Goodbye, Chennai

It’s been about 7 weeks since I left the United States, and now I’m back. After approximately 26 hours of travel, I am finally sitting on my own bed, with my two cats around me and country music playing in the background. It was so surreal to be sitting on the plane from Brussels to Chicago, knowing that at some point the pilot was going to come on the intercom and announce that we had entered the United States. It’s strange to be back in Michigan, and I’m sure it’ll be even stranger to spend my last month of my last summer vacation EVER in Massachusetts. It feels like so long since I’ve been there.

This will be my final entry about India. I definitely plan to keep blogging throughout my time in vet school, and hopefully I’ll have some other adventures to chronicle. But for now…back to India.

After experiencing the forests of Mudumalai, it was pretty rough ingratiating ourselves back into city life. First off, the city felt 10x hotter upon return. Secondly, the food was a lot spicier. The Virginia Tech kids who had arrived shortly after us requested the food to be a bit more traditional, so we got a nice spicy surprise. Third, we all had to wrap up our projects, which meant three days of travel (after just traveling 12 hours by train) back to the villages to collect the second round of samples for the nutrition projects, followed by two straight days of lab work. The culmination of all our research was the 3^rd annual International Case Presentation Conference held by Madras Vet Hospital, which would be held on the 14^th and 15^th of July.

We were told about the conference about halfway through our trip, and weren’t sure what to expect. All we knew was that we’d have to make a 5 minute powerpoint presentation on our projects in front of a panel of judges. Veterinary students from all over Tamil Nadu would be attending and presenting their cases as well. Our research didn’t quite fit the “case presentation” description, but they were eager to have us present our findings. Luckily, my BVDV project was mostly finished; we had successfully collected and run 236 blood and/or milk samples from both organized and unorganized farms. To determine the prevalence of antibody positive animals, we ran all the samples on ELISA plates and recorded the results. About 17.6% of them came up positive for antibodies, which indicates that at some point in their lives, these animals had either had BVDV or were exposed to a strain of the virus through a contaminated vaccine. So, India does indeed have bovine viral diarrhea virus and it is found in both organized and unorganized farms. We SNAP tested 60 of the antibody negative animals hoping to find viral antigen (indicating either a persistently or acutely infected animal), but had no luck. Maybe if someone else continues the project next year, they can test more calves and try to find a persistently infected animal.

Unfortunately, our Brucellosis project wasn’t able to be finished. That project had evolved into a prevalence study as well, and we were counting on using the ELISA as the gold standard test. We wanted to compare the results obtained from the Rose Bengal, milk ring test and standard tube agglutination tests to the ELISA and see if the results had any correlation. Unfortunately, the ELISA plates didn’t arrive on time, so we were never able to compare.

The nutrition projects turned out to be very rewarding. As soon as we returned from Mudumalai, we washed our clothes and packed up for the villages, which we’d be returning to the next day. We’d be doing the trip in reverse order this time, starting in Pondicherry. Sadly, we didn’t have time for any more sightseeing, but we were able to return to the same French/Italian restaurant and eat big, heaping plates of pasta.

Our job on this return trip was to follow up with the farmers who had used the GRAND nutrition supplement and collect a second set of blood samples from their animals. Most people had diligently fed the GRAND supplement and reported increases in milk production anywhere from 500-1000mL a day. Although it didn’t seem like much, Dr. Balakrishnan (the man who created GRAND and accompanied us) explained that even after you subtract the price of the supplement, the farmer is still making money off of this small increase. I can’t remember the amount saved right now, but it added up to a decent amount of rupees over a year. Unfortunately, some of the farmers who we had given GRAND to had stopped using it. Dr. Balakrishnan attributed it to suspicion. A lot of farmers are untrusting of projects such as these because they think that they are being used as guinea pigs for new drugs. If they notice any decrease in milk yield or any animals fall sick (even if it is due to something completely unrelated), they will immediately stop using the supplement and revert back to their original diets. It’s disappointing, but understandable. I’m not sure how much I’d trust a random group of Americans offering little blue bottles of minerals, either.

Despite these minor setbacks, the trip back to the villages was successful. Jeremy and Tasha were in charge of the nutrition projects, and they got some good results to work with. We also had the opportunity to visit a new village which had recently signed on to receive GRAND supplements in later trials. We met one farmer there who was in his 60s and really bonded with our group. As soon as we arrived, he came up to us and shook our hands and blessed us. He was a very religious man who had a relatively large (in Indian terms) herd of 5 Jersey cows. Years ago, he started his farm with only one Jersey female who eventually gave birth to 4 healthy, high producing daughter and no bulls. It was very cool to see the family of 5, all nearly identical looking except for the eyes and faces. The mother was 10 years old and going strong. In the U.S., most cattle are only kept until about 4 years old when their milk production begins to decline. In India, since cows are rarely slaughtered, the animals will go on popping out babies and lactating as long as they can. This man was lucky to have such a prolific cow, and he knew it. He proudly scratched and rubbed her, showing her off and letting us pet her. It was really touching to see this man’s bond with his animals and his appreciation for all they had done for him. Knowing that the supplement that we had slaved to make in that hot, stuffy lab was being put to good use and feeding farmers like him made us all feel pretty good. We left with smiles on our faces.

