Now that I have been here a while I can elaborate on what I do. I still clear Lakshmi’s sleeping area every morning (yes, that means more hand dung shovelling). And I still give her an exfoliating scrub in the stream. My glowing white legs must be attracting the fish because I also get a foot and ankle clean while I scrub Lakshmi, as the fish bite and suck away at my feet. In the limited conversations that we have, I have managed to find out that my mahout has 3 children, 15 year old boy, 6 year old girl and 1 year old girl. He was very pleased to talk about them which was very sweet.
As I’m the only one here, I prepare all of the medication for the elephants. The vet assistant’s seem content to let me do this myself every morning. I have been involved in preparing traditional medicine as well. The mahouts use bark, oil, sap and various other natural remedies to sooth ailments. We have massaged the oil from 5 trees on one of the older elephants who has bad arthritis. We then pressed heated bark against her legs which must have been a bit too hot for her as she tried to hit me with her tail. The other day, the head mahout was grinding some leaves and alcohol. They said it was for the elephant but when I learned that the leaves contained ganje (yes, that is Sinhalese for marijuana), I think that it was really for the mahouts.
The mahouts are such lovely people. Maybe it is the ‘traditional medicine’ or the bettle nut that they chew all day (I can easily picture Thurstan sitting with them in their hut, all chewing with mouths all red. I laughed when one tourist asked why their mouths were bleeding) but they are all so relaxed and always have a smile. They speak little English but that doesn’t stop us trying to communicate. I helped them crack a coconut, peal jack fruit and then tasted the delicious curry they made from it. Jack fruit is one of the most delicious things I have ever tasted and it makes me wonder why it’s not more prevalent in QLD as it would be able to grow in the tropics. It can be eaten as a fruit or cooked in a curry and everyone owns a jack fruit tree so no one goes hungry! It’s also the biggest fruit in the world.
It’s really interesting watching the interaction the mahouts have with the elephants. Some even bow to the elephant each morning. My mahout says a little prayer or whatever Buddhists do (excuse my religious ignorance) and then proceeds to talk to the elephant like she can understand him. I’m sure he often swears at her, especially when she has made a mess of her sleeping area because he has to clean it up! Sometimes they act like a married couple.
I have learned a lot about the elephants and now my favourite past time is watching them bath in the river. As much as I like being up close and personal, I prefer to watch them unrestrained and splashing water all over themselves. In particular, I love watching Poojah, the youngest, who almost rolls over on her back as she splashes around amusing herself. While watching the elephants, I also spot many birds, and there is a beautiful kingfisher that I see fishing every afternoon.
I have been working on consolidating the information on the elephants and creating a comprehensive medical treatment program for each one. It’s really interesting and I hope it helps the organisation.
I was fortunate to tag along with the vet from the local university who was required at a pera hera (elephant procession) in a village called Avissawella. The pera hera is celebrated in this particular village to welcome the harvest of the crops. The elephants take part in the procession with many of them belonging to the local temples. An official is required to be there by law in case the elephants decide to charge at anyone. The vet students put together the tranquiliser gun and they told me that just a drop of the heavy duty tranquiliser could kill a human. It was sealed in a box as it can seep through the skin. The antidote was with it so I quizzed them on how this is administered just in case! Luckily they didn’t need to use it and the procession went ahead with only a minor incident with an elephant knocking over a man with his trunk. Just a few cuts and bruises but it could have been a lot worse.
The entire village came out to watch and the procession also had Kandyan dancers and drummers and other performers. It was such a wonderful spectacle to see an entire village join together to celebrate. Everyone was smiling and as our jeep went past, and the kids realised a white person was in the car, they would all yell out ‘foreigner’ ‘foreigner’! I think I was the only foreigner there so I stood out, even though it was night time and very dark. It’s strange, I just don’t seem to blend in for some reason!
I hope to join the vet on some vet runs that he has coming up. He is such a character. He’s very animated so I’m sure he’s a favourite with his students. He tells very funny stories and has the most contagious laugh possible. He delivers a number of lectures at the university so I’ll see if I can attend these before I go.
The office staff are so friendly. Most of the guides that take the tourists around can speak English, German and Japanese. They also have a smile every morning which is a great way to start the day.
I started teaching the local kids English and it’s so much fun. I made the mistake of taking some stickers and awarding them prizes because now they want stickers all the time. They called me naughty madam when I didn’t take any last time! I said they were naughty children and they laughed. The ages range from 6 years to 15 years. And they are so polite and eager to learn. I’m really enjoying it as we have a good laugh every lesson.
So life is pretty good. It’s simple and I like it. While it’s difficult for people at times (especially those that are not as well off), they seem really happy. And it’s just so refreshing to see such a joyous approach to life, without the little petty things that seem to consume our lives, like being annoyed if a train is 5 minutes late. They have bigger things to worry about like not having enough money to buy books for their child for school or replacing the school shoes that their child has outgrown. But they appreciate each other and take in all of the good things that life has to offer like sharing a joke, singing, dancing and all of the things that make us human. I love it!
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