Saving India's Mighty Tuskers
Reader's Digest India|August 2023
A measure of the conservation and welfare efforts underway to save this endangered animal
- Sanskrita Bharadwaj, Naorem Anuja
Saving India's Mighty Tuskers

About six years ago, while filmmaker Kartiki Gonsalves was moving homes from Bengaluru to the hills of Ooty, she drove past a baby elephant walking along the side of the road. A local man kept pace at his side.

Growing up in the mountainous Nilgiris, spotting tuskers wasn’t rare for Gonsalves. “You see lots of wild animals—elephants, leopards, bears—but I’d never come across such a young calf before. I also wanted to know what this little calf, who should have been with his mother in the wild was doing with a man,” she says.

Seeing her lean out of the window with delighted curiosity, the man beckoned her over to join them. “That’s how I first met Bomman and three-month-old Raghu,” says Gonsalves, referring to the protagonists of her 2022 film Elephant Whisperers that won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Short Film at the 95th Academy Awards. “We spent some beautiful moments together which carried on for almost a year and a half before I began making the documentary.” The experience was an enlightening

one for the 36-year-old director. “I grew up in a place which always has elephants but I never realized how endangered they were. Meeting Raghu led me to delve deeper into the complexities of elephant-human dynamics,” Gonsalves explained. She also got a peek into the lives of Bomman and Bellie, who belong to the forest dwelling community of the indigenous Kattunayakar tribe.

この蚘事は Reader's Digest India の August 2023 版に掲茉されおいたす。

7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トラむアルを開始しお、䜕千もの厳遞されたプレミアム ストヌリヌ、9,000 以䞊の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしおください。

この蚘事は Reader's Digest India の August 2023 版に掲茉されおいたす。

7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トラむアルを開始しお、䜕千もの厳遞されたプレミアム ストヌリヌ、9,000 以䞊の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしおください。

READER'S DIGEST INDIAのその他の蚘事すべお衚瀺
GIRL UNINTER RUPTED
Reader's Digest India

GIRL UNINTER RUPTED

A powerful exploration of identity, freedom, and the quiet feminist act of a woman at leisure

time-read
5 分  |
March 2025
MY SMART PET
Reader's Digest India

MY SMART PET

These clever critters are some smart C-O-O-K-I-E-S

time-read
4 分  |
March 2025
We're a Match!
Reader's Digest India

We're a Match!

TIA WIMBUSH AND Susan Ellis have been co-workers for a decade, and while they didn't know each other well, they had a lot in common, both working in information technology at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta and both dealing with the same medical stress at home.

time-read
2 分  |
March 2025
STUDIO
Reader's Digest India

STUDIO

Worker drilling inside a coal mine, Asansol By Ahmed Ali, 1951 silver gelatin print with selenium toning, 24 x 30 in

time-read
1 min  |
March 2025
The Best Guy I Know
Reader's Digest India

The Best Guy I Know

When Uncle George calls, it’s always worth picking up

time-read
2 分  |
March 2025
Just a Snore, or Something More?
Reader's Digest India

Just a Snore, or Something More?

Sleep apnoea is on the rise, and it can be dangerous. How to tell if you or your sleeping partner has it

time-read
3 分  |
March 2025
POINT TO PONDER
Reader's Digest India

POINT TO PONDER

COMMUNITY MEANS WE'RE collaborating. It means that you help my children and old people, and I help yours.

time-read
1 min  |
March 2025
A TOUGH PILL TO SWALLOW
Reader's Digest India

A TOUGH PILL TO SWALLOW

Too many older adults are taking medications where the likely harms outweigh the potential benefits. Is it time to start 'deprescribing'?

time-read
10 分  |
March 2025
A Piggyback Ride from a Stranger
Reader's Digest India

A Piggyback Ride from a Stranger

After an elderly woman broke her leg on a hill, a hiker spent hours carrying her down

time-read
3 分  |
March 2025
A Sojourn through Smuggler's Cove
Reader's Digest India

A Sojourn through Smuggler's Cove

Behind Cornwall's charming coastal villages lies an infamous, seafaring past

time-read
4 分  |
March 2025