The Sunkandakatee Elephant Camp located in the heart of the Tourism Zone is a lovely place to visit. Domesticated elephants of the Forest Department along with their handlers are stabled here. The elephants have a relaxed and sedate ride; apart from providing joy rides for tourists in the morning, there is precious little to do.

An Elephant Relaxing While Being Bathed at Kabini

However, during the annual Dasara procession in Mysore, a select few are sent off to participate in it. They reach Mysore a month in advance to prepare for the ceremony which includes getting used to city traffic.

However, they are officially members of the forest department and as is usual in India, when an important dignitary visits, they are required to put their best foot forward. I realized this one day when I happened to visit the camp and found all the elephants missing.

On enquiry, I was told that they were expecting the Chief Minister and therefore, the elephants were being given an elaborate bath! I quickly went to their bathing spot and watched them being washed and readied for a VIP visit!

Being Readied for the VIP Visit!

It was my most amusing experience at Kabini! I guess at the end of the day we are all subjected to India’s VIP culture.

Vikram Nanjappa

Vikram Nanjappa likes to be described as an interested and well-informed amateur. He draws his inspiration from the band of men called the Orientalists, most of whom were amateurs. By profession, they were soldiers and administrators. However, today, they are remembered as giants of scholarship. Like them, his field of enquiry is ‘Man and Nature; (with an emphasis on Nature) whatever is performed by the one or produced by the other’. He currently resides in Bangalore and freelances as a writer and photographer. He can be contacted at nanjappavikram@yahoo.co.in.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 14th, 2011 at 12:13 pm and is filed under Culture, Herbivores, Mammal, Nature. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.