Tania James’s latest The Tusk That Did the Damage is set in elephant-poacher’s land in Kerala. And Tania admits it’s her favourite among her three books. “I just loved the subject and the research and the adventures — physical and intellectual and emotional — that this book took me on.”
It has been three years since Aerogrammes came out to critical acclaim, but James says it doesn’t seem all that long. So why did she choose a story set in Kerala, from where her ancestors hail? “I knew I wanted to write about elephants and the human-elephant conflict, which is as much a problem in Assam and Orissa as it is in Kerala. In fact I did a good deal of research in Assam as well. But these creatures play a more important and sacred role in Kerala than maybe in any other state in India, maybe even the world. And the fact that I speak some Malayalam and have access to broad networks of people in Kerala made it easier to envision embarking on a project like this, which would require a lot of research. So, I’m returning to Kerala in the realm of fiction, but it’s a side of Kerala I’ve never encountered… the Kerala Forest department, the forests of Wayanad, the Western Ghats, and so on. It was astonishing to learn how diverse the state really is.”
James has used three voices to narrate topical issues. One is that of Gravedigger, a rogue elephant. “The elephant sections probably went through the most iterations and revisions. Initially I tried a first-person voice, but it seemed too fabulist. While I love fabulist writing, it didn’t quite mesh with the other two voices. I tried writing from the points of view of people around the elephant as well. I suspect I was a little hesitant to anthropomorphise but the more research I did on elephant behaviour, the more it seemed that the term was somewhat outdated, based on an old understanding of what we know about animal psychology. I should add that there are obvious limits to the Gravedigger’s interiority, and my portrayal of it. To accommodate for that, I used a perspective that shifts between close ups and long shots, so as to dip in and out of the elephant’s mind.”
Was Emma, the documentary filmmaker, autobiographical? “Emma’s education in film closely resembles my own, in terms of the assignments she was given, the equipment, the projects, and so on. On a deeper level, I relate to her in the sense that I recognise the challenges of working with documentary film. It’s different from crafting a story from scratch, as you do with fiction. You have to pare down a great deal of material, almost as if sculpting from a block of stone. I also relate to Emma’s aspiration to make a film that’s true to her artistic vision. As grandiose as that sounds for a 20-something year old, she’s passionate about the film she’s trying to make, and I relate to that sense of creative drive. I never found myself entangled in any romantic relationships with my subjects but I like exploring ethically questionable behaviour through fiction. I like it when characters act in surprising ways, and then have to deal with the fall out.”
There is a scene of a post-mortem on a dead elephant. Tania confides this is information from an authentic source. “Early on, I was fortunate enough to meet Vivek Menon, director of the Wildlife Trust of India, who linked me with conservationists, forest officers, and farmers in Wayanad and Periyar, as well as the Kaziranga Wildlife Park in Assam, where I followed a veterinary doctor named Abhijit Bhawal. Dr. Bhawal does incredible work, which includes the rescue of many types of animals — from tigers to rhinos to elephant calves — and was a wonderful resource. He also performs elephant post-mortems, and was great about patiently fielding all my questions about the process. I never witnessed a post-mortem, but I tried to accumulate as much detail from him as possible. I suppose I should mention that the veterinary doctor in my novel — whose work is inspired by that of Dr. Bhawal — bears no other resemblance to the man himself, especially considering how my veterinary doctor ventures onto some shaky ethical terrain.”
