, not yet.

Tiger Tiger Burning Bright...

It is the Chinese year of the tiger. And yet the year started with Billy Arjan Singh, passionate tiger conservationist, creator of Dudhwa Tiger Reserve and my personal hero, passing on to the happy hunting grounds. It is also the year when I had the privilege of encountering the Royal Bengal in his home range at Bandipur – a moment that will forever be etched in my mind. I can’t quite figure out when my love for animals started. As a kid, I was guilty of committing innumerable acts of cruelty on all things small and living with many ants, beetles, lizards and other such denizens of my garden being at the receiving end of my war games. I was also terrified of dogs with “Japan” my landlord’s dog and “Jimmy” the neighbour’s crazed dog being the prime antagonists. Somewhere, somehow, all that changed quite dramatically. It could have been the temple elephants I was fascinated by and felt sorry for during my trips to Kerala. It could have been “Shiva” and “Parvathi” the pair of lions and their cubs at the Coimbatore zoo. It almost definitely involved “Puppy”, the Labrador retriever owned by the Coimbatore prison jailor. There were books by Jim Corbett, Kenneth Anderson and James Herriot and the Walt Disney movies “A Tiger Walks, “The Bears & I”, Free Willy”. And then a memory that stands out…the book section in Reader’s Digest titled “Eelie and the big cats” from the book by Billy. The book describes his tales with Tara – the tigress, Prince, Harriet and Juliet – the leopards and Eelie – the adopted stray that ruled the roost. I was captivated. I wanted to be Billy.

One of the items on my bucket list has been to meet Billy and as I reflected on my New Year resolutions in December 09’, I resolved to make an attempt to go to Dudhwa this year. I’ve been living life on the mindless fast lane for the last few years and in many ways had let my heart trail my mind. It therefore hit me quite hard to wake up on Jan1st 2010 to the news of Billy’s death. I have never believed in coincidences, and I felt the universe’s nudge once again. The heart began to assert itself over the mind and I resolved in all earnestness to keep it that way.

I’ve been visiting tiger reserves for a decade now, and had never spotted a tiger before. But when I set out on the safari on an early, misty February morning in Bandipur, I somehow felt that the moment was right. On cue, “Agasthiya”, the 12-year resident male majestically and almost magically appeared. To many, sighting a tiger in the wild might be just another exciting experience, but at the risk of sounding dramatic, in a very inexplicable way that moment meant much more to me. There are truly no coincidences. Thanks Billy! I will always hear you roar. And I will always remember what you said, “If the tiger goes, we go too…”

I may have found a calling in life…

Vision 2010

And yet another year ends and yet another one begins…here are a list of things I intend to do before 2010 ends.

Mistletoe: Bring to life what I have had in mind since my 3rd grade summer vacations at gran’s place and every time I read an Enid Blyton…my own farm! The plan is to buy or lease some farmland at Ottapalam, Kerala. From simple paddy cultivation to high end organic farming to a dairy farm, there is a wide range of options! I get to try my hand at solving the food problem and I get to provide employment to three people who were a BIG part of my childhood! Operational Status: Feb 2010

Amazon: Dedicated to all the “Oscars” I reared! For the uninitiated an Oscar is a popular and intelligent aquarium fish with its origins in the Amazon River. The plan is to set up my own pet store in Coimbatore and change that landscape forever. Create a whole new “experience” around rearing a pet! Finalize business model: June 2010, Operational Status: Oct 2010

Ironman: Two years ago I got myself a Lego Mindstorm NXT robo kit to build on what A and me started off at the Robotics lab in Pilani. This year’s acquisition list includes the Mindstorm V2. The plan is to build myself a couple of “intelligent bots” with operational capabilities that include fetching beer from the fridge. V2 Acquisition: Jan 2010, Robolab Set Up: June 2010, Beer Test: Sep 2010

Roar: Get involved with an organization that is fighting to save what is left of India’s wildlife and forests. Do everything I can to keep the 1400 wild tigers in India from going extinct…because if the tiger goes, we go too.

X: Work on coming up with two viable business plans…Dec 2010

Fighting Fit: Continue to build on the health focus from 09’, run at least 20km a week, gym thrice a week, eat healthy and sleep 7 hours a day. 70kgs of a tough lean fighting machine by December 2010.

Family “pack” to be made up of two german shepherds and me…June 2010

Travel to at least one of these three places – Ranthambore, Dudhwa, Kazhiranga

Travel to one new country on personal time and money