17 Elephants

Circa 1980, Aanayootoor, Kerala.

The day Lakshmikutty and Narayani gave birth, Shankaran became a father of two baby elephants. Vincent, who holds responsibility of Shankaran was the dearest mahout in Aanaveedu stable that housed 17 elephants. A count that cannot be altered.

Early members of Aanaveedu family had comitted themselves to be the guardian of 17 elephants in tribute to the herd that saved their kin from dacoits during one of their expedition in forest. Whenever an elephant breaths its last, after 7 days of mourning, youngest baby elephant would be inducted into the stable. One baby elephant other than the 17 were kept in reserve within the compound of Aanaveedu.

Every year, in the month of August, 2 days after full moon all elephants along with members of Aanaveedu came together and paid their respects to the herd of 17 and their ancestors who encountered dacoits and came out successfully finding cure to a disease that prolonged to alienate humans in the village. Paintings and carvings in their temple complex dates the story to atleast 200 years, which also mentions the incident to have garnered respects of native villagers for aanaveedu family in that time.

Unchained elephants with no burdened decoration or any mahout steering them with their pointed sticks and pure sheer of watching the jumbos rallying in honor along with respects for the family who once saved their village was a treat for hundred's of villagers who gathered every year.

Vincent, the chief mahout of stable grew through ranks when his father Mathai was still the chief mahout. It was Shankaran's love for vincent that influenced Balan to appoint him as the chief. Balan was the head of trustees who had charge of stable management. With the birth of two baby elephants when Aanayootoor rejoiced, reasons were many. Two baby elephants being born on the same day and them being the kins of stable's favourite trio Shankaran, Narayani and Lakshmikutty were top of it. Everyone who visited the stable never missed an oppurtunity to witness Narayani and Lakshmikutty taking turns to steer the herd whenever they went for a walk in Aanaveedu's huge coconut farm inspite of being the youngest in the herd.

Happiness was short-lived as soon as tradition came into discussion. There were two baby elephants now and they could house only one. Vincent had to choose. Both of them belonging to Shankaran made the choice tougher for vincent. During the naming ceremony, with elephants trumpeting in the background and gathered villagers rejoicing baby elephant's coming to life, vincent named them Julie and Sara. Narayani's baby will be Julie and Lakshmikutty's baby, Sara.

None among the gathered, even for a moment thought about next day, which would be the last for one of them in this stable. Julie and Sara soon went back to their stables after the ceremony. Vincent followed them with teared eyes. Balan and others from the family could do nothing to console him. Mathai, who no longer worked in the stable tried comforting his son, but failed. Vincent along with his family spent the entire night in his mahout shed looking at the trio celebrating the day like another day with their babies.

Nila and Shanku, named after the trio were mischievous enough to not listen to their father's warning of not nearing the stable. Vincent fell asleep in some time and taking advantage of the opportunity Nila with her younger brother crawled to the stable. Not a lot of people were allowed near the babies when Shankaran was around because of his over possessiveness over baby elephant's.

Before Nila could hush her brother, shanku caressed sara over her back and accidentally touched Shankaran's trunk. Perplexed shankaran reacted swiftly by curling his trunk with a sudden trumpet roar scaring shanku and nila. Vincent was too far to reach both of them. His wife readily bent on her knees and pleaded lord to spare her children. Before anything could happen Narayani forced her trunk over Shankaran's and kept him calm signalling no harm from the children. Few minutes later emotions unfolded as shankaran pushed sara towards the door where shanku can caress her more closely. Lakshmikutty exhaled like an unrythemic saxophone and they turned around for the kids to play with sara and julie.

5 minutes of horror scared every other person who witnessed the situation. But, a new bond unflurred there between Nila, Shanku, Julie and Sara.

Balan who walked to the mahout shed, hinted on the decision of retaining Julie in stable.

With this decision Sara could spent only one year in this stable, murmured Vincent to his wife. Neeli comforted him and they forced themselves to sleep worried about decision they have to make on the next day.

Chuckles, murmers and broken trumpet sound filled the night as Julie, Nila, Sara and Shanku bonded for life..

Raju, Suren and Sulaiman woke up in the early hours  next day and prepared themselves for the daily routine. They began with walking elephants from the stable to nearby pond where they'll have their regular bath. Vincent woke up late that day after spending a restless night fighting within himself about the decision he had to take. Shanku and Julie who were already awake accompanied baby elephants to the pond. Vincent woke up to see a family of seven walking down the lane with Narayani, Lakshmi flanking the sides while sara walked next to nila and shanku walked with julie. Shankaran followed slowly guarding the herd from behind. 

From Balan's hint in the previous night, Vincent realised, Julie which was born first would be retained in the stable while it would be Sara walking out of the compound.

As the sun rose above those dense coconut leaves, an idea finally dawned. Vincent conveyed the thought to his wife and his wife nodded in affermation. They left home, directing raju to be around the babies until he comes back. Neeli instructed Nila and Shanku to be home at the earliest for them to get ready to school and accompanied Vincent.

