Enchanting Kerala

KERALA TOURISM NEWSLETTER

Jumbo Passions

She looks and acts different from her brethren. Clad in a shirt and skirt, this elephant owner can easily command and make her elephant behave-for she speaks the language of love. Meet Jaysree Iyer, an elephant owner from Kalpathy who is more of a mother to the pachyderm. 

For Jaysree, her tryst with the pachyderms started since her childhood days. Her father Appu Iyer was on his way to a pilgrimage when he asked his daughters what they wanted him to bring when he returned. They cried in unison that they wanted an elephant. 

It was an impatient wait of four long days which they spent making wild guesses on the kind of elephant their father would bring. And when their father did return, he surprised them with a real-life elephant! They named him Kesavan Babu and it was the start of an incredible journey understanding the gentle giants. There was even a time when there were five elephants in their home so much so that her father was called ‘Ana (Elephant) Iyer’. And over the past decades, Jaysree’s passion for elephants has only grown.

The elephant she presently owns also goes by the name Kesavan Babu. At present only Jaysree and her sister Lakshmi lives in the tharavad (ancestral home) and they double up as mahouts when the need arises. 

For Jaysree, love for her elephant trumps the income it generates and she ensures that the elephant is not abused or over worked when taken out for festivals. She makes it a point to visit the festivals where her elephant is paraded. Many have seen how she singlehandedly commands her tusker should he run amok during festivals. Except for parading in festivals, the elephant is never engaged in any other kind of work and he is also given the due rest he deserves while in musth and several days after that. 

Jaysree is redefining being an elephant owner and people like her are the need of the hour. 

Photo courtesy: Mano Ambalappuzha