After Anant-Radhika's Pre-Wedding Event, a Vantara Elephant Writes to Humans

Let's embrace the elephant spirit. (Wait, I hope I've written embrace and not embarrassed... I herd about this!)

I have not introduced myself. I am Raja, a 30-year-old elephant from Orissa, with big ears and a king-size heart, so I have the name Raja—a small and non-controversial name.

(Photo:Chetan Bhakuni/The Quint)

The year has just begun, but what a trunk load of fun it has been till now! Through the help of some of you filmmakers and ultra-rich humans, we are finally getting recognition, and the rest of you have been talking about us and seeing us on the giant screen. 

By now, you all would have understood what I am talking about.

I am talking about the magnum opus three-day pre-wedding celebrations of Anant Ambani and Radhika Merchant, aka the desi Coachella - where the A-listers jammed in Jamnagar.

Celebrities, sportspeople, politicians from across the globe graced this town and turned it into an influential international hub.

But a week before, the Richie Rich pariwaar painted the town grey by promoting their pet project—Vantara, the 3000-acre wildlife sanctuary that provides shelter to around 200 elephants.

This was our trumpety-trump moment.

But then I read some reports that the details of where my tribe came from to the centre are a little sketchy.

What? I already had my own name for the haathishala– The eleFUN Centre.

What’s remarkable is that this green belt probably has no railway tracks or national highways running across or through it. This is amazing because, according to reports, of the 88 identified elephant corridors in India, 40 have national highways running through them, 21 have railway tracks and 18 have both.

Oh, shoot! I have not introduced myself. I am Raja, a 30-year-old elephant from Orissa, with big ears and a king-size heart. Thus, Raja—a small and non-controversial name.

As an elephant, I grew up listening to my grandparents' stories. Foreigners always mentioned us as an example to stereotype Indians or India —the land of snake charmers and elephants.

It’s like we were irrelephants! 

Things are not always grey-t with us! I lost my mummy and daddy in 2010, when poachers killed at least 14 elephants in Orissa’s Similipal Tiger Reserve. I got to know that an inquiry was set up by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA). It was found out that the forest personnel deliberately took steps to destroy evidence of my parents' and other elephant deaths and even didn’t report them.

Since then, I have reflected on all the small things in life. Like how we’ve stomped all over the OTT. There is a series that’s made on our lives, a show on how forest officials uncover an ivory poaching ring. Did you know that in the past three years itself India has seen 90 instances of elephant tusk or ivory seizures, along with 29 instances of poaching? I was shocked by the data shared by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MOEFCC) in the Lok Sabha in 2023.

It is high time people talked about us and our plight and not just think about us while praying or distributing photos or objects as signs of good luck, power, and blessings. Why can you, folks, not take care of us?

My grandparents hoped we would soon have a National Elephant Conservation Authority (NECA) to conserve the elephant corridors, which are increasingly fragmented and degraded due to encroachments and other reasons. But after years of waiting for the proposal to be approved, the National Board of Wildlife (NBWL) decided not to proceed. They thought it would be better if the directions could be issued under the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, to affect elephant reserves and corridors like those issued by the NTCA. Tusk tusk!

But life will swing along; don’t forget how the Elephant Whisperers received a thumping applause after winning the Oscar. What an elephantastic day it was for us!

Till it was marred with controversy again. I was about to ele-faint. Controversies follow anything that is remotely related to us. Arrghh!

I wish you will be a little considerate towards us and leave our green area to us only, not encroach it with electric poles, railway tracks or build roads. Many of my friends, like me, have lost their mamas and papas.

The state with the highest number of elephant deaths due to electrocution is from my own state, Orissa.

Hope this year is better for us, filled with a trunk full of laughter and let’s embrace this elephant spirit. (Wait, I hope I have written embrace and not embarrassed... ha ha ha, I herd about this!)