More training
Two years went by. At daytime, mom went for work, while I had
to stay behind in the camp. First I missed her very much, but I
was occupied with a lot of work, so I didnt had so much time to
grieve. I learned to go forward, stop and reverse, and how to
pick up my mahouts Angkus
from the ground and pass it over to him, or to pick up a small
stick that he lay on the ground. When giving the commands, he
called me na, which means elephant in Malayalam, the language
of Kerala. The mahouts has different names for us elephants, in
different parts of the word. In most India the name for elephant
is Hathi, or Hasti. In Sri Lanka, the island south of India,
elephants are refered to as Aaliya, while in Thailand we are
called Chang. And the mahouts always go on commanding
"Elephant do this", "Elephant do that" while
in Europe and America we are called by our names.
The reason is simple: In Asia a mahout always work with one
elephant only, while in the western world, trainers often work
with several individuals at one time.
When I did the right thing he talked smoothly, but when I didnt, he went on asking me until I did. Sometimes I had a piece of sugarcane as reward.
The story continues...