My First Elephant Ride

I never expected my first elephant ride to occur in India. I pictured myself in South Asia or somewhere tropical where these beautiful beasts exist.

I had been diagnosed with what the locals called “Delhi belly” or what I call “HELL”. After a week of eating yogurt and Indian food, my stomach decided it could not handle digesting those foods anymore. I, along with thirty other people I had been traveling with, were all diagnosed with the same thing. I could not be away from a toilet for more than hour. I was forced to eat pita bread and rice for the duration of my trip. The night before the elephant ride, I had felt extremely weak, and lost over ten pounds. I am already slender, so ten pounds was noticeable on me. I could not leave my bed to get dressed or even take a shower. It has always been a dream of mine to ride on top of an elephant, which is considered one of the most sacred animals in India. I had the option of riding the elephant from the bottom to the top of a fortress, a twenty minute ride. The morning of the elephant ride, I had been in the bathroom the whole night before. However, I felt it was required of me to make the journey to the fortress after traveling half way around the world to get to India.

            I was seated on top of the elephant next to my mom, who had never been on an elephant either. The elephant’s owner, Rahhid, sat in front of us on the head of the elephant. As the elephant began to take us up the mountain, I felt like I was on a slow rollercoaster that swayed side to side. I carried my expensive camera around my head, snapping pictures of this one in a lifetime experience. As I was laughing and taking pictures, the elephant’s trunk whipped back to my legs and spit tons of elephant snot/water on me and my camera. Rahhid said, “it is my personal air conditioning service”. I laughed at the man’s joke, and the fact that I had snot all over myself. The elephants drink in the morning and store water in their belly’s throughout the day, to cool them in the 100 degree heat. Even though I had barely enough energy to walk around in the Indian sun and listen to the tour guide, I am still grateful I motivated myself to leave the bathroom and ride the elephant of my dreams.

 

Cristina Mollis