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Journalism of Courage
Driving a Kerala State Road Transport Corporation bus through the twisting Munnar roads turned out to be more adventurous for a bus driver than he would have imagined. The driver had to not only manoeuvre the vehicle through the mountainous range, but also deal with a wild elephant. A video of a wild elephant charging towards the bus has surfaced online.
The clip shows the elephant standing on the road as people inside the bus are heard panicking. The wild elephant comes towards the bus and charges at the windshield, cracking it a bit. The driver, however, doesn’t lose his cool. As the pachyderm retracts and moves aside, the driver promptly accelerates and rides to safety.
Watch the video here:
Additional Chief Secretary of Environment Climate Change and Forests in Tamil Nadu, Supriya Sahu shared the clip on Twitter. “Don’t know who is the driver of this Government Bus but he is certainly Mr Cool. The way he handled the supervision check by Mr Elephant it was like business as usual between them. video shared by K.Vijay,” the Indian Administrative Service officer captioned the clip.
According to local reports, the elephant is fondly called “Padayappa” and the incident occurred at 4 pm, Tuesday, near the Munnar Deputy Superintendent of Police office.
The driver earned plaudits online for his presence of mind. “Wonderful display of courage and presence of mind by the driver,” commented a user. “Driver has guts really! I wouldn’t have done this … scary!! But beautiful to watch !” wrote another user.
A similar incident happened when a tusker charged towards a bus in Tamil Nadu’s Nilgiris in September last year. The driver attempted to reverse the vehicle, but the elephant inched closer and cracked the windshield.
