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The apprehensions of being a mahout

RAPPORT MATTERS: Elephants being decked up by mahouts at the Elephant Rehabilitation Centre at Kappucad, 35 kilometres from Thiruvananthapuram. — Photo: S. Mahinsha

Mohana Kumar hates being a mahout. But, at 46 his options are limited. A third generation mahout, Mohana Kumar started riding elephants at the age of 14. It was his "family vocation."

"The job no longer earns any respect, leave alone charm," says Kumar, who looks after `Renjith,' a 74-year-old tusker that has retired from work at the Elephant Rehabilitation Centre in Agasthyavanam Biological Park, Kappucad. As per a norm issued by the State Government in 2003, elephants can retire from work at the age of 65 years.

"Today a manual labourer is accorded more dignity by society than a mahout," says Kumar. According to him, nowhere is this trend more acute than in the marriage market. "People are reluctant to marry their daughters to a mahout.

The remuneration earned by a mahout (Rs.185 a day) is also negligible when compared to the extreme risks involved," he said.

`Renjith' has gored to death three of its previous mahouts before making an abortive attempt to impale Kumar with its tusk during a temple festival held in Konni last year. "It was a narrow escape. I received a nasty jab on my back. It still hurts," says Kumar pointing to the spot with his goad, a sharp hook used to guide a tamed elephant by prodding on the back of its head.

Following the attack, the pointed edge of the pachyderm's tusks was docked off using a hacksaw blade. However even then an elephant, which eats up to 200 kilograms of food a day, is an "extremely unpredictable animal."

Baburaj, another third generation mahout who conducts treks for tourists at the forest of Kappucad on his 35-year-old elephant, Jayasree, says: "Elephants can betray you when they appear to be very friendly." Baburaj attributes the growing attack on mahouts in the State by elephants to the lack of adequate training and experience on the part of the handlers in controlling the animals. "Even a person who has been with the same animal for more than 20 years cannot say for sure how it will behave at a particular situation.

This is when people with just two-weeks of training profess to be experts in guiding them," said Baburaj.

Like Kumar, he too does not want his children to take up the job of a mahout. "Becoming a mahout is no longer worth taking the risk," he explained.

Sangeeth Kurian

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