Trustees of Aanaveedu were coming together that day to select the 18th elephant that would be retained in compound. Balan waited until all mahouts were free. Vincent unflurred a neatly folded check shirt and wore it with his favourite white dhoti bordered with narrow black strip stitched with thread. Neeli held his hands firmly and shook it once, nodding her head with her eyelashes closed. Mathai, sitting in an arm chair never interfered in any of this while Vincent left the house as a confident young man. 

Meeting convined when all of them breaked the day to rest. As soon as Balan pronounced, Julie will stay. With no time spared, Vincent came forward to say, he will take care of Sara. Fellow mahouts clapped with joy. Balan did not react, neither did any of the trustees. Before anyone could speak, vincent agreed to pay the amount that they expect to get from the sale. Assuming, trust would have come to a consensus to sell Sara. 

Aanaveedu cannot sell any of its elephant unless wealth dwindles below prescribed threshold and thats a mandate, one of the trustees explained. 

Balan, other trustees and mahouts unanimously agreed to Vincent's proposal. Committee's alternate plan was never told in that meeting and soon later everyone behaved like handing over to Vincent was their alternate plan. Mahouts returned back to rest as their meeting was about to end. Few decisions were made after they left. Some were pronounced loud, some written in papers. Cancelling the proposal of handing over sara to forest department and retaining her until she's 1 year old were among them.

Elephants in the stable exhaled a puff of cool breeze one after the other as they tore down chunk of coconut leaves and stuffed into their mouth. Their wagging tail were in rythm with their fanning ears and they moved their legs in sequence, left front, right back, right front and left back. Mahouts supervised their routine sitting at a distance, placing long sticks behind the fanning ears of an elephant. The sticks deonted mahouts assertion over elephants to keep them in control. Vincent from a long distance signalled for assistance to carry buckets filled with big rice balls that is to be fed for the elephants. As a chief mahout, he was in charge of preparing rice canons. Narayani and Lakshmikutty rumbled in excitement looking at Vincent walking towards them.

Sara and Julie never stopped playing throughout the day and Shankaran always accompanied them. He looked really tired with all running and chasing with the calfs. To see a eleven feet tall tusker helplessly trying to chase down calfs who took advantage of the gap between his legs, escaping Shankaran's trunk hold was a treat for residents of Aanaveedu. 

A perimeter was set close to the stable for calfs to play around within the compound. Trying to grip big inflated balls with their wobbling trunk was a challenge that gave them joy while their love for skating into the pond on their flat belly attracted onlookers. They ran around the perimeter with a shaky trunk, beginning to give out unsynchronized trumpet rumbles as days passed. Older elephants in the stable had slowed down. 

A year went by before they could realise. Julie and Sara were now 1 year old. Everyone in Aanaveedu had almost forgot, it was time for Sara to walk out. It was August again. All 18 elephants had completed their annual medical check ups and rejuvenating treatment. None of them had musth and were certified to be ok for their revered annual function. 

Neeli and her kids accompanied Vincent to Aanaveedu for preparation of the ceremony. Balan had invited them for lunch that day. Over the dining table they agreed upon walking Sara home once the ceremony is over. Senior members who had gathered for family lunch were not as excited as they used to be every year. 

It is the first time in my life time that I see an elephant having to be walked out of Aanaveedu, Paru amma mumbled. Everyone maintained absolute silence when the oldest member of Aanaveedu family spoke out. Neeli affirmed Paru amma, Sara will be taken good care of. Aanaveedu trust beleived, there could be no better person than Vincent and his family to take care of Sara, considering their long association with Mathai who chose to stay with the family inspite of being a intermediate graduate from Kerala University just for his love for elephants. 

Ceremony concluded with 17 Elephants trumpeting, looking at the sky with their stretched head. Tuskers came in full glory as people who gathered chanted "arpoo" while female Elephants trumpted at their highest pitch. Clueless Sara and Julie jumped in joy rumbling unevenly, raising their front foot causing a thud on the floor everytime they fell. Members of aanaveedu and the elephants picked garland from the floor placed infront of them and threw it to the sky marking end of ceremony tributing their ancestors. 

Balan threw his garland to the sky with full force and came down falling, breaking down like a child. Absolute silence followed as Vincent walked towards him. 

Everyone except Sara and Vincent paraded back to Aanaveedu post the ceremony. Some sense of understanding was evident with the behaviour of Shankaran, Narayani and Lakshmikutty which no one anticipated for, as they walked half way before pausing to look back once. Julie walked with the rest of family members behind 17 elephants symbolising next of kin.

As Neeli replaced Sulaiman and the kids replaced Vincent for Sara in no time their's became a family  of 6.  Mathai's age old tatchet hut had a door big enough to let the two year old Sara wander around in their large hall. For the first few days Shankaran ignored Vincent whenever he came into the stable and it took a lot of pacifying to win back his trust. Balan and trust members who once thought, Vincent is the best mahout they have ever had started going back on their thoughts as well being of elephants raised eyebrows of trustees. Julie adapted to a life without Sara in no time while their routine became monotonous. Aanaveedu was now just another stable. 

Aanayootoor came together every year for annual functions and the glory of Aanaveedu skyrocketed with incoming of radio in every household.

