My husband and I were waiting for a bus from Nashik back to Mumbai this afternoon (we’d been away for a couple of days, to a winery near Nashik. But more more about that later!).
All of a sudden my husband exclaimed at me,”hathi!” (elephant).
At first, I thought I must have heard him incorrectly. An elephant in the main street of Nashik? Kidhar? I quickly pulled my nose out from my book and looked around wildly. Astonishingly, there WAS an elephant. It had formed part of the traffic and was heading down the road.
Always fascinated by India’s surprises, I grabbed my camera and chased after it. Seconds later, a guy started chasing after me. He ran in front of me, and was yelling, “aage se, aage se” (from ahead). He seemed to be looking at me, so I decided to run in front of the elephant. Sure enough, it stopped by the side of the road at a fruit stand.
Elephant in Nashik being fed.
People gathered around and started feeding the elephant fruit. The mahout invited me to feed it as well. I declined though, thinking I’d had enough excitement for the day (and I was starting to feel a little embarrassed by my antics).
I quickly ran back to my husband. He was sitting exactly where I left him, obviously indifferent to the sight of the elephant. He was quite amused by my enthusiastic pursuit of the elephant though. I had to laugh myself. Despite having seen so many elephants over the years in India, I was behaving like it was my first time!
As always, India never fails to enthrall me.
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{ 14 comments… read them below or add one }
Very cool, Sharell! Great pics too.
Yes, I really did run!! Didn’t want that elephant to get away!! No doubt I was attracting much more attention than the elephant. I am a bit crazy at times and figure that I’m being stared at anyway, so why not give them a proper reason to stare.
At times like these, my poor husband does disown me somewhat.
How exciting! It took me three trips to India before I saw my first elephant and here you have one in rush hour traffic, lol.
Lovely blog.
A white “indian” woman getting super excited about an Elephant.
Loved your account of the incident.
Interestingly, India is now regarded as THE ASIAN ELEPHANT.
Must have been a sight, but surely its these little crazy things we do in life, make them really really memorable !!!
There’s a bridge in Delhi under which you’ll actually find elephants with their mahouts and their families living! The bridge is the one that connects south and central Delhi to east Delhi over the Yamuna River. It’s called the Old Nizamuddin Bridge.
Wow, this is real insider knowledge! Thanks Ramit!
Hi Sharell,
I posted a comment previously on your snake pic. Well the Indian Elephant (Elephas maximus) is not only a revered symbol of Lord Ganesha but an endangered species protected under Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act 1971. Most of the elephants you see on the streets on India (begging or paraded in festivals) are there illegally. 99% of elephants in captivity were captured as calves from the wild. The same goes for all the sloth bears used for dancing and even monkeys. As you are well aware, enforcement in India is lax so people get away with murder but the least you can do is ignore the people who (ab)use elephants on the streets and refuse to pay them money. As a white foreigner you will be a prime target for all these elephant and snake men, so if you care for the welfare of animals, please keep what I said in mind.
Among the worst offenders are the people in my home state Kerala, where elephants are used in temple festivals and are put to mu ‘behind the scenes’ abuse. Delhi and Jaipur are not far behind. If you are interested, you could check this site on an organisation that works for their welfare.
best regards//Arjun
http://www.nandoperettifound.org/en/page.php?project=122
PS: Do let me know if my posts offend you and Ill stop. This IS your space after all.
Don’t worry, I’m not offended in the slightest. Your posts are very useful in raising people’s awareness. The situation with the poor sloth bears is terrible (I’ve seen them on the side of the road but did not stop to look at them). It is indeed very bad how so many animals are being treated.
Arjun, I’ve never seen a man with an elephant begging for money, but yes men with snakes do beg for money at stop lights. I do what anyone would do, I roll up the car’s windows and do not look at them at all. Not because I knew about the cruelty to animals part, but because I am scared of snakes!
Hello Ramit,
Using elephants for begging, usually only females or sub-adults, is more common in the south, esp Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, AP, Maharashtra. But I have seen it once in Delhi. ciaou///Arjun
There is a sanctuary for Asian elephants in Tennessee USA. When I go south I try to volunteer but the wait list is LONG. As excited as I am to be heading to India in less than 2 weeks, I know I will be crying. I went to a circus as a child and ran out crying…because I couldnt stand that a woman with heels was standing on an elephants head and a bear was wearing a tutu riding a bike…yep….i am vegan…I have also seen an elephant chained to a football goal post and left out in a field alone…with Lord Genesha as my witness if I could have figured out how to unchain it and figure out what to do with it, that elephant would have been free. It still haunts me to this day that I couldn’t free it. An elephant running down a US street is a death sentence for the animal.
between the animals and the children, its one part of India I am NOT looking forward to…not to pretend that it doesnt exist but because it hurts my heart so bad.
here is the link to the sanctuary:
http://www.elephants.com/index.php