The Lazy Cherub Enigma: Elephant Ethics and Southern Nights

October 15, 2015

Sometimes the best-laid plans go asunder and so it was with our India itinerary. Rather than the scheduled stop in Bangalore we were rerouted to a more “sedate” destination – Madikeri. The town itself isn’t much to look at. The only reason anyone would come here is to use it as a base for trekking the Kodagu region or to unwind in a serene homestay on an organic coffee plantation. We did neither of those (cue in tiny violins). Instead we stayed in a hotel in the center of town and did some good old fashion “coach touring.” Because let’s be honest – it isn’t really a holiday if there isn’t a bus involved <groan>.

Our first stop was an elephant refuge. You need to toss your holier than thou “elephants belong in the wild” mantra at the gate because once you are here, you realize things are much more complex. India has been using elephants the way we use horses for hundreds of years. In other words, elephants you see “in use” today are many, many generations of “domesticated” elephants - bred, born and raised with humans. Over the years, India has imposed strict laws on the use of elephants. No capturing or harming of wild elephants. Logging is almost completely prohibited. Elephants that still work are only allowed to do so for 4 hrs. a day and for the 3 hottest months of the year they cannot work at all. Hence this refuge. It is the place elephants hang out and get cared for rather than being abused and used. I know what you are thinking. “Why not stop using the elephants altogether?” In many places they have. For example, in 2014, elephant use for tiger safaris was completely banned (both for the elephants health and welfare as well as the tigers). Riding elephants for tourist or ceremonial use is fast approaching its end. But this is where it gets grey – all these elephants still need care. They also – for the most part – are deeply attached to their mahouts and their families. These elephants and the humans who care for them have been doing this for generations. And just like we can’t let domesticated horses free into the wild, India cannot let these elephants into the wild. And just like horses require feed and veterinary care and good land to roam, so do these elephants. And just like there are horrible horse owners, there are also extremely good ones. I had so many conflicting feelings visiting this place. I have strong feelings around wild animals being left in the wild and I abhor the use of wild creatures for our own personal gain. In a perfect world Indian elephants used for logging and ceremonial parades would no longer exist. In a perfect world we would somehow find the resources necessary to house these creatures with their human friends in a perfect pachyderm Eden. And I do mean friends. You would be hard pressed to think otherwise when you watch a mahout bathe his beast in the river. He sings and coos to her while sloughing every inch of her body with a wire brush. He rubs sand on her tusks to polish them. He rubs her feet and oils her giant pads. While she blissfully lays in the water, his son makes food packets of grain, sugar cane and grass. Now the complications set in. Because in order for that scene I just told you to exist then this refuge needs to be open to tourists – local and foreign – to pay for the privilege of feeding those food packets to an elephant. Without it, the mahout would have to work his charge in ways even more unsavory than this. Care, feed, vet bills, lots and lots of river front land and protected forest to roam in – it all costs money – lots of money. This is the part where I could retain a holier than thou stance and claim I didn’t “choose” to go here, it was part of the tour. But I am not holier than that. I wanted to see elephants. I wanted to know the truth of what is happening to them. And the truth is, it’s complicated.

It made cosmic sense that after the elephant refuge we would drive on to Namdroling Monastery. This tiny slice of Tibet was created in 1959 as another alternative to the refugee crisis of the Chinese invasion. Today there are over 10,000 Tibetans living in the settlement of Bylakuppe with a third of those being monks. I remain deeply astounded at how much these Tibetan settlements retain so much of themselves. Indeed, you would be hard pressed to enter one of these towns and not feel like you were in Tibet proper. Suddenly the din that is India subsides into heart-warming tranquility. The Namdroling Monastery is the far more dramatic sibling of the Tsuglagkhang Complex in McLeod-Ganj. Whereas the latter is sedate and unassuming, the former is bold and spectacular. Tsuglagkhang Complex has the Dalai Lama. Namdroling Monastery has its 18-meter high gold plated Buddha. After you’ve zenned out to a 100 monks chanting pop on over to the monastery canteen. Orange robed monks furiously stuff and steam momos to sate your hunger. Bliss point achieved.

Next stop: Kochi!

Kochi has been wooing travellers, traders and explorers for 600 years. The result is an eclectic assortment of old world elegance completely unique to the area. Chinese fishing nets. “Jew Town” with its 400 year old synagogue. Portuguese houses and the grave of Vasco da Gama. Catholic churches and crumbling edifices from the British Raj. For some strange reason, walking through Kochi made me think of New Orleans and her back waters, the mighty Mississippi. There is something decadent about this place – almost carnal. You always feel like there is something in the air and that whatever it is, if you breathe it long enough you will loose yourself forever. I pause in an antique shop and the owner asks me where I am from. “I know where that is,” he replies, “I had someone from Canmore here last week.” Somehow we end up in a long philosophical discussion about how everyone at 21 should do a year over seas volunteering. He tells me of the German girls who come to Kochi to teach. “They are scared at first but after their year is up they are no longer scared. They made a difference. When you are not scared you can change things for the better. When you are scared then all you know how do is start wars.” And just like that, I am thrown into deep introspection and the painful awareness of so many wars I’ve started out of fear.

I needed time to digest all this and luckily Kochi has the perfect place for mulling away my existential crisis – the Kashi Art Café. Tucked in an alley that looks altogether too dodgy for polite company is this “mini MOMA” that serves LATTES made with LOVE. The Kashi is part café/part gallery tied in with a Zen themed courtyard. Rotating artists create world-class multi-medium installations that grace the front foyer and punctuate the walls and floor space. All this in a space that is unbelievably down-to-earth. I wasn’t the only one tucked in a chair scribbling my thoughts or lost in a book. Nor was I the only one eavesdropping on someone else’s whispers of their conflicted love affair with India.

A night in Kochi isn’t complete unless you attend a Kathakli performance. This is made all too obvious from the giant billboards of Prince Charles and Camilla standing next to the performers at the theatre. Kathakli is like Chinese opera but with dance. There is a lot of makeup and a lot of costuming. All the performers are male so there is a fair bit of “drag” going on. Half of the performance is you watching silently as the performers have their make up applied. The entire process is mesmerizing and highly meditative since there is chanting going on as well. Then there is the performance itself, which is well – “interesting….”

So here is the story as best as I can figure it out:

Evil She-Demon spends lots of time yelling, screaming into a mirror, thrashing tree branches around and fondling her breasts.

Meanwhile, the King is checking out some hot chick but is trying not to let on he is doing it.

Hot chick decides she likes the King but he keeps giving her the run around so hot chick turns into Evil She-Demon.

King cuts her tits off.

The End.

I am pretty sure if the King had done some over seas volunteering when he was young, things would have gone down a lot differently with him and the She-Demon.