#405 - Hari and Other Elephants

by Shankar and illustrated by Pulak Biswas

“Hari and Other Elephants” by Shankar and illustrated by Pulak Biswas. Published by CBT. A delightful collection of six stories which portray the feelings and  behaviour of elephants giving us an insight into how they think.

Elephants are often misunderstood as we do not understand how they feel and end up making mistakes while interacting with them. However, we can learn a lot about them by observing them carefully and noticing how they behave when they are unhappy, in distress, when they feel hurt or worried. The stories in the book are borrowed from incidents that took place in south India.

The story of Hari shows how an elephant gets upset when he is ignored by the new temple manager and another elephant gets to lead the procession during the festival which was his job always. He means no harm but just wants to be allowed to do what he has always done. Isn’t that fair enough? In “Malati and the Coconut” the cow elephant teaches a lesson to the playful helper and then ends up feeling remorseful and ensuring that he gets well. Another story shows how an elephant never forgets, true to the popular idiom of an elephant’s memory. There are stories of friendship between elephants and humans and how elephants can get upset when they are not treated well by humans. Read this old world book filled with charm to dive into the world of these gentle giants.

My almost nine year old and I enjoyed reading this book. Initially he was sceptical to read this book looking at the old worldly format and wondered if it was for young children. I had to convince him to try one story to decide for himself and he was hooked completely after that. The stories were so engrossing that we couldn’t put the book down. The accompanying illustrations are just gorgeous. It was a trip down the memory lane for me to read a book like this which was what we used to get as children back in the eighties and early nineties. The book is almost 60 years old and feels timeless. Thank you Vidya Mani of Funky Rainbow for recommending this lovely book in the “Gaja Maja” buzzar two years ago. It took us so long to read it but I’m glad we did :)

Recommended Age

The book is apt for children aged 7 and above.

Reasons to Read

For an engrossing collection of stories from southern India giving an insight into the behaviour and thinking of elephants and their interactions with humans.