The Malayalee's obsession with elephants.

Yet another temple elephant on the rampage in Kerala. See link, courtesy Kairali TV.
The video is gory to say the least. A young guy (the mahout ?) is thrown around by an
elephant, like an old rag. Once it is done with the guy, the elephant turns its attention to
another elephant, which it pushes to the ground and then tries to roll it over with its tusks.
Finally it pushes the poor thing into a building barely tall enough for the animal to fit in.

Elephants are an integral part of the Kerala psyche. And most temple functions cannot do without them. The Thrissur Pooram has quite a few of them lined up, amidst a big crowd of people and loud fireworks. BTW, the Supreme Court has recently banned fireworks at the Pooram, citing noise pollution issues. Not sure how exciting the Pooram will be sans the
fireworks.

It is a common sight in our town to see an elephant led along the streets with people offering
it coconut leaves, plantains etc. It is quite a sight actually with most of the small road blocked
by the majestic animal and even the biggies like buses, trucks etc giving way. The bell around
its neck can be heard from a distance and we would come to the gate to see the animal.

However, everytime an elephant runs amok, it leaves a bad taste in the mouth. Fingers are pointed at the drunk mahout who ill-treated it or who made it walk for miles to a temple function or overworked it etc.

Maybe it is time to take an hard look at whether we really need to have these majestic animals lined up in the temple grounds, standing for hours in the hot sun and amidst the din caused by loudspeakers etc.

I am not sure whether the rituals really call for elephants to be present. If not, it would be sensible to excuse these poor animals from our prayers to the Almighty. We would be also saving some human lives in the process.