Sanu George

Thekkady (Kerala), Jan 28 It was love at first sight for Laura Gafmine. A native of Finland, she has fallen so much in love with elephants that she is now learning to be a mahout.

The 23-year-old Finn is on her first visit to India. While touring Thekkady, she spotted an elephant walking past her car and instantly fell in love with the animal. In the three weeks since then, she has undergone a training course which now makes her a mahout, an elephant rider.

Her guide introduced her to Elephant Junction, a group, which offers elephant tour packages that include a half-an-hour to a full-day ride on an elephant.

Laura said: "I have no clue why this happened and how elephants mean everything to me now."

"It was on New Year's Eve that I first touched an elephant and since then I have just one thing in mind, I want to get close to this magnificent animal which is intelligent and of course beautiful," said Laura, who has completed a four-year degree course in culture and works at a restaurant in Helsinki.

A few days in Thekkady and after observing elephants at close quarters, she requested the officials at Elephant Junction to take her as an understudy with an expert mahout and they agreed. And every day, for three weeks now, she has been arriving at the office of Elephant Junction at 8 a.m. to begin her lessons.

"I have two gurus — one is 60-year-old Pappan and the other, 35-year-old Jijo — both experienced mahouts. They first taught me the basic Malayalam words. I can now write my name in Malayalam and also speak almost all the basic commands needed to control an elephant," said Laura.

Laura has been assigned to look after a 24-year-old elephant Ganga that she manages alongside her two gurus and also handles clients on the various packages.

"I feed her and always carry 'olakal' (coconut leaves) with me. I love bathing the elephant and I give her a good scrub with the 'thondu' (coconut husk)," she said.

Laura says that she cannot imagine living without being close to an elephant but her visa ends in three months. "I will be here for two more weeks and then continue my travel to north India. But you wait and see, I will return with enough money to buy an elephant here, though it will take some time."

She then hurried off, saying she had some homework in Malayalam as her gurus would ask questions the next day.