A grumpy old pineapple connoisseur

In the cast of many acquaintances I have made on my travels, Su-da, a fifty-three year old with grey winkled skin and coarse black hair, is one of my favourites. She has a very stubborn disposition with a mischievous streak - once she ran off and broke into a neighbour's field to relieve him of his bananas. We would communicate in 'maa's (go) and 'how's (stop) although most of the time I am talking to the air and the trees, as she generally pays me as much attention as a vaguely irritating gnat. She reserves a special hatred for dogs, and if one is silly enough to come near her massive form (usually pups which have yet to learn) then she delivers it a well mastered kick - enough to take the miserable creature from her orbit without any long-term injury. The puppies always look as though they aren't sure what just happened, confused to suddenly be in a totally different place to where they intended. I, however, found a way to Su-da's querulous old heart - pineapples. She would take each one delicately from me, eyeing me with a look that seems to say, So you aren't as useless as you seem. She would then smash the pineapples into manageable pieces by thwacking them against her massive legs. Her solidity is a comfort. The way she never uses it to make smaller beings like me feel intimidated (apart from the dogs); she has a gentle grace which contains her strength and power. Being with her, I feel as though she has seen everything a hundred times before, and why waste any energy on it? Very rarely she will explore my face or arms lightly with her trunk, getting the measure of me, a greeting, an acknowledgment. I often feel what a poor substitute I am.

Su-da lives in a compound which is a home for out-of-work elephants and their mahouts. The history of elephants in Thailand is a sad one. They followed such a different course to their African relatives. Elephas maximus became the human's friend, companion, slave and were used much like farm animals or machinery. Yet elephants have an exceedingly brilliant intelligence and they enjoy interaction. Therefore a relationship of sorts formed and perhaps an enjoyment of tasks too. Elephants were used in the logging industry for many years, yet since rain-forest logging was outlawed in 1990 in Thailand, for conservation reasons, over 4,000 elephants have been made redundant. The mahouts were also, of course, redundant and desperate to provide the huge volumes of food elephants require (in addition to their families) many turned to illegal logging, and to effect results in this dangerous commission, mahouts would abuse their elephant companions with violence and amphetamines. In general however, the mahouts have an affectionate and weary relationship with their elephants. They are trained by their fathers; being a mahout is passed down the male line only and was always considered an honoured undertaking. A mahout meets his elephant when both are young and they form a bond over shared learning and years.

The tourist trade has also offered a dubious opportunity for work and food for the redundant companion-workers; the dark side is begging, with elephants forced into busy, car-filled, polluted metropolitan areas, the slightly brighter side is entertainment, for it is legal to use an elephant to offer tourists rides and perform in shows for tourist delight. The other alternative is some conservation projects which have been set up around Thailand, which offer a home to the elephants and their mahouts. They technically work within the tourist industry, yet they are also teaching tourists conservation issues, and provide a place where elephants can be cared for.

This is where I spent a significant chunk of time and got to know Su-da. We both benefited from this relationship although I got a lot more out of it than pineapples.