The trench on the banks of the river Bhavani can be easily overlooked — especially by someone walking past it for the first time. And if that someone has spent just 10 days on this planet, trouble it is. On December 12, 2017, an elephant calf slipped and fell into it. Its mother spent long, excruciating hours trying to get it out. In the end, a 28-year-old anti-poaching watcher carried the calf on his shoulder to reunite it with its mother.
P Sarathkumar shot to fame with the video of him carrying the elephant calf going viral. He was all over the news — local as well as international media featured his Baahubali-like feat. Seated inside a tent surrounded by 34 elephants — we are at the Tamil Nadu Government’s rejuvenation camp for temple elephants near Vanabadrakali Amman Temple, Mettupalayam — he speaks of the day he will never forget.
It was a usual day at work. “I’d just arrived at our living quarters at Samayapuram. At around 7.30 am, I got news of a wild female elephant that had strayed after it had come to drink water at the Bhavani. She was quite angry — had smashed two bikes to pieces,” recalls Sarathkumar. He swung into action — as an anti-poaching watcher in the Mettupalayam forest range, his responsibility included chasing away elephants that came close to human habitation. Sarathkumar and his team spent three hours trying to send the elephant back into the forest. “But she would cross the road, only to return to the same spot near the river,” he says. It was strange. Why didn’t the elephant leave? They then realised that she had left someone precious behind — her 10-day-old calf.
The calf, with a tender, pink-tipped trunk and fine hair on its head and back, immediately won the hearts of everyone involved in the rescue operation. It was scared and too weak to stand. Sarathkumar shows us where the action happened. “One end of the trench is covered with mud,” he points out. “The elephant had done this hoping that her calf would climb up.” With the help of four other people, he lifted the calf to safety. They knew that the mother was close-by and that they had to act fast or risk being attacked.
That’s when Sarathkumar did what most people would think twice to do — he balanced the little one on his shoulder and walked some 50 metres towards the forest. “I didn’t think much,” he says. “I didn’t care about how heavy it would be or what risks were involved.” He felt that it would be quicker and safer if one person transported the animal.
The calf was then taken in a vehicle to where its herd of around 12 elephants was spotted. It was 3 am by the time it was reunited with its mother. “I was some distance away, in another vehicle making sure the calf didn’t run towards us, when it happened,” says Sarathkumar. He didn’t see it, but the mother’s forest-shattering trumpet was enough proof that she was beyond happy.
This is the second elephant calf that Sarathkumar has encountered during his five years as an anti-poaching watcher. He graduated from the Government Arts College, Coimbatore and was working as a marketing executive for a sunglasses manufacturer when one day, he happened to see an anti-poaching watcher chasing an elephant at Sennanur near Coimbatore. “I decided then that I wanted to become one,” he says.
Constantly on the run, Sarathkumar has guided several elephants that come in contact with human habitation back into the forest; he has studied the animal the hard way — through numerous close encounters. He’s happy doing this and loves elephants, even though those that he chases may not exactly reciprocate the feeling. The calf he rescued, for instance, trundled towards his living quarters three days after the incident. “It had come to drink water at a tank with its mother.” The mother did a mock charge when she saw him. “She remembered me,” laughs Sarathkumar. But not for the right reasons.
