Dear Readers
Do you like humorous
stories? Enjoy a humorous as well as an adventurous story from the land of
scenic beauty!!!!
The Memorable Elephant Ride
It happened two years ago. We went to Munnar, a
land of scenic beauty. I felt that I could sit for hours
and enjoy the green tea garden and the chilled climate. As in every story,
there is a villain. Here the rain took the villainous role. It was drizzling
throughout so I thought my whole trip was going to be a disaster.
One sight fascinated me, I saw people riding on
elephants. Somehow, I managed to convince my father and finally me and my
mother on an elephant, father on another; our dream came true.
‘It would be great fun!’ I thought when we clinched on the elephant's back. I felt that I am sitting on a dark rock as it was standing still without even exhibiting the slightest movement. ‘How obedient he is!’ I thought because he was following the instructions of the mahout. Since it was drizzling, we had to carry our umbrellas. I held our umbrella. Me, my mother, and the umbrella with the elephant were ready to move, GET SET Go….
Suddenly We heard a melodious song. We wondered from where.
Oh! It was Mahout's ringtone. He was talking to
his friend. My umbrella slipped and I tried to hold it firmly. It tickled our
obedient elephant’s neck and it started to move. I was wondering what had
happened. It was like reflex action as we have studied that we have to stand up
when we see elders while elephants had been taught that if someone is tickling
his or her neck, he/she has to walk.
The elephant slowly moved away from its master and started walking
in the opposite direction. We screamed loudly for help but no one paid any heed
as others who were enjoying their ride on other elephants were also screaming,
but there is one difference between our scream and their scream: ours is out of
helplessness, and for them, it was out of excitement.
What an irony! Now the same sweet voice of
nature turned to be a turbulent wind for us as we ourselves didn’t know when
our elephant would stop walking. We turned to mahout and stretched our hand to
him but he was fully engrossed in the talk.
The elephant was slowly moving towards a tea
shop. Curiously, I asked my mother who was praying loudly, ‘Mom, I hope the
elephant needs tea. See, he is heading towards a tea shop.’ A villager was
munching a banana and was standing outside and was enjoying the rain. We
understood that the elephant was moving towards that villager. We shouted
loudly: ‘Move away from there. The elephant is focusing you!’ Suddenly, he
started running, his movement was as fast as the wind, but still, the elephant
didn’t stop.
At last the mahout realized that we were nowhere to be seen and he came running towards the elephant, shouting in Malayalam, ‘Hey where did you go? My mother was very angry and shouted at the mahout but he gave a very prompt reply: ‘Madam, you had your food but the elephant didn’t. He was feeling hungry so please buy bananas for him otherwise he won’t move from here.’ At last we bought bananas for the elephant. He had eaten to his heart’s content and obediently walked with the mahout and we were just like victorious warriors returning from the battlefield.
‘What a strange but fun ride!’ I said to myself. Indeed, it was a
great ride and I could add another adventure in my Adventures of Munnar.
Written by Samarth
Nair