‘She was pregnant. She was hungry. She made a mistake. She believed humans’ – the tragedy that happened with the pregnant elephant resonated through the internet resulting in a massive wave of anger. In Kerala’s Palakkad district, a pineapple stuffed with firecrackers was eaten by an elephant which later exploded in its mouth. The elephant walked for days suffering the torment it caused and at last, died standing in a river on 27th May. The names of the accused are Abdul Kareem, Riyasuddin and Wilson Bin Hassan. The reason behind doing this is still unknown but many have said that this often happens when the animals try to destroy crops. Let’s dive into the river of responses which has been flooding the internet since the incident.

1)     We failed as humans: I have been seeing this statement on my Instagram and Facebook feeds for the last two days. Now I am not saying that you shouldn’t post stories mourning over the death of an animal because you are paying respect to the animal and there is nothing wrong with that. Everyone is shocked and disheartened, so if you feel like posting stories, it’s absolutely fine but understand that some people’s profligacy is not YOUR fault. You feel the pain because there is still some humanity left in you, inside your heart. Please do not say that ‘humanity is lost’ or ‘humanity died after this’. Saying ‘we lost you as humans’ becomes exaggerating and changes the whole meaning, it suggests that you were there when all of this happened and you did nothing but to stare. Ask yourself, what would you have done if you were there? Would you stop them whoever did it? YES, you would, you surely would have! So do not say ‘we lost you as humans’ just because it sounds unusual to hear.

2)   You are not one of them: The world is not cruel as you think it is. Now when we have the world at our fingertips, we have seen people feeding the stray dogs and cats, providing shelters to them, many of us have nurtured our dogs, cats, cows, goats just like our children have been. Many of us have seen people rescuing them in extreme conditions because their heart aches when they see these animals succumb to the vulnerability they have been bonded with. Will you still say that humanity is dead? Curse the culprits. Spoil them. Defame them. But don’t take the blame on the whole human society.

3)   Do not hold the whole state responsible: It is totally irrational to blame the whole state for the misdoings of some vultures. It is a sheer work of cruelty and everyone, including the people of Kerala, condemn the act. Just like we say ‘The whole community shouldn’t be considered guilty for the work of a few.', the whole state is not a part of it. Some of us quoted on the internet, “Having the highest literacy rate doesn’t mean having common sense”. This quote itself is nonsense. The people of Kerala are outraged too on this. First this tragedy happens in their state and now they have to endure this baseless conclusions of people from other states. Well done!

4)   Vegetarians calling non-vegetarians hypocrites: As everyone is expressing anger, vegetarians came up with a new opinion on this matter, “Non-vegetarians are hypocrites, they post stories about the elephant but will enjoy chicken and mutton”. It is much more similar to the communal issues happening around us. It doesn’t matter what happens in the country, some people will always be there to give it a communal twist, which is absolutely not needed. In this debate of veg and non-veg lovers, the main issue becomes side-lined and unnecessary conflicts are created. What do we do when our family is caught in peril? Fight against it together or refuse to stay together because of different opinions? I am also a vegetarian and I get what you are trying to suggest. Yes, vegetarians, you are right at some point but you know what is not right? –The timing. Just because some people eat non-veg food, it doesn’t mean that they have no right to mourn over the elephant’s death. No one is commending this because no one deserves to die like this. There is a right time to argue these topics. Let that time come!

That’s all I wanted to say about this side of the topic because we sometimes say much more vague things which distract us from the main topic. After some time, the masses will have forgotten the entire incident but the consequent anger and chaos will still be fresh in their minds.

So we need to be wise enough to focus on the real issue and discard the rest. Thank you.

Tejaswini Yadav – gryffinpuf11@gmail.com

Editing: Preeyonuj Boruah – axelblz1@gmail.com