After the villages, we returned to the lab for two more days of sample running and presentation making. By the 15^th, we were ready to present and got dressed up in the best clothes we had (which weren’t too fancy) to attend the conference. Everything went swimmingly; our presentations were received well by the judges and the students enjoyed them.

We also got to watch a number of the 5 minute case presentations given by the other competitors. These were basically just summaries of hospital cases that the students had seen and worked on. The presentations had to include signalment, clinical signs, treatment and resolution. I liked watching those, since it made me feel as if I actually knew something. There were cases of dilated cardiomyopathy in cats due to taurine deficiency, scrotal ablation in bullocks, distemper and lymphoma in dogs, blood born parasites in cattle, tetanus in a goat, dermatophilosus in buffalo…etc. etc. It was extremely cool to think that we were learning all of the same things as students halfway around the world, and we all understood each other. Sure, we do a few things different here and there, but the bottom line is the same. We’re all helping animals.

Looking back, one of the biggest differences between U.S. and Indian vet students is the path taken to choosing veterinary medicine as a career. In India, a combination of grades, caste level and standardized test scores play a role in the careers that young people can train for. Most young Indians start out wanting to be medical doctors, and take the standardized tests with the hopes of scoring high enough to qualify. If they get a good score, but not one high enough for medical school, veterinary medicine is the next best thing. We were surprised to learn that this was how many of the Indian students had come to be in vet school. Unlike in the US, where those who become vet students have dreamed of it their entire lives and have fought tooth and nail to get it, many Indian students are thrust into it only after having their real dream of medical school quashed. Fortunately, many of the Indian vets that we talked to told us that after they had started veterinary school and gave it a chance, they truly came to love it and wouldn’t do anything else. The way they may have gotten into it was different, but the end result was the same. And recently, the number of Indian students going into vet medicine out of desire alone has been increasing. As the companion animal industry grows, more small animal vets are needed in India and more young people are answering the call. And of course, with one of the biggest cattle populations in the world and no real euthanasia option, large animal vets will always be in demand.

After the conference, on the 15^th night our group departed for our last mini trip to Tuticorin, the tip of India. We would be visiting the point where three bodies of water meet; the Arabian Sea, Bay of Bengal and Indian Ocean. This meant missing the premier of Harry Potter 7, part 2 (which I was very sad about), but it meant seeing the place where Ghandi hung out and seeing something which I may very well never see again in my life.

We took another sleeper train down to Tuticorin and arrived the next morning at 8am. Tuticorin looked pretty identical to Chennai, but was a little less hot. We visited the Fisheries College which was part of TANUVAS (Tamil Nadu Vet and Animal Sciences University) and had breakfast at a tasty little vegetarian restaurant with an outdoor sitting area. Writing about this now, I actually just had a little itty bitty craving for idly and dosa and coconut chutney…

Wind turbines in the countryside of Tuticorin

After visiting the Fisheries college, our guide, Dr. Senthil, took us to a dock where we boarded a little fishing boat which would be taking us to a small island to collect seashells. Little did we know we’d be out on the hot, reflective water for a good 2 hours. You see, the boat had the engine of a chainsaw with a mere 15 horsepower to move itself and 9 people through the water.

It took so long to reach the island and return that by the end, all of us Americans were sunburnt, salty and thoroughly cooked. When Dr. Senthil saw Tasha covering up her neck to hide her previous sunburn, he asked her what she was doing. Apparently he didn’t really understand about sunburns or what a lack of sunblock can do. Lucky Indians…they never burn.

Frying

Shortly after the boat ride, we were told that we would be traveling another 4 hours to the very tip of India. Now, at this point we felt as though we had been sitting for the last week between all the safaris, the sleeper trains, riding around between all the villages, the boat rides…our butts were tortured. It literally felt as though my tailbone would fall off, and I was winded after just one flight of stairs. Being a runner, this was pretty devastating to me, but I was coming to terms with it. The thought of more sitting was pretty depressing, but the destination would be worth it.

After a bumpy ride in the trunk of an SUV, we finally arrived at the tip in time to see the sun setting. It was cloudy, so the view wasn’t perfect, but we got some fantastic pictures of the waves crashing over the rocks and enjoyed the cool air and scenery.

The sand was three different colors, due to the three different bodies of water conjoining on the shore. There was a massive statue of a famous Indian holy man in the distance, and a memorial to Ghandi on the beach shore.

A lot of Northern Indians were visiting the coast, and you could definitely pick them out of a crowd. With their light skin, different language (Hindi, the national one) and Western clothes, they looked to be from a different country than the Southern Indians who were dark and wore traditional sarees and chudidars. It was very interesting to see the differences between the two regions. According to the Southern Indians, the Northern Indians aren’t as friendly; due to their whiter skin, they tend to think of themselves as “better” than the Southern Indians and often refer to Tamil Naduers as “calm and dumb.” Such a strange dynamic.

We toured around the shoreline for a bit and checked out the shops, which all sold personalized shells and necklaces. There were a ton of pearl dealers, but it was hard to tell who was legit and who was just trying to make a buck off of imitations. After we got our fill, we went to a delicious restaurant for dinner, where I was able to try the local catch; a tender whitefish called Kingfish. I’m guessing this is where their famous beer, Kingfisher, gets its name.

