7.5.11 – Elephants, live and wooden (Tirur, Kerala, India)

7.5.11 – Elephants, live and wooden (Tirur, Kerala, India)

Early into the taxi, Molly tucked into her car seat, in pride of place at the front.  Our luggage was again tied on the roofrack, in a huge pile of purple, blue and pink cases.  The road wound out into the country, past the little stalls, open fronted, selling everything you could think of and some things you could not.  The now familiar jumble of rickshaws, motor bikes, bicycles, brightly patterned buses, pedestrians  and cars wove their usual swerving traffic dance, accompanied by the incessant beeping, which apparently is required by traffic law, in order to let people know who is coming.   Bincy and her Great Uncle came with us.  Out in the country, wide rivers with sandy shores accompanied us, in the distance, people digging for building sand in the burning midday heat. 

Meg and elephant (elephant is the one at the back)

At last, the elephant park.  Decorated ornately in gold and all the colours of the rainbow, with red and gold umbrellas above them, elephants are used in Hindu festivals, surrounded by immense crowds, fireworks and blowing horns.  For some, this is just too much, and they become stressed and depressed.  They come to this centre for treatment, and also to be prepared for future use in festivals and temples. A huge mixing bowl is used to mix medications for the elephants, a replica of which was in a shady enclosure.

Meg and Catriona at medicine mixing bowl

Elephant bath time

We parked, put Molly in her pushchair, and at once became the centre of attention.  Everywhere we went, people pointed towards her, smiled, laughed, waved and took photographs.  It was like being a film star.  As usual we were the only Europeans to be seen and as such, we were famous!  There were elephants everywhere, dark brown with pink spotted ears and foreheads.  There were about 50 – far more than usual –as there is a festival imminent.  They were everywhere – not in enclosures, but moving about naturally under the palm trees.  Some slowly, gracefully ambling across our paths, carrying bamboo logs with their trunks.  Others were being washed, their trunks curving across their massive backs, water fountaining from them.  Yet others were feeding, tearing thick, cream sections of  bamboo, stripping them of bark and twisting them into their mouths.  Molly watched fascinated.

Dancer outside temple

The Hindu Temple in the adjacent town is a focal point for pilgrims.  Non-Hindus can’t approach too near the Temple, so we mixed with the rainbow throng outside, again the focal point of attention, particularly Molly, who was in a froth of excitement about every brilliant sight she could see.  Bincy bought two little decorated wooden elephants, complete with brilliantly ornate festival garb, and gave them to us.  Just a little further along, a dancer sinuously danced for a huge crowd, one of whom was a spellbound two year old Scottish lass.

A restaurant, cool and dim, plates of burning, fascinating fragrances and tastes.  And then on to Calicut, the endless chaos of traffic, jewel coloured saris, palm trees -  and briefly the sea, gleaming silver to our left.  Suddenly we were out again in the humid heat, unloading cases, cots and buggies, and checking in to the Calicut Towers Hotel.  A hubbub of enthusiastic young men were suddenly all around us – Bincy’s fiancée Subhash, dark eyes smiling – and all his pals, helping him with every task he had to do before the wedding.  Nothing was too much trouble for them, bringing up cases in the small lift, ensuring that the hotel addressed the problem of non-functioning air conditioning in one of the rooms, offering phone numbers and all kinds of assistance. 

Indian street