Monday, March 14, 2016

Elephant Elation

The mahout tells me to move up. But much further and I will be the human version of a hat — crowning a hair-sprinkled, bulbous head at a height more than twice that of most normal men. The mahout (elephant trainer), widely grinning, keeps beckoning, so I wobble forward, not really sure where to put my hands. At last, I wedge into a comfortable crevice of wrinkly skin, positioned somewhere between two palm-shaped ears, feeling as tall as the tree tops. More timorous than I expected to be, I grip several tons of girth with my knees, lean forward a bit and wrap my hands around some hills protruding from a massive skull. I pray I don’t fall. It’s a long way down to the ground from atop an elephant.

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