We spent the night in a hotel by the beach and woke up at 5:00am the next morning to catch the sunrise. Dr. Senthil was too tired to accompany us, so we made our way down to the shore to get a good vantage point. Apparently the other Indian tourists had the same idea, and a crowd began to form around 6am.

There was even a rooster which showed up to welcome the sun, strutting around the sleeping homeless people and crowing. The sunrise was quite a sight. Slowly the sky turned from blue, to green and finally to the warm pinks and yellows as the sun peeked from behind the clouds and illuminated the statue in the distance. The waves, coming from three directions, reflected the colors and made for a perfect picture. As soon as the sun became fully visible, the temple in the distance started ringing a bell and the Indians cheered. It was definitely a great moment; it was the one time I was actually happy that I woke up at 5am.

The only thing which dampened the experience, and dampened a few other experiences during our trip to “the tip” was a group of rowdy 20 something year old boys who insisted on “stealthily” taking our picture. For some reason, a lot of the young boys that we saw were obsessed with taking pictures of us, even if they were awkward candid shots where we had our mouths hanging open or we were looking the other way. They would literally take out their cell phones and try to nonchalantly take a picture without our noticing. Unfortunately, they are usually pretty obvious about it and it made us feel very uncomfortable. There were many times where I just wanted to enjoy the scenery, but I could hear them laughing or see them whipping out their cell phones or cameras and trying to get pictures. It was pretty annoying, even if it was somewhat flattering to know that they thought we were interesting enough to take a picture of.

Anyway. After the sunrise, we returned to the same delicious restaurant for breakfast and then traveled by ferry to the stone temple which stood on a rocky little island a ways from the shore.

It stood directly across from the massive statue of the holy man and waves crashed all around it. Then we traveled more inland to another ancient site nestled in the mountains; a wooden palace owned by an Indian king which reminded me very much of a Japanese dojo. The palace was like a big wooden maze, with hundreds of room and skinny hallways and massive meeting halls where the king would feed 200 villagers for free.

The wood on the ceilings was carved into flowers and a variety of other patterns. The palace also boasted a number of beautiful gardens and its very own man made pond.

After the palace, we traveled to a popular waterfall where the locals came to bathe...

...and then finally to a gigantic, 100-something foot footbridge which stretched over a river. I can’t even really describe what it was like, so I’ll let the pictures do it justice.

Despite my slight fear of heights, it was an amazing experience to cross it. Climbing the stairs back up to the car at the end wasn’t too fun, but we were happy for the exercise.

Water channel which flowed along the bridge

View from the top

THE stairs

We ended the day with some shopping and dinner with some of Dr. Senthil’s friends, and then boarded a semi-sleeper bus to travel overnight back to our hostel. Let me emphasize the “semi” part of semi-sleeper. These buses LOOKED comfortable, with dark curtains, blankets, pillows and foot rests, but as soon as the person in front of you decided to recline, you were sardined in so tight that you couldn’t move. And to make matters worse, a small child behind Jeremy decided to throw up about an hour in. That was the one bathroom stop the bus made on the 12 hour journey back to Chennai.

That brings us to the end of the mini trip, and essentially the end of the traveling in India. Once back in Chennai, we spent the day packing, handing out “thank you” notes and saying goodbye.

Gifting our caretaker, Muthu, with a cricket bat and ball

Dr. Balakrishnan surprised us with a going away cake party where he thanked us all and presented us with gifts. We also ate lunch with Gowri, who took us to one of India’s best kept secrets; an American style diner called Sparky’s in the heart of the city. http://www.sparkysindia.com/ A flight of stairs led you down to the A/C basement which was decked out in American license plates, post cards and sports flags. Our group giggled and acted like little kids when we saw all of the American stuff. The diner is owned by a chef from Hawaii who for some reason or other, decided to open one of the only restaurants in Chennai that makes a beef meatloaf. I put up the link to the restaurant so you could check out the menu…as you can imagine, after 7 weeks of carb loading on rice, bread and potatoes, all we wanted were salads, American style nachos, bbq chicken and rootbeer floats. Amazing.

So now we’ve come to the reflective part of this entry. I'm home from India, I'm slowly getting reaccustomed to American life. Dr. Kumar assured us that even if we didn’t think we learned much from India right away, it would all hit us a few months later and we would realize how much we got out of the experience. Well, I’m not even 24 hours out of India and I can already feel the difference.

First off, I have developed such an appreciation for America. Before the trip, I was always one of those snobbish middle class Americans who felt like America was doing everything wrong and Europe or wherever else would be “so much better.” After India…sure, America may have some nutjobs in the government and may not do everything right, but it does have so much to offer. It’s clean, safe (for the most part), culturally diverse, free, equal…the list goes on. There is honestly no place like home. Going to a country that is not as fortunate as the US certainly opened to my eyes to how much we have here. I feel incredibly lucky to have grown up here and to have the luxury of experiencing “1^st world” problems instead of poverty, etc, etc. If my biggest problem in the US is that I have too much to study…well that’s just awesome.

