"Look! An elephant."
A normal statement for most, if you live in India. The presence is majestic, even when you see the wetness around the eyes. But wait, what the heck is wrong with Rat? Is he becoming a PETA activist? Nah, I just thought I'd grab some attention there.
Moving on, the reason I thought of it is because I saw one yesterday on the road. The wedding season is upon us and elephants in a wedding procession always represent royalty. The elephants are trained to not react to the fireworks, brass bands, drums and blingy clothes, apparently.
There is a Buddhist story about a king who gets blind men to touch touch and elephant and describe it:
"The men assert the elephant is either like a pot (the blind man who felt the elephants' head), a winnowing basket (ear), a plowshare (tusk), a plow (trunk), a granary (body), a pillar (foot), a mortar (back), a pestle (tail) or a brush (tip of the tail)."
(details at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blind_men_and_an_elephant)
We are all bound by our perception, depending on which sense we rely most upon on a daily basis. I used to think that I am better than most with my education and upbringing and I can always see the bigger picture. Fortunately, that notion was shattered as I matured. It comes with a price though, if you have spent your cognitive years alienating people sitting on your high-elephant, chances are, there's no one around to share your 'maturity' with.
Which brings me to why I am writing this. I joined twitter because of what I perceived everyday, some bad, some worse. I followed people who were just as miserable with things. That lasted about a month and thanks to the funnies, I have changed my daily observations to be sometimes good, sometimes great. Don't get me wrong, the world is still the big bad wolf that is trying to get us all, but I am glad that 2000 people feel that at least I am on their side. Thank you all for following and 'listening'.
So what does an elephant mean to me? I always have associated just one memory with it, driving cross country with my parent's pointing out different animals to us brothers. And hopefully, I can do the same one day,
"Look kiddo, an elephant."
