On Sunday, 8 of us went birding, and after having had our fill of the Baya Weavers, and other birds, at the pond, we walked up the gentle slopes to the BhavAni temple and the kalyANi….and on the way, we saw how elephants can “hide” (sorry for the pun, just couldn’t resist it!) in the bamboo thickets….

The first sighting of that grey hide was quite exciting…but immediately Sripad spotted the mahout, and we realized that these were the Bannerghatta camp elephants, which had been let loose to graze in the forest, and were now being taken back by the mahouts.

Slowly, in answer to the mahouts’ calls, VanithA appeared out of the thickets…

As the mahout continued calling, Vanashree also appeared…

I don’t think they were mother and daughter, but they were very close….

In this video, one can clearly hear the clanking of the chains:

Later, as Sripad and I walked in the area beyond the kalyANi, the elephants came up, with Vanitha carrying a load of firewoood:

Elephants are still so useful in the forest….however, I didn’t quite like the sight of the chains.

Sometimes I wonder…we’ve used horses, dogs, elephants and so many other animals for our purposes…isn’t this, too, a form of slavery?