Travels on My Elephant

Picked up this book serendipitously last year, as it was about India . . . read the book cover to cover, and thoroughly enjoyed Mark Shand's travel adventures and his ensuing personal relationship with Tara. Then while in India this year, I had a chance to actually meet Tara, who was 'adopted' by a lovely British couple who own Kipling Camp, where Tara now lives very comfortably. (read the book to see how this evolved!) Tara is every bit as gentle and kind as Mark penned her to be . . . I swam with Tara in the river near Kipling Camp, and bathed her along with her two full time Mahoots . . . Mark Shand MUST be smiling down from heaven watching Tara's antics, and knowing just how wonderful her life has become since meeting Mark Shand. Read the book. THEN make the effort to go to Kipling Camp to meet Tara. You won't be sorry. Thank you Mark Shand.

The British seem to be particularly adept at coming up with whimsical ideas, making them happen, and then writing about them (cf. comedian Tony Hawk's Round Ireland With A Fridge, and Playing the Moldovans At Tennis or journalist Andrew Marshall's The Trouser People to mention just a few recent examples). Shand continues the tradition, concocting a scheme to buy an elephant and march around India on its back. This quick-reading book is an account of his adventure in India, where he purchases an emaciated 30-year old elephant ... from a pair of saddhus (mystic holy men) in the province of Orissa (a few hundred kilometers SW of Calcutta). His goal is to walk her from the coast to the great elephant market on the banks of the Ganges at Sonepur Mela, some 1000 kilometers north, in Bihar, where he would sell her.However, as he soon discovers, elephants have a lot of personality, and he quickly falls in love with his. The pleasure of the book is not its travelogue description of the sights and sounds along the way (although these do break things up), but the mischievous antics of the elephant and the discovery of its personality as a loving and lovable creature. Tara, the elephant, displays remarkable intelligence and wit over the course of the journey, although at times Shand does veer into anthropomorphizing her. While he doesn't go deep into the role of the elephant in Indian and Hindu culture, it's clear from his travels that they are widely revered as symbols of Ganesh, as bystanders often often small prayers and alms to Tara. Shand's own lessons in becoming a "mahoot", one who is versed in the ways of elephants and able to ride/guide one, is an equally fascinating and touching story. An older and younger mahoot are along to train him, as is a photographer friend and two rascally drivers with a support Jeep. It's a fun adventure, with a suspiciously fortuitous climax at the market, when Shand discovers he can't bear to sell his elephant for use as a moneymaking curiosity. It's a touching book in many ways, although some readers may be put off by the notion of a Westerner traipsing around a poor country on an elephant, especially given India's colonial past. Still whatever one may think of that, Shand's love for the animal is clearly genuine. He's written a followup book (Queen of the Elephants), that's apparently not as good.

A remarkable story about one of the few Europeans to enter the mystical, beautiful, dangerous, austere and disappearing world of the Indian Mahoot. Shand writes honestly and insightfully about his experiences on an elephant Trek through India which makes the book all the more refreshing. An easy afternoon read by the fire with your map of India on your lap.

I have read all of Mark's books and this is my favourite. Full of humour, you can't help but fall in love with Tara and the magic of India. The sequel Queen Of The Elephants is also worth reading; this film of QotE is shown regulary on Discovery/Animal Planet.

This book gripped me from the start. Mark Shand's matter-of-fact writing style and unshamedly romantic account of a trip across India on his elephant Tara, will make you curious about India and fall in love with this beautiful creature that became a grown man's best friend. A beautiful story for readers of all ages. I loved it and am about to read it again!