Dream Trip 2009

Great Travel Moment

What must this young man be thinking as he carries out his job as elephant tender at a Hindu festival in Southern India? The sun draws his bangs down his forehead, decorated with a ceremonial symbol. His limbs aren?t much bigger than the chain which holsters his sticks, available when needed to gently control his charge. Yet he patiently holds his hands together and appears to be at peace, surrounded by several feet stationed on holy temple dirt, spending this Sunday as perhaps every other day, among the company and tools that matter. An appendage in the foreground balances his dress, even if for just a playful instant. This chance sighting shows me the strokes of art in life, and the sometimes subtle yet symbiotic relationship between humans, beasts and the environment.