Mighty Elephants And Mightier Mahouts: About Us As Hostages And Our Dependent Masters

Gentle Giants 

Majestic, mighty, intelligent and highly social, elephants are called gentle giants. The image that comes to us first, when we speak of them, is of the ones regally decked-up for various social and religious functions. We are so enamoured with its serene beauty that we easily miss the chains on its legs and the puny little man standing next to it carrying two stick like things.

Has the narrative about its gentle nature been so much ingrained that captive elephants seem to have forgotten its might?

What else can explain the power of a mahout, often drunk, making it obey his biddings. The only weapons a mahout bears, beside his words of command, are a cane and a hooked-baton. The chain that the elephant always carries around its legs become shackles only when the mahout feels threatened or wants to hold it to a post. Most often, the mahout just rests the baton on one leg of the elephant while he sits to drink or rest; the elephant doesn’t move that leg for fear of consequences. If by chance the stick falls, the elephant by itself picks it up and puts it back exactly where it was kept.

 

Individually, the cane, hooked-baton, chain and not even the mahout can match the strength of an elephant. The mahout depends on the elephant for his daily bread and the owner for returns of the sum invested. With its intelligence, it can turn situations to its advantage and easily break free. Yet, it remains enslaved till its end.

Types of Elephants

Depending upon the circumstances and surroundings, elephants fall into three categories.

The first and the luckiest roams the wild, free. They have to contest with natural enemies and overcome plenty of challenges to stay alive. Aware of their strengths and weaknesses they live in herds and grow up learning the art of negotiating adversities and remain free till poached or old age takes over. Majority of elephants belong to this category.

The second category consists of elephants captured from the wild. These unfortunate ones, once trapped, are trained, claimed and traded. Broken in body and mind, they spend rest of their lives in torturous captivity. Only death relieves them from their living hell. Despite legislations, purportedly in place, to protect them, barbs beatings and shackles hold them in place, lending regal looks to ceremonies. Controlled by a mahout, another les miserable, they suffer their indignity much like slaves of the yore under slave masters.

Blessing or curse, they possess phenomenal memory and recall experiences. They don’t ever forget that they were once free and roamed the wild. They recognise their tormentors, the mahouts, and never forget treatments received. Once in a way, fleeting though, they make it known.

A sizeable population still, their numbers are slowly falling. Increasing awareness both amongst humans in concrete jungles and elephants in the natural wild have resulted in decreasing numbers of elephants in captivity. Yet unending human greed will trap more elephants to live a condemned life of indignity.

The third and the worst of the lot are the ones born in captivity. They never have had the chance to experience or explore forests, roll in mud or laze around in streams. The reassuring presence of a herd is unknown to them. Born in captivity, life in chains filled with physical torture and verbal abuses is natural for them.

Blessed or cursed, never having tasted freedom or the liberty to walk free, chain isn’t an appendage, but an additional limb that brings along the opportunity for travel. Despite the unimaginable daily torture meted out to them, these elephants tend to consider their mahouts as their benefactors. They just fail to see the truth. Unfortunately, the population of this group will grow on some pretext or the other.

Think of it, are we also not like elephants?

Elephants That We Are

Don't waste time wondering which class of elephants we belong to. Definitely, rule out the first. Enslaved by visible mahouts and invisible fears that they instill in us, we keep sliding to and forth between the second and third categories, depending upon circumstances.

Born into families and societies, compelled by conforming rituals, practices, faith, beliefs, religions, politics and nationalities we mostly remain in the third category. However, stifling these may be, all of that are normalised and bondages, each one imposes, are internalised as identities or bonding relationships. We are slaves in such relationships. We are at home like the third category of elephants. These bonds are so normalised that most of us celebrate it. Fear of the unknown, greed for eternity hope of life beyond and ideologies that give us predominance over others are the batons our mahouts wield over us. We never dare question the veracity of such beliefs however illogical they may be. Those who dare are deemed blasphemous. They can make us conform to anything they want.

Man is neither conceived nor born free! Even in death, he isn’t free.

As we grow up, we knowingly or unknowingly let people and circumstances dictate terms. It could be through interpersonal relations like parent-child, sibling, spouse, friends, superior- subordinate or even organisational ones like member of a society, cults or organisations. The list is as imaginative as possible. Even our own behavioural traits can become our mahout masters. Our selfish obsession, jealousy, greed and such other vicious inner beings can enslave us and rob us off our freedom. These, over time, become toxically demanding and enslaving. We willingly allow ourselves to be manipulated in the name of nationality, religion, ideology, clans, tribes, faith, relations, and countless such machinations.

Inevitably we end up being held hostage by the ones propagating the scheme; much akin to the Stockholm syndrome!

Though to everyone else, the manipulators, manipulations and manipulated are obvious, many a hostage remain blissfully oblivious. Attempt enlightening them and risk receiving unbelievable response! While some may be aware of it, pressures and compulsions could force them to act oblivious. The fear of post break-out uncertainty is a deadly hold-back to escape from captivity. Willingly or grudgingly, we ruin our lives as a member of the second category. The sad part is that our mahouts are dependent on us and parasitically feed on us till either their end or ours.

Recently, I witnessed the sad culmination of a brilliant life. Held hostage, by his conviction to serve just one individual, he lay waste everything else in life.  Refusing to see a world with anything but his parent and hence unable to shake free of it, all his brilliance was snuffed out; tragic waste of a genius. He was not the only one; he is neither the first and will not be the last. The story of a bright mind taken astray with emails purportedly from deep within the caves of the mighty hills is another example. Whether it’s a case of such an enslavement or the deft art of a con artist can be debated.

Look around, we can find many such lives; look close enough, we may find ourselves in that group.

Are we also not in some shackles?

Break that Shackles

Most of us individually are peace-loving. Highly social and intelligent, each one of us know what is good for us. It has been proven many times over, through many studies that the human brain is capable of achieving anything it wants. The advances we have made collectively in science and applied sciences, bears its testimony. Yet, as individuals, we rarely use anything more than an insignificant part of our brain throughout our lives. We can acquire skills and knowledge at will. Our brains can find ways to overcome limitations imposed by physical strength. When it comes to capabilities, we are truly elephantine. But that is also our bane. We can justify anything; even our lack of inclination to free ourselves.

If our minds are made up, then unshackling ourselves from our fetters, self-imposed or otherwise, is child’s play.

The problem and it answer lies within us.

Can you feel your shackles? Star the search now