Dutch student's jumbo assignment

Charles Haviland BBC correspondent in Guruvayur, Kerala

Expert mahout C. Sathyapalan praises Ilja's work with Laxmanan

Early each morning, the elephant keepers, or mahouts, of the Punnathur Kotta elephant yard in Kerala, southern India, ready their big beasts for the new day.

Chains are loosened from the elephants' feet, dust removed from their bodies and one batch will be taken to the great Hindu temple of Guruvayur, just along the road, for ceremonial duties.

Among the mahouts caring for these 62 temple elephants, one stands out conspicuously.

Ilja Tromp, aged 25, is from the Netherlands and is one month into a half-year course that is training her in the art of elephant-keeping.

She is one of the first women, and certainly the first foreign woman, to do this.

But Ilja came into this almost by accident. "I've always wanted to do something with animals and live in a different culture," she told me.

Through an India-based non-government organisation called Timeless Excursions, Ilja simply "ended up with elephants". And they are amazing creatures, she says.

Respect

Ilja is studying under the tutelage of expert mahout C. Sathyapalan, who has been here 15 years.

She works with him to look after a 45-year-old jumbo called Laxmanan.

Laxmanan could be called a member of an elephant minority group, being defined as tusk-less, or a makhna, even though he does have short tusks.

The Guruvayur temple needs the elephants for ceremonial duties

"Laxmanan is great," says Ilja. "He moves slowly, just like me, and he really listens to you, he has a lot of respect for you, and he's a really nice gentle character."

As we chatted in the green oasis of Punnathur Kotta, Laxmanan swung huge coconut palm branches to and fro with his trunk before devouring them, looking positively playful. But with beasts this strong, Ilja has had to learn many ground rules.

"You have to treat him with respect, the same as with humans. You have got to earn the respect, you don't just get it - and be patient and always careful," Ilja says.

She has learnt never to get close to an elephant she doesn't know well, unless its mahout is there - "the elephant only has respect for his own mahout".

And when an elephant is on heat, stay well away.

Aggressive past

Her only scary moment was climbing on Laxmanan the first time.

A chat with Mr Sathyapalan reveals Laxmanan's chequered past.

Ilja has mixed well with the other mahouts despite cultural differences

He was sent to the temple by a circus that had given up trying to use him in its ring because he was so aggressive.

"He killed one horse and attacked a big circus tent," Mr Sathyapalan recalls.

Even after coming here, Laxmanan tried to assail a mahout during a festival

Despite being calm enough for use in the temple now, the elephant is not a domestic animal, Mr Sathyapalan warns, and he admires Ilja for her scrupulous attitude to learning how to give commands.

Instructions such as "sit" and "lie" are given in the local language, Malayalam.

Mr Sathyapalan puts them into Western script and Ilja writes it all down in her notebook, along with tips of the mahout's trade.

"It's hard work, but she wants to learn it," he says. "Now, without my command, she can manage the elephant a little bit."

She also appears to have mixed well with the dozens of mahouts here, despite linguistic and cultural differences - nearly all of them are from very poor families and their fathers may have done the same trade before them.

Ilja says: "They treat me really well - we communicate with a little English, a little Malayalam and a bit of body language!"

A full mahout's training lasts at least five years, but Ilja's course - and her visa - last only six months. Once back in Holland, she intends to find ways of doing something with her training. Her wish, she says, is "to stay somehow involved with the elephants in India".