Elephant in the City

An elephant in the Delhi traffic is not unheard of, but it is novel enough to make the vehicles slow down to take a good look. The mahout urged the lumbering animal on; perhaps he wanted to reach a destination before the morning office traffic gathers with full force.

The elephant broke a small branch off a neem tree along the pavement and began fanning itself. It was a female and she looked weary in the stifling summer heat. Her skin, dry and sagging, hinted at malnourishment. The mahout was aggressive with his calls to move faster. She was trying to keep pace, and her head moved up and down due to sheer vigour of the effort.  She suddenly stopped at a roadside tyre puncture shop. Though the shop was yet to open, a trough full of water stood in front of it. The shopkeeper uses it to immerse punctured tyres to detect invisible holes on the rubber surface. The regular dipping of dirty tyres makes the water muddy. Apparently, the mud had settled down overnight. She lowered her trunk in the trough, put it back in her mouth and drank her first draft with relish. Even at the early hour of the morning a small crowd gathered around the elephant. The city dwellers pulled their mobile phones out and began looking at the elephant standing right in front of them through their high definition screens.

After having her fill, she put some water in her trunk and began sprinkling it gingerly on her body. She appeared mindful of the quantity of water available in the trough and one could see a sense of economy in this little luxury she was allowing herself. She huffed and puffed trying to cool herself down. She would have clearly liked some more rest, but the mahout signalled onward march by digging his heel in her skin. She walked on with that famed majestic gait ascribed to elephants which somehow augmented the irony of her situation and made her look pathetic. 

She was out of sight in a few minutes and the road which she occupied moments ago was again full of daily wage labourers cycling to work. Their sinewy legs pushing the peddles and their tiny tiffin boxes hung to their cycle handle swaying and keeping pace.

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