grew up in a small town on the border of Tamil Nadu and Kerala, cradled in the Nilgiri hills.
I grew up in a small town on the border of Tamil Nadu and Kerala, cradled in the Nilgiri hills. I now work as a conservationist in the same area. Gudalur sits at the start of the mountains, at the edge of the Mudumalai Reserve. Till about 10 years ago, few roads, and only a handful of jeeps passed through the area. The forests and the land belonged to wildlife, and to elephants in particular. They routinely broke down fences and houses, damaged crops, chased jeeps and were the centre of most conversations. Electric fences were introduced only in the last decade, but the elephants invariably outsmarted them — a tusker learnt his tusks were electricity-proof, and used them to carefully snap the wires and a matriarch learnt dead wood could