Prahlad spent most of his life working with elephants in the circus in India. He can’t be sure how old he was when he started so he estimates, “when I was this small, (indicating a height below his shoulder) since that age I’ve just been traveling.” He never went to a formal school and he rarely saw his family. Being a Mahout, or elephant trainer, is all he’s ever known. But one part of the work, the fact that they beat the animals, has never sat right with him. He still won’t always say that it is wrong, but when you ask him about where he works now, he lights up.
In the King’s Keeper we meet two characters, Gajraj and Prahlad at what Prahlad calls a place where “we work for elephants.” Gajraj, a seventy year old tusker who’s name means “King of the elephants,” spent more than fifty years of his life in chains. When Prahlad first saw him come out of the rescue vehicle and step into the Elephant Conservation and Care Center he says “I had my heart set on him.”
Created by Thomas Rowell
Original Score by
Steve Gorn
Camila Celin
Ehren Hanson
Recording Engineer & Sound Design
Charles Van Kirk
Music Director
Andrew Wells Ryder