Ear to Ear : An Elephant's Bathing

This event occurred long back, when I was at high school, but I often reminisce about it.


It was a perfect surprise sprung at us in the morning, when we were told that there would be no classes today at school. And what a pleasure it was to hear that. Not that I liked to shirk my academics and neither was I a poor student. But the sheer joy to avoid the strict discipline of sitting straight without mumbling a word and enduring the somnolent and tedious lectures was such a great way to start a new free day.

And so, as we came to know about it, we would rather have a session with one of the christian priest, who often travels to enlighten the students about practical aspects of life. Well, my school happened to be one of the christian missionary school of our city and indeed one of the best schools. It was not uncommon to hear the church priests, or fathers as we would call them to deliver small sermons or sometimes take our english classes.

He started the session with an overview of what was in store for us for the next two days. He was tall and smart and conducted himself in a gracious and funny manner, that we all were soon at ease with him, sometimes laughing, sometimes talking and sometimes breaking into a tumultuous uproar running hither and thither.

He talked about many subjects, about life in general, about communication gap, about dealing with parents, about sex and girls, and mind you, ours was an only-boys school, and the like - topics which we all feel about but do not talk that often.

In retrospect I would not agree with all what he said, simply because I have come to know a lot more about life by my personal experiences and readings. If I hear him again today, probably I would interrupt him more than others. But those days were different where neither I knew much about life and neither I shared a bitter feeling about priests when they go about, for mass religious conversions. I accepted all what he said.

Today I shall describe you a very funny event in which he demonstrated how a message distorts when it passes from ear to ear.

He asked seven students to go out of class and wait in the lobby till he called them. I was eager to be one of those seven, but I guess my classmates were more agile to spring out and by the time I was ready to leave class, seven students were out already. So I came back and sat at my seat and I was glad I did that, for I would have missed all the ensuing fun.

He told us that he is going to give bath to an imaginary elephant. He first pulled the elephant near the sea shore. He took a bucket, filled it with the shore water and threw it over the elephant. All the while he would speak what he was doing and act it out as well. He poured buckets over buckets on the elephant, while encircling all around him. Sometimes he would scrub the elephant and then splash water and sometimes he would pat the elephant for being nice and calm. At the end of it he asked the elephant to sit down and he put a nice big crown on its head.

Then he called one of the students and asked him to watch what he is doing. He did not tell the student what exactly was he doing, but simply reenacted the bathing of the imaginary elephant. After he was done, he called the second student. He asked the first student to act out what ever he saw and to the second student he asked to observe carefully what the first student was doing.

The first student smiled and the second student very meticulously observed it. The first student rolled his eyes, took a deep breath and started waving his hands from down, upwards enacting the throwing of water on the elephant, though he himself did not know what he was doing. He did that a couple of times, patted the elephant on his sides as if he was knocking a door and then placed the crown on the elephant’s head. And while for him he thankfully overcame the ordeal of doing some stupid body movements, we enjoyed each of his actions thoroughly, all the while breaking out in uproaring laughter. It was one of those times where one cannot keep from wheezily laughter and each new laughter was more madding that the former.

Then the third student was called and the second student was asked to enact what he saw. The second student was a shrewd observer and he enacted all the smiles and rolling of eyes and deep breath of the first student. Then he went on to give bath to the elephant and finally placing the crown on his head, though he finished it much earlier.

Then the fourth student was called and the third student asked to enact what he saw. Now the this third student was one of those amnesic types. He did all the rolling of eyes and deep breath but then he forgot what was the next step. He scratched his cheek for a while trying hard to remember what was the next step, which obviously he could not recall and so he proceeded with waving of hands from down upwards and he too finally placed the crown on the elephant’s head.

Then they called the fifth student while the fourth one was going through the motions, of this sprightly dance, as I must say. He rolled his eyes, took deep breath and the continued scratching his face, which he thought was like shaving his face. So he scrubbed his face with the cream and then used the razor to shave off the foam and before giving wash to the elephant, he washed his own face! What a creative thinker he must have been. This proves on the say that many a times, creativity can be baneful, as was in this case. For all the other students till the final seventh copied this shaving his face with amazing style, adding their own bits and pieces.

And so finally when the last student was asked, what did he think was he doing , this is what he said – well, it is cold in the winter morning, I roll my eyes, gather some courage with a deep breath, enter the bathroom. Then I shave my face, wash it. Then I really don’t know what I am doing. I should be taking bath logically, but instead I am waving my arms from bottom-up. Probably I am dancing in my bath tub in the strange african zulu dance sort of way