Kari, a five-month-old baby elephant, lives and grows up
with his nine-year-old friend and keeper.
Kari doesn’t eat much—just about sixteen kilograms of
delicious twigs a day.
Playful and sensitive, Kari saves a boy from drowning.
KARI, the elephant, was five months old when he was given
to me to take care of. I was nine years old and I could
reach his back if I stood on tiptoe. He seemed to remain
that high for nearly two years. We grew together; that is
probably why I never found out just how tall he was. He
lived in a pavilion, under a thatched roof which rested on
thick tree stumps so that it could not fall in when Kari
bumped against the poles as he moved about.
One of the first things Kari did was to save the life of a
boy. Kari did not eat much but he nevertheless needed
forty pounds of twigs a day to chew and play with. Every
day I used to take him to the river in the morning for his
bath. He would lie down on the sand bank while I rubbed
him with the clean sand of the river for an hour. After that
he would lie in the water for a long time. On coming out his
skin would be shining like ebony, and he would squeal
squeal: cry/trumpet
Reprint 2024-25
, An Alien Hand
8
with pleasure as I rubbed water down his back. Then I
would take him by the ear, because that is the easiest way
to lead an elephant, and leave him on the edge of the jungle
while I went into the forest to get some luscious twigs for
his dinner. One has to have a very sharp hatchet to cut
down these twigs; it takes half an hour to sharpen the
hatchet because if a twig is mutilated an elephant will not
touch it.
It was not an easy job to get twigs and saplings for Kari.
I had to climb all kinds of trees to get the most delicate and
tender twigs. As he was very fond of the young branches of
the banyan tree which grows like a cathedral of leaves and
branches, I was gathering some, one spring day in March,
when I suddenly heard Kari calling to me in the distance.
As he was still very young, the call was more like that of a
baby than an elephant. I thought somebody was hurting
luscious: tasty and sweet smelling hatchet: small axe mutilated: torn
awkwardly/disfigured
Reprint 2024-25
with his nine-year-old friend and keeper.
Kari doesn’t eat much—just about sixteen kilograms of
delicious twigs a day.
Playful and sensitive, Kari saves a boy from drowning.
KARI, the elephant, was five months old when he was given
to me to take care of. I was nine years old and I could
reach his back if I stood on tiptoe. He seemed to remain
that high for nearly two years. We grew together; that is
probably why I never found out just how tall he was. He
lived in a pavilion, under a thatched roof which rested on
thick tree stumps so that it could not fall in when Kari
bumped against the poles as he moved about.
One of the first things Kari did was to save the life of a
boy. Kari did not eat much but he nevertheless needed
forty pounds of twigs a day to chew and play with. Every
day I used to take him to the river in the morning for his
bath. He would lie down on the sand bank while I rubbed
him with the clean sand of the river for an hour. After that
he would lie in the water for a long time. On coming out his
skin would be shining like ebony, and he would squeal
squeal: cry/trumpet
Reprint 2024-25
, An Alien Hand
8
with pleasure as I rubbed water down his back. Then I
would take him by the ear, because that is the easiest way
to lead an elephant, and leave him on the edge of the jungle
while I went into the forest to get some luscious twigs for
his dinner. One has to have a very sharp hatchet to cut
down these twigs; it takes half an hour to sharpen the
hatchet because if a twig is mutilated an elephant will not
touch it.
It was not an easy job to get twigs and saplings for Kari.
I had to climb all kinds of trees to get the most delicate and
tender twigs. As he was very fond of the young branches of
the banyan tree which grows like a cathedral of leaves and
branches, I was gathering some, one spring day in March,
when I suddenly heard Kari calling to me in the distance.
As he was still very young, the call was more like that of a
baby than an elephant. I thought somebody was hurting
luscious: tasty and sweet smelling hatchet: small axe mutilated: torn
awkwardly/disfigured
Reprint 2024-25
