The group, Friends of Elephants, will host a documentary film screening The Old Elephant Route . The film traces the elephant route near the India-Burma border, identified by a forest officer, P.D. Stracey in the 1930s.
Stracey had heard of an ancient migratory route of wild elephants on the border between Burma (Myanmar) and India through the Chaukan Pass. In 2000, elephant researchers Prajna Chowta and Surendra Varma, and an elephant mahout Mujeeb Khan from south India explored the same route, walking 150 miles. This documentary is based on their experience.
Prajna Chowta, founder of the Aane Mane Foundation that works towards the study and conservation of Asian elephants, will be present at the screening, along with Surendra Varma, and will initiate a discussion.
Joining them will be biotechnologist and avid Himalayan trekker Lakshmi R. who trekked the same elephant route along with fellow explorers in the Changlang district of Arunachal Pradesh, 13 years after the film was made. She will give a short talk recounting her experiences.
The entire event “Elephant Roots” is on May 31 at Rangasthala, Rangoli Metro Art Centre, M.G. Road Boulevard, at 5.45 p.m. Entry is free and open to all.