I also feel like I understand Americans as a people a lot more after spending time away from them. Now, I could probably pick out an American in a crowd of similar looking Europeans. We're louder, a bit courser, we wear more casual clothes, we don't talk as articulately (usually). I knew I was back in America when I walked through the Detroit airport and could hear individual conversations, see people wearing tons of studs and chains and could smell the fast food. The TSA was a bit rude, a bit pushy. The people were very mindful of their "personal bubbles" and said excuse me and sorry if they bumped you. The girls wore shorts and tank tops and bared it all. Compared to Indians, even though we don't wear as shiny or colorful clothing, we're ostentatious. Americans value individualism so much more than Indians and many other cultures. We're privileged, and we feel like we have a right to be. So many of the Indians that I met were extremely content with where they were in life, even if it was a modest or even poor living. Americans always want more, more, more, bigger and better. I think it's one of our strengths as a people. We may not be as calm, content and unassuming as Europeans and Indians, but we have a lot of spirit, pride and drive. We're not better...we're just determined to try to be.

Secondly, I ‘m so glad I got to experience such an “old” country. India has so much history, and so much culture. It is home to Hindus, Muslims, Jews, Christians, Buddhists and a variety of other religions. It was occupied by the British, has influence from China and Pakistan and other countries. There are different languages for every state, different climates and millions of people. The variety of animals and flora is astounding. It is just so different from the US in so many ways.

Third, I got practice working completely out of my comfort zone, with practically no aspetic technique, in sometimes dangerous conditions, sometimes completely flying by the seat of my pants. I’ve drawn blood on water buffalos, wrestled cattle and seen a variety of medical conditions I’ll never see again. I sat within 10 feet of wild elephants.

Fourth, I really did increase my own tolerance and patience. I never thought I could deal with sitting for as long as I did, or being sick as often as I was, or handle near-100 degree heat for nearly 6 weeks. I feel like I can handle just about anything now, and I’m happy that I’m not so hung up on the little things.

Other things, more for me to remember than for anything else…

Books I read while in India (there seemed to be a common theme of zombies, even though I didn’t intend for it):

1. Pride, Prejudice and Zombies

௨.Running on Empty: An Ultramarathoner's Story of Love, Loss, and a Record-Setting Run Across America

3. Water for Elephants

4. World War Z (as in zombie)

5. You Might Be a Zombie, and Other Bad News

6. Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace…One School at a Time (part way through)

5 things I really missed while in India, in no particular order:

1. Exercise

2. Fresh vegetables and fruit that would NOT make your butt explode

3. Cold weather

4. My family, friends and cats

5. Wearing shorts and tank tops

5 favorite things about India, in no particular order:

1. Mangoes

2. Elephants

3. Movie theaters

4. Coconut chutney and idly

5. Sarees

5 favorite places in India, in order:

1. Mudumalai

2. Pondicherry

3. Tip of India

4. Pinjrapole cattle shelter

5. Villages

5 things I could have done without in India:

1. My blowdryer and straightener, which just wasted space in my suitcase

2. Indian style toilets, although I did become a pro at using them

3. Not being able to drink the water

4. Smelly streets

5. Food sickness

5 things which India does better:

1. Friendly people- literally, everyone is super friendly

2. Offering you food- literally, all the time

3. School system, it’s pretty cheap

4. Sustainable vehicles- namely, auto rickshaws, motorbikes and bicycles

5. Small farming!

5 things which America does better:

1. Sanitation

2. Food variety

3. More wealth equality

4. Animal control and disease prevention

5. DUNKIN DONUTS (sorry, it had to be there somewhere)

5 things I keep doing in America that I did in India:

1. Randomly using my fingers to eat things rather than forks and spoons

2. Looking for bottled water to brush my teeth

3. Not watching TV

4. Feeling the need to carry toilet paper around with me

5. Using hand sanitizer

10 things I got out of India that I really value:

1. Jackie

2. Kayla

3. Jeremy

4. Tasha

5. Chrissy

6. New friends in India

7. Patience

8. An iron stomach

9. More hands on vet experience

10. Perspective

And that’s all I can really think of for now. I’m sure more things will come to me over time, but for now I’m just happy to have had the experience and am extremely glad to be home. India was a rollercoaster of emotions, both awe inspiring and sometimes depressing. I can safely say it has changed me for the better.

Now it’s time to get ready for some good ole’ American bar trivia, pizza and beer. It's back to my old life, with a little more spice.

The end

தி எண்டு

Mudumalai

What do you get when you travel 8 hours by train into a more Southwest part of India?

Paradise.

On July 5^th night, the group of us set out to ride a sleeper train into the night to Mysore, a palace town in another state of India. We were finally setting off for Mudumalai, the elephant and tiger preserve. Mudumalai itself is actually part of Tamil Nadu (“our” state), but trains don’t travel to it. The only way to get there is via car…and hopefully it’s a Jeep.

The train station was a very short distance from our house, hidden from view like the cattle shelter. You’d never expect it to be wedged in amongst the buildings and shops and schools. We joked around, looking for platform 9 ¾ before finding our train. Our cabin was air conditioned, unlike the poor souls in some of the others which were packed to the brim, and we were each given a hard blue bunk in a section of the train walled off by a curtain. Riding the train was an interesting experience…if you had to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night, you’d have to bypass all the snoring people and random feet stuck out of bunks into the aisle.

