Change of heart

Recently, Kerala's Nalpathenneeswaram Sree Mahadeva Temple decided to discontinue the use of caparisoned elephants for temple rituals, citing safety of devotees. Fourteen years ago, in an opinion piece WLWOHG k$Q XQKRO\ ERQGDJHy (1-15 December, 2004) for Down To Earth, lecturer Varadarajan Gokula had QRWHG k7HPSOH HOHSKDQWV suffer much physical abuse and are not even properly IHGy 7KH WHPSOH V PRWLYHV may not have been altruistic but the move is welcome.