The Elephant Doctor of India by Janie Chodosh
Author:Janie Chodosh
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Chicago Review Press
Published: 2021-05-15T00:00:00+00:00
LOKHIMAI
2002
The years after Narayanâs death were difficult. Dr. Sarma often felt sad and spent long periods thinking about his brother-in-law. He worked hard, burying his sorrow in his work, caring for his animal patients, tracking elephants, and saving more lives.
Heâd found his calling and was living his dream, as his grandmother had predicted. But Dr. Sarma no longer felt like just an elephant doctor. He felt like a representative of the species.
His family mattered to him. His wife and children missed him when he was gone, and he missed them, tooâyet most weekends were devoted to injured elephants. He couldnât stand to see one suffering. So when a man named Amir Hussein called one Saturday to tell Dr. Sarma that his female elephant, Lokhimai, had a painful swelling on her back, Dr. Sarma listened, even though heâd sworn to take the day off.
âI hired her out for logging work in a private forest reserve in Arunachal Pradesh,â Amir explained, referring to privately owned land where logging was still permitted. âShe came back a week ago. The mahout used her to drag a few logs in another forest in a neighboring village after she returned. Yesterday we noticed the swelling.â
âAnd what have you done to treat it?â
âNothing,â Amir admitted. âI donât know what to do. Can you help her?â He told Dr. Sarma that he lived in a small village called Dipila and asked if he could come.
Dr. Sarma suspected the elephantâs swelling might be from an infection caused by an ill-fitting harness she wore when hauling logs. Treating an infection was easier than tracking a rogue, but he was in Guwahati, a two-hour drive from Dipila. It meant another day on the road, another day away from family.
Dr. Sarma weighed his plans to stay home against the sick and suffering animalâs plight and decided to go. Heâd hurry back as quickly as possible to be with his family.
âIâll be there in a few hours,â he said.
Dr. Sarma assumed that caring for Lokhimai would be routine; heâd treat her as he had so many others and then move on. But his relationship with Lokhimai turned out to be anything but routine.
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