At 7:30am, we were awakened to calls of “Mysore! Coffee!” from beyond the curtain. We unloaded onto the platform into a much cooler climate. It felt to be about 85 or 80 rather than the weather we were accustomed to. Outside, our driver and future guide Rajesh waited with a Jeep fit for the jungle. You could tell he was more of a nature man; he wore a khaki shirt and brown pants and his jeep had a leafy, camouflage pattern on the inside. The 8 of us (Dr. MohanKumar included) piled in and set off on our journey to the forest.

As soon as we departed, I knew I was in for a treat. The countryside around Mysore was much like the villages, with big mountain ranges (the Western Ghats) surrounding us, lots of foliage, cows and fields of sunflowers. It was definitely more of a farming community and everything smelled fresh. We stopped in front of a school to stretch our legs and all of the school children ran out to greet us, waving and jumping up and down.

After an hour and a half we rolled up to a huge arch which marked the entrance to the preserve. Guards in full camo stood out front, blocking the entrance. Although Mudumalai does allow some tourists to enter, it is a very protected area and guests are kept on a short leash. Local cattle, with their local diseases like Foot and Mouth, are not allowed to stray past the gates even for grazing. Tourist vehicles are prohibited from stopping on the road, even if there is a very tempting Nat Geo opportunity just waiting for you to snap a picture. If roads develop potholes, they won’t be fixed, since this helps to deter many vehicles from passing through. There is absolutely no littering, and tourists are urged to use actual toilets so that natural habitats aren’t soiled. You are, under no circumstances, allowed to touch or feed the wildlife (this includes the monkeys, who really encourage you to do both).

And lastly, you cannot carry a weapon unless you are a ranger. You see, this isn’t your cutesy little forest with bunny rabbits and white tailed deer and the occasional black bear; this is a sprawling, green abyss of plants and mountains and ponds and things that can kill you. Mudumalai is home to wild Indian elephants, panthers, leopards, wild dogs, bears, Gaur cattle (bison), and tigers. It took one specific instance for me to appreciate just how scary the forest could be…but we’ll get into that later.

As soon as we passed the gate, the forest spread out before us. It was absolutely breath taking. Everything smelled wonderful, and the air was cool and fresh. There was no sound of honking and only a few vehicles chugged by. Besides the occasional peacock call and the continuous, high pitched whine of cicadas and other insects in the background, the area was serene and quiet.

Peacock in the Lantana flowers

Monkeys leaped from tree to tree, chasing each other and staring down at us. Little herds of spotted deer hung out by the side of the road, eating nervously, their big ears swiveling around like mini satellite dishes.

Spotted deer doe

We traveled further into the forest and eventually came upon the tourist center. Wooden signs pointed the way to elephant rides and safaris.

There was a small museum and gift shop and an area for guests to mill about. Even though it was the most public part of Mudumalai, there weren’t very many people there. Dr. Kumar described the forest as one of India’s hidden gems, since most people never visit and it is kept very hush hush. If it were to become more popular, it would surely lose some of its charm and habitats would be encroached on. The locals and rangers want Mudumalai to be noticed, but not swarmed.

Monkey at the tourist center eating a mango

After the tourist center, we arrived at our living quarters. They were nestled a bit further into the woods at the back of a long drive leading off from a tiny village.

There’s a kitchen, a large room for eating, bathrooms and shower rooms (although there’s no actual showers, just buckets of warm water-I thought I would hate showering "by hand," but it was actually kinda fun!), two large rooms for guests with multiple beds (the Peacock dormitory) and an outdoor stage for playing games.

We came to learn over the time that our home was also a popular break spot for rangers and other locals who stopped in for the delicious food that the cook made (he added a little, or a lot, or coconut oil to everything). It seems that everyone in the jungle community knows everybody else, and they’re a happy lot.

FRENCH FRIES!!!!!

When I went to relieve myself in the bathrooms, I came face to face with my first nature scare; Charlotte, the half dollar sized black spider who liked to hang out by the toilet. She moved every time that you did and scared the living crap out of you. After a while I got used to her, but it was still always a nice surprise when she WASN’T hanging out in her usual spot.

Once everyone was settled in, we set out to meet the elephants. Mudumalai is home to a few “camps” which are run by rangers and mahouts, or elephant handlers. These men are trained from a young age to work with the great beasts, and eventually get to master one of their own. They’re paid about 10,000 rupees monthly by the government to do this job and watch over the pachyderms. Elephants don’t bond with just anybody; it takes a lot of work and effort to get them to listen and want to work for you. The mahouts speak in a language that is a combination of Tamil, Hindi and Kannada (the language of the state Mysore is located in). They’re all extremely fit, small men and boys who carry nothing but sticks and somehow manage to control multiple ton animals. The elephants respond to verbal commands which include things like “turn around, lift you foot, walk, stop” etc. and allow them to ride on their backs, bathe and feed them. They become so accustomed to their individual mahout that they won’t accept food from anyone else and will even turn their trunk up at something which has been touched by another hand.

Before coming to the forest, I had always thought of elephants as very docile, slow moving animals which didn’t really care who was around them and were unphased by just about everything. This idea probably came from attending the Topsfield fair, Big E and other petting zoos in my childhood where the elephants were just big lumbering pack mules, toting around screaming children and their parents on their backs all day long. They’d just walk around and around in a circle after the parents paid their $10 to get up top and snap a few pictures. I had seen videos of African elephants charging cars and fending off lions, but I just didn’t think that they’d take offense to individual humans.

