Padma Shri Awardee Parbati Barua is India's first female mahout. Parbati, also known as ‘elephant girl’, and her father Prakritish Barua, captured her first elephant when she was 14 years old in the Kachugaon forest of Kokrajhar district.
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Over the years, she has tamed over 500 elephants, and her work in man-animal conflict resolution is well acclaimed. Baruah played a crucial role in developing government regulations to manage such conflicts.
With over four decades of continuous service as a mahout, Baruah shifted her focus to animal conservation and is currently a member of the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Asian Elephant Specialist Group (IUCN).
In an episode of Guwahati Connect, Sidharth Bedi of GPlus had a conversation with this inspiring figure, where she shared her story.
Sidharth: How does it feel to receive the Padma Shri and what does it mean to you?
Parbati: I would say that it’s all about destiny, even though I had never imagined that I would receive the Padma Shri but still on receiving it, I would say that all my hard work paid off. And now that I have received it my responsibilities have increased ten-fold , because earlier I was doing everything passively but now I have to carry on with my works on a large scale. And obviously it feels great to receive such a high honour, it feels good when the entire nation recognises your work and rewards you for it. And I am highly thankful and grateful to the Assam government and the Indian government that they have presented me with this award.
Sidharth: Tell us a little bit about your childhood.
Parbati: I’ve grown up among elephants since childhood. In our house we had around 40-50 elephants. Even my father had immense love for elephants and was an expert in this field, and over the years observing what he used to do, I wondered that even though this is a male domain won’t I be able to do it?
I have entirely dedicated myself to this work. Even when I was in school, our family used to go camping in the jungles and live there for 6-8 months with the elephants. Even our teachers used to accompany us during these camps. After matriculation, I joined Handique Girls College in Guwahati. Even then, during holidays, I used to rush back home just to spend time in the jungles. My attendance in college was also affected due to this. Being in the jungle gives me mental, emotional and physical happiness. That’s how I grew up and over the years I learned about the mahouts who are associated with the elephants and also learned about their hardships.
Sidharth: How do you train to be a mahout?
Parbati: We mainly learn the basic rules and regulations of taming a wild animal, we learn about the command and how loud our voice has to be so that the elephants can hear it and obey us. Self-control is another important aspect while giving command and respecting the senior mahouts during the training process is also important, these are actually legacies and traditions which have been followed over the years.
Sidharth: What sets the elephant apart in the animal kingdom?
Parbati: Elephant is considered as the only living God. As we worship lord Ganesha, similarly elephants are equivalent to the living God whom we can touch, feed and take care of. If you give elephants time, and are patient with them you will be able to understand them, how they are feeling and what they are trying to convey through their actions. Even though for humans it is difficult to understand the animal language, if we try it is not very difficult to understand their emotions.
Sidharth: How do you see the scenario of elephant conservation in India and the overall animal welfare in the country?
Parbati: I will have to say that people have become more aware of these animals and their welfare over the years, people are more focused on their conservation. It is our responsibility to protect these animals and the nature, as all of us have equal right to live on this planet.
Sidharth: Tell us about man-animal conflict.
Parbati: People have coexisted with animals, but earlier people had patience which they are now losing; they resent even the smallest of interruption in their life. We have to understand why these animals are coming out of their jungles and destroying our houses or why people are feeling the threat of these wild animals; this is because we have encroached on their habitat shrinking their space. And as humans even we disrupt or irritate these wild animals because of which they retaliate and the result of which can be fatal. The law of nature sees every living organism as equal.
Sidharth: How to bring back the sensitivity of humans towards these animals?
Parbati: It has always been my request to all the parents to keep their kids connected with nature since childhood, not only by taking them to visit parks but other places as well where they can come in contact with nature. These kids are our next generation and if we teach them from childhood to love and protect mother nature they themselves will grow to have a sense of responsibility towards its conservation and protection. So the parents have to teach their kids to be patient with these animals and love them, because abuse is not the solution.
Sidharth: Are there any other initiatives that you are working on?
Parbati: I focus particularly more on the development of the mahout society, thinking about their betterment and uplift, other than that I conduct nature camps where we preach to students about the need to conserve mother nature and the wild animals. We conduct various activities like bird watching, taking care of different animals etc. We also have differently-abled kids who visit these camps and we teach them about conserving nature and animals.
