Analogikal

It was hot. Goes without saying. A summer afternoon in Kerala is nothing less than sitting in an overly attached sauna on overdrive. It’s steamy, it’s sticky and it’s everywhere. The heat has a say in this story. Well had it not for the heat Appu and I would not have shared our lives for a brief moment.

On a customary visit to my dad’s ancestral home i was expecting the usual. Good food, family, nostalgia and the fake romanticised sense of going back to roots. I am proud of my roots. I actually am. But that’s for a different time. What I was welcomed with was my cousins running helter-skelter armed with digital cameras and smartphones. I was expecting a snake or a mongoose or at best a snake and a mongoose ripping at each other.

But alas! There he was; Appu, A glorious bull elephant. I had never seen an elephant so up close in my life. I took in the moment. He was hauling a 15 foot teak out of the compound. Must have weighed nothing less than a couple of tons. The ease with which it hauled away the wood was was captivating and fascinating. The ground shook every time he would drag the log across the ground. My nephews were having a field day. The way they saw this whole episode, this was the perfect start to their summer vacations.

I spent the next half an hour in awe. Just following the elephant wherever he went. Observing his movements and looking at how calmly yet majestically he would trot around. Even with his heavy built i felt his footsteps couldn’t even hurt a dandelion. A true gentle giant. He jumped, trotted and hauled for the next hour or so. His mahout fully in control of all his actions. Or i’d like to believe so. And from the expressions on the mahout’s face, Appu had done well for the day.

As i said, it was hot! My uncles realised that the pachyderm cannot go further without cooling down. They started showering the elephant with the garden hose. Obviously that was like washing your car with a cyringe. Not much fun. So we resorted to a more heavy duty water propulsion system. Basically a much more powerful garden hose.

He seemed to enjoy this. My uncle seemed to enjoy this. Watching this made me happy. And Appu was turning around showing his different dimensions suggesting where water needs to fall. I was simply spellbound by the smartness he displayed. Not only in manouvering himself and us, but in reacting to his mahouts purely verbal commands. He seemed to have learnt our language.

I didn’t  realise how close i had gotten to him. When my uncle called out to me and asked me whether i would like to pour some water on the elephant, my immediate reaction was yes! Very unlike my usual chicken self. But the first thing i did was to lift my hand and touch his trunk. Right between his eyes. I felt him in my hands. I sensed his breathing. He blinked. He moved away.

In that split second i felt so much. I sensed the sheer power and the equivalent magnificence of this being. He was as old as me. I could sense the stories he would tell me if i could talk to him. I felt his anxiety and fear from seeing all the alien moving figures. But i also sensed the calmness overcoming the tusker.

I spend the next hour in servitude of the elephant in the room (sorry, couldn’t help). I washed him, brought him water. I saw in disappointment how he would just gulp down a whole bucket in a matter of seconds, the same bucket which took me some time to fill and haul across the compound. But somebody had to treat him right. He acknowledged our hospitality with his calm demeanour and kind gaze. I spend the rest of the day reading about elephants.

I am vain. I am proud. I am an overgrown sack of egotism. I believe i am great for the petty self indulgent things i do. In the presence of the elephant, i realised what true greatness is. He is gentle. He is smart. He is elegant. He is compassionate. He is dedicated to serving his fellow human and animal. And most importantly, By design or by default, he is unaware of his greatness. And that my dear folks is true greatness. You are so dedicated to what you do and whom you share it with, that you do not see yourself as an individuality but as an extension and an existence of the whole. Be an elephant. Be all that you are, without caring for what you are.