Raha, Raha, Raha!”
urges Panchanan Nayak. The hoarse, urgent whisper from the short, wiry man
makes the eight-foot tall elephant, the matriarch of the herd stop in her
tracks. She grinds to a halt, then extends her trunk to encircle her young son,
in her attempt to contain him. She is a wild elephant, even if Panchanan calls
her by the name “Lakshmi”. Her herd of 25-odd-elephants have paused—
impatient—just short of the busy Bhubaneswar-Athgarh highway (Odisha) and the
paddy fiel
is a conservation journalist. She is a former member of the National Board for Wildlife.
