Ankush

One of our friends at Help In Suffering (HIS), Minal, gave Aaron this ankush (it's 14.5 inches by 4.5 inches.) He's always wanted one but had no idea how to get it since they have been outlawed here. An ankush is used by elephant trainers (mahouts) to control the animals. Sadly, when they are used they can cause serious injuries to the elephants. The mahouts will take the sharp end and jab the elephant on the head to get it to move or go faster.
Recently Minal was driving somewhere with her family and they came to an intersection. The light turned red and she saw a mahout riding an elephant through the intersection trying to beat the red light. She immediately noticed that he was using this ankush to prod the elephant to move faster. Minal jumped out of her car, stopped the man and demanded that he give her the ankush. When she told him that she was worked with HIS, he knew he was in trouble! HIS played a big role in the ankush being banned and they replaced them with a bamboo pole that can still be used to nudge the elephant without causing any damage. The mahout began apologizing very quickly and Minal began yelling...she even slapped him across the face! She took the ankush and grabbed him by his collar with it while she was yelling at him. If all this public humiliation wasn't enough, he got into even more trouble once the elephants owner heard about what happened! I bet he won't be using another ankush again!!
All this to say that this is how Aaron ended up with his ankush!

We also wanted to say hi to one of our newest blog viewers...Grandpa Goccia! We love you and hope you're behaving yourself. : )