I was wrong. Although the camp elephants are the most socialized ones you’ll find around Mudumalai, they aren’t shy in showing you when they’re upset, nervous or threatened. Elephant body language for “GET AWAY” is usually characterized by putting their tail up, their ears forward, raising their trunk and staring you down. And when you have something that tall and huge giving you the stink eye, you back up. And if you’re not in a car, you better pray or be able to run like Usain Bolt.

Dr. Kumar explained to us that the thing to do if in a car is to try to intimidate the elephant by stopping dead in your tracks and not moving. If that doesn’t work, and they start to come after you, then it’s time to gun it in the opposite direction. And all of the vehicles in India are standards, so you better hope you don’t stall out.

We learned lots of survival tips throughout the week. It was very hard for me, a sheltered American, to accept that I wasn't completely safe walking around on my vacation. Being a tourist always carries the false illusion of safety...you're an American, you've got your camera and your bug spray and your water bottles. You never imagine that a tiger could actually come out of the woods and drag you off if you wandered too far from your guides. When I first arrived, I wanted to walk around near the dorms but was told that we weren't allowed. We could only go a little ways up the paved road. At the beginning of the trip, this seemed overly cautious to me, but by the end I completely understood why. They told us stories of panthers hanging around outside the bathrooms or sitting on the steps near the dorms, and elephants coming within a half mile of camp. While there were no peeping panthers, two elephants did come within site of our dorm by the end of the trip. The illusion of safety slowly melted away as we learned more about the forest and came face to face with its inhabitants.

Anyway, back to the elephant camp.

While at the camp, we watched the mahouts take their elephants down to the river for bathing. The elephants walk slowly into the river until they are almost completely submerged, and the mahouts urge them to stay in until they’re clean.

It’s really very cute. Some elephants seemed to love the water; they’d get in and play with big huge logs, balancing them on their tusks. Some would submerge completely and breathe with their trunks. Others would get in and turn around, looking at the mahout as if to say, “can I get out yet?” One mahout even encouraged his tusker (male elephant with tusks) to squirt water from his trunk like a hose. You could see the bond between animal and human, especially when the mahouts physically washed their elephants with scrub brushes or rubbed their tusks with sand.

We kept our distance and snapped millions of pictures, mesmerized by the site in front of us. It’s one thing to see animals that big behind the confines of a zoo exhibit and it’s another thing to see them in their natural habitat, roiling around in a river, enjoying themselves and being completely free. The only thing which signifies that they are controlled by anyone is a chain about their neck with a silver bell on the end, and a long chain wrapped around a back leg. The chains are left to drag behind them when they’re roaming so that if they happen to wander into the jungle and don’t return, they can be tracked by the mark that it leaves in the dirt.

After bath time, it was feeding time. The elephants were lead up the hill to an open hut where blocks of food were set up across a table. They were made to stand about 20 feet from the table behind a wooden beam which stood at elephant neck level. Each animal would get up close to the beam, lay their trunk over it and swing it back and forth, eagerly awaiting their meals.

The food blocks were made of a combination of rice and other grains and protein sources. Mahouts prepared food for their own elephants, and mixed in medicines when necessary. The elephants are much like cats and dogs and won’t always eat their blocks if they can smell the medicine. So the mahouts have to be sneaky. They walk up to the elephants, command them to open their mouths, and wait for them to raise their trunks up out of the way. The mahouts then gently place the food in and the elephants use their amazingly dexterous tongue to pull it back to their molars.

If the elephants still won’t eat the blocks, they’re discarded and the wild boar, which are always roaming about, sneak in for the scraps. Besides the blocks, they were fed coconuts and sugar cane, which they’d hold like a lollipop with their trunks and bite pieces off of.

Of course, a few measly blocks of rice and wheat isn’t going to satisfy a 4-6 ton animal, so the elephants are allowed to graze freely all day long. They’re constantly eating, grasping at things with their trunk and ripping them out of the ground, mouthing everything. Their trunk is in near constant motion, always feeling around with its one little “finger” on the end. (Unlike African elephants, Asian elephants only have one “finger” and are a bit smaller). The only thing they are prohibited from eating (if they’re seen trying) is the decorative orangey-pink flower Lantana, which causes photosensitization. Lantana was planted by the British when they arrived in India to help make the forest look more beautiful….as if it needed any help.

The main job of the camp elephants is to do the heavy lifting and serve as khumkis, or guard elephants. They’re used to help pull vehicles from ditches, move logs from roads or transport sticks and other heavy cargo. The tuskers are the main guards, and are used to help move wild elephants out of towns or other areas that they may have wandered into. Sometimes, elephants just can’t help themselves from barging into someone’s garden and trampling the place. The vets and rangers at Mudumalai do their best to put radio collars on the beasts that continuously enter towns so that at least the people have some advance warning. But if they slip by, the khumkis will help to get them out.

A khumki camp tusker

Besides these tasks, the elephants spend most of their day eating and just hanging out. The female camp elephants (cows) breed with the wild males, and the camp males breed with the wild females. It’s a convenient way to keep inbreeding at bay, and keep the elephants living very natural lives. They generally seemed extremely happy, and Dr. Kumar explained that due to the fact that the mahouts use only sticks and their voices to control them, there are hardly ever any purposeful human killings. In fact, one of the camp elephants, Murthy, had a long history of going on rampages and killing people. He had killed about 30 in his day, and was accepted into the camp for training and a new life. Once there, he worked nonstop with a mahout and is now so docile and gentle that we were allowed to approach him in a big group and feed him sugar cane. Elephants generally live until their 70s, so there’s a lot of time for rehabilitation.