A large traditional pond that seperated Aanaveedu's compound from Vincent's land became a meeting point for Julie and Sara everyday as they walked for their regular bath. Elephants on the other side never forogt to sigh a trumpet as they saw sara sliding down through muddy slope to crash in the pond. One such day, when mahouts were busy collecting leaves for elephants, Suren, screamed with excitement alerting others to look towards the pond.

Sara followed by Nila and Shanku slid into the pond one after other and started swimming across like if they were in a competition. Julie joined them as they reached the other side. Four of them swam in tandem, back and forth until they were tired whilw their wagging trunk clinging on to each other explained their camaraderie making it a sight for all who gathered there.

Nila and Shanku spent many of their nights in the first two years sleeping with Sara inside their house. Vincent carried this regret of having had to seperate Sara from her family that he could not really deny his children investing on a habit that would soon become a problem when Sara grows bigger. Though balan contributed enough for vincent to set up a stable outside their house, it remained largely unoccupied. Mathai and Sara looked out for each other when Nila and Shanku were away for school and in the process he trained her to be comfortable in the stable whenever required.

Years went by and Julie was now considerabbly bigger for her age. With growing size of Sara, Vincent kept altering the width of his main door to accomodate Sara who kept sneaking in to play with his children. It took them six more years in total to realize, her limbs were shorter than it was supposed to be for an elephant of that size.

Diagonized with dwarfism, Sara became first of its kind within the sub-continent to be born with this attribute. They largely remained unbothered as it never caused any inconvenience to her though there were efforts from researchers to understand her gene. Vincent remembered the incomplete conversation he had with Balan and trustees in presence of mahouts where they announced their decision to retain Julie, but gave no importance as it did not make any difference to him. 

Life around Vincent changed as it progressed. Mathai who guarded their house sitting on a arm chair was now resting flat, 6 foot under the land they owned. Oldest elephant among 17 member herd, Kesavan, fell sick with only 3 months left for Anayootoor's annual ritual and stopped going to the pond for daily bath. Aanaveedu trust had to prepare themselves to induct their next elephant incase they fell short of number. Nila and Shanku were now grown-ups and confined their time playing with Sara in their place. They had developed a sense of interdependance, enough to have unspoken codes which only three of them shared.

Because Sara grew up along with two children who were kids then, their playfullness had inlfuenced her. Whereas, Julie who stood six foot tall grew up to become a calm elephant that flanked Shankaran in their herd walk to the pond. Neeli, meanwhile had to take up a job to support vincent and make ends meet.Though neeli discouraged her kids from entertaining sara inside the house owing to the constant repairs draining their savings, she often walked into her house witnessing playful Sara lying flat on her belly with her trunk rested on decorated wooden plank. She was loved like their own and her emotions connected with those in the family.

On a monsoon afternoon Vincent came home early with grief. Kesavan left Aanaveedu and Anayoottoor forever and events unfolded in his mind the same way as when he realised not 19 but only 18 could remain in Aanaveedu compound. Julie was next in kin destined to throw garland of tribute in the forthcoming festival and Sara would be re-inducted in place of Julie the day after. Emotions ran high that afternoon as Vincent caressed sara on her forehead thinking of a life without her in his living hall. Sara snapped his thoughts with a wild trumpet blow. This reaction was new, which had never happened. You can now understand humans better, Vincent mumbled.

Not knowing of anything that happened Nila and Shanku decided to walk Sara to the pond as they were assigned with  grabbing firewood. Neeli who came back from work accompanied Vincent to the pond after learning what has happened.

Sara wasn't so playful that evening and Vincent noticed that rightly. She tipped off and slid through mud unintentionally falling into the pond, she clearly had no mood to swim and so walked back to the land. Without realising what happened before they reached Shanku and Nila kept teasing Sara for the fall. They failed to notice her discomfort eventhough Neeli hushed them. She trumpeted in fury as she bled through her mouth. All of them panicked. It was a cut that caused the bleeding and Vincent cleaned it with his dhoti before he ran to grab the herbs to heal her.

Nila and Shanku's state of shock never faded as they looked at each other to confirm what they just experienced. A noise that sounded like trumpet was a clear communication to Nila and Shanku for their ignorance. They realised her complain about fading love for miserably mocking at someone's weakness.   They ran to Sara and hugged, apologizing for what just happened. Vincent who came back running from the house wrapped the wound with herbs that he brought running from the house. She cried and they did too. After resting for a whole while listening to whatever is going to happen the next day after full moon, they walked back together. 

Villagers were excited about Aanaveedu returning back to glory with likes of Julie becoming the star attraction in their stable and Sara's return.  Mathai's hatched tent would now remain silent all through the day and night with Sara getting inducted back into Aanaveedu's compound. But Sara would be back with her family where she belonged to.

Circa 1989, August 19th

Vincent, Neeli, Shanku and Nila walked Sara into the compound of Aanaveedu with trumpetting chimes of the entire herd. Lakshmikutty and Narayani flanked the family in both sides as they walked in. Aanaveedu trust conferred the family with previlige to live within the compound and access to better education and facilities as a honor for taking care of Sara with delight and to prevent another family from tearing up.

Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. Places or people mentioned in the place do not exist.