Me giving a kiss to the vicious killer

Aside from visiting with the elephants, we went on many safaris during our stay. The second day we took two separate jeeps, but on the first day we traveled in style on one of the tourist sighting vehicles which are all decked out in camo. The drivers all have eagle eyes and can spot animals even from far away, in the dark, behind trees. Our main wish was to see a tiger, but with only about 70 in the whole preserve (which is actually a really large number since tigers aren’t very common), it would be difficult. But just like house cats, they have their hang outs, and most of those hang outs consist of big flat rocks in the sun.

Sadly, we never saw a tiger in Mudumalai. Or any predator, for that matter. But we did see a ton of spotted deer, at least 150 wild elephants, a slew of monkeys and peacocks, giant squirrels, about 5-10 Sambar deer, wild boars, Indian Gaur cattle (bison) and one of the most beautiful natural sites I have ever seen...the Moyar Falls.

The safaris lasted anywhere from 1-4 hours and took us deep into the woods, and by the end of our time there we had covered nearly all of the forest. One path led us to the top of a large hill and we could see the mountain range stretching in all directions, encircling us.

Occasionally it would start to rain, making the forest slick and shiny, and making all of the wild elephants look as though they were polished. We came to learn that if you saw a lot of deer in a row, you weren’t likely to see a tiger, since they could smell and sense them long before we could. And if it rained hard, the tigers would probably go for shelter, since cats don’t like getting their fur wet.

Other interesting things while on safari…

Wild boar

LOTS OF BEES

We came across a tree while driving which had the remains of a panther’s kill hanging from a crook. It was very hard to make out, and my camera couldn’t really do it justice, but you can sort of envision legs dangling if you look hard enough. Panthers often come back to feast over and over, so the prey will just hang there until they finish it. Yum.

A spotted deer that we spotted (har har) almost became prey himself, and we saw that he had a big wound over his hamstring muscles that he stopped to lick every few seconds. Not sure if it was a tiger or panther attack, but he had narrowly gotten away.

We came across a few giant groups of elephants, lead by their matriarchs. In elephant society, alpha females run the families and males often separate and go off on their own. The older the elephant, the less pigment they have on their face, so you can often tell the grandmas by their light pink, mottled ears and trunks. The younger animals are completely grey.

A family group with a matriarch, young female and baby

Baby with abscess on the bottom of his trunk

A young one looking out from the forest

Elephants, alarmed at our Jeep, exiting the water hole

Out of all of the wildlife, I really liked the Sambar deer. They were few and far between compared to the spotted deer, but they were a lot bigger and more majestic looking. The males sometimes had a large scent gland on their neck that looks like a wound.

Male sambar deer

The Gaur bison were also pretty impressive. These things were gigantic and traveled in large groups. They weren't very shy and would stay within 50 feet of the vehicle, so we got some good pictures. Luckily, they aren't the type to charge. They'd just stand around staring, eating and drinking from pools.

So...charging. That brings me to the most exciting part of our adventure. I can't remember which day it was right now, but I remember it happened at the beginning of one of our afternoon safaris. We were all relaxed and in a food coma from lunch. We loaded up into two separate Jeeps, with me, Jackie and Kayla in the back and Tasha, Chrissy and Jeremy in the front Jeep. Usually you want to be in front since you see the critters first and you don't get all the exhaust fumes. But after that day I was happy to travel in the back.

Everything started out normal...spotted deer sightings, some light rain, some elephant poop spread across the dirt road. (When I say road, I really mean the Jeep track which has been worn down by vehicles and has no branches in the way. It’s very rough with lots of mud and potholes and is very narrow). The feces was fresh, which meant that someone had recently been there. Suddenly we drove up upon another Jeep which was parked on the side of the track. The inhabitants were up ahead in the road, pointing to something off in the distance. They were elephant trackers, and reported to us that a large tusker in musth (the equivalent of "rut" or mating frenzy for deer) was spotted and was chasing down cars. He had faced off with them not five minutes before and was temporarily eating, off in the trees.

As soon as we got this information, the tusker himself came slowly out of the forest and started advancing on the Jeeps, walking lazily. It wasn't scary at first, but then he put his ears forward, raised his trunk and began to run faster. The trackers jumped back in to their Jeep and began to reverse. We had never exited our Jeep, so we immediately started backing up. The van in front of us got a little overzealous as the elephant accelerated and backed right into us. Luckily, there was no major damage done…but we weren't out of harms way yet.

As soon as all 3 Jeeps we had reversed a good 50 feet, the elephant stopped and stared us down. Then, he turned around as if nothing had happened and wandered further down the path, around the corner and out of site.

I thought the adventure was over, and he would disappear into the forest and leave us alone. I also thought we'd turn around and go another direction, but the drivers decided to continue on. After a few minutes the three Jeeps started advancing again, my Jeep last. We crept slowly around the bend in the road and there was no sign of the elephant. Our driver's eyes combed the sides of the path and looked for any movement. The two Jeeps in front of us started turning another corner when all of a sudden, our driver kicked it in reverse and pointed about 30 feet in front of us. The elephant hadn't left; he had hidden himself up on a little hill in the foliage and was now barreling down from the left after the Jeep in front of us.

All I can say is, thank god he chose to go for that Jeep and not cut us off from the group. We were the ones who had to go in reverse, and there's no way we could have outrun him in that way.

Instead, he gave chase to the two Jeeps in front at full speed, trumpeting and crashing down the road. We watched them all disappear around another bend and then high tailed it out of there in the other direction.

Everyone in our Jeep was worried for the others, but luckily the Jeeps were faster than the elephants as long as they didn't hit any major potholes or blockages in the road. We found out later that the elephant had chased the two Jeeps for a good half a kilometer, stopping every once and a while before sprinting again and coming for them. Eventually he gave up and headed for another part of the forest.

It was all a big adrenaline rush at the time, but looking back....
If our driver hadn't spotted the tusker coming down from the hill, he would have side swiped us and easily could have flipped the car over.

Tasha, Chrissy and Jeremy got a great video of the Tusker chasing them down the road, complete with Chrissy's screams and hilarious commentary. Apparently their driver thought that their reactions were priceless (he’s probably been in the situation a million times before) and would slow down to let the elephant catch up before zooming off again. He was laughing the whole time.

Unfortunately, I didn't get any photos of the big guy (not enough time between not crapping my pants and finding my camera), but I did a get a picture of another, tamer, male in musth for comparison. You can try to imagine him as the charger. Male elephants in musth have a gland near their eye that drips this pheromone loaded stuff down their face (which you can make out in the second picture). Musth makes them go absolutely batshit crazy, which is why that particular male was so keen on crushing a Jeep. If the elephant that goes into musth is part of a herd, no other animals will go into it at the same time. It's a dominance thing.

Musth gland

After that happened, the rest of the trip went by smoothly, with no near run-ins with the wildlife. Once the safaris were over, we'd come back to a good home cooked meal, some plaintain chips and sit around the fire. One day, we made a visit to one of the ranger's homes and drank ginger tea with him and his wife. They were a lovely couple; the wife reminded me a lot of my mother. She talked about how a lot of rangers have trouble finding wives who will follow them out into the wilderness. A lot of rangers may not even marry because they don't want to always leave their wives at home in the suburbs or cities. But she loved the forest, and was happy to follow her husband out there and work with the plants and animals. She was a botanist. This particular ranger had won a prestigious national award for his work planting trees all across the area. He had planted upwards of 300,000 which would provide new habitats to tons of animals and insects. The couple was so full of pride and were obviously very supportive of each other.

I loved their home. It was completely decked out in nature stuff; they had a spotted deer pen holder, pictures of "save the elephants" and "save the tigers" all over the walls and little wooden animal carvings. It just had a great, open feel. With the Jeep parked out front and a view of the forest right out the window, it was a nature lover's dream. I could imagine waking up to the sound of peacocks and cicadas and watching a little herd of Sambar deer in the front yard over a cup of coffee.

Besides visiting with the rangers, Dr. Kumar was summoned to look at a wild elephant calf which had been found abandoned in the forest by a road. We weren't able to accompany him (it was a touchy situation), but he was escorted into the forest by an entourage of rangers and watchers to help care for the baby. A tiger or panther had grabbed it on the flank and it had somehow gotten away, probably with the help of an angry mother elephant. The wound had gotten infected and filled with maggots, and as a result the baby couldn't keep up with the rest of the herd. After a while, even though elephants are extremely social and stick close to their families, they will give up on a member who can no longer support themselves.

The wound was cleaned with iodine and antibiotics and anti-inflammatories were administered. A few watchers were stationed in trees to keep an eye on the baby over night. Unfortunately, the prognosis did not look good for the baby since the leg wasn't weight bearing and he had already been injured for so long. Most everyone secretly prayed that the elephant would pass peacefully or at least be eaten by a predator so that it wouldn't starve. It was out of the question to take the baby to the camp since it was once wild and there isn't a lot of money to care for more animals that would need intensive therapy.

Between the deer and the elephant calf, it seems that there's a panther or a tiger out there who needs more practice hunting! One bite doesn't get the job done...it just makes things messy.

To end the trip, we woke up early on Saturday and took a short, elephantback safari into the forest. The mahouts steered the big beasts by sitting behind their heads and nudging their ears gently with their bare feet. Another assistant walked behind the elephants, muttering commands softly.
Riding on elephant was extremely cool. They walked very quietly despite their massive size, and their feet left barely any foot prints in the dirt. You could see over the tops of all the bushes and lantana plants and could hear everything for miles around. The neatest part was hearing the elephants breathe; it sounded like someone breathing through a snorkel. Once and a while they'd get a little naughty and pull plants from the trail, munching as they walked. Overall, though, the mahouts barely needed to do anything to control them.

So...new goal in life...retire to Mudumalai and work with a mahout, or become a ranger's wife. It seems to be an extremely peaceful life. Wake up, bathe your elephant, feed your elephant, feed yourself. Hang around a beautiful forest camp and eat delicious food made with coconut oil. Take an evening safari on elephant back. Pick up some sticks, direct some angry tuskers out of a garden. Sleep. Repeat.

Sounds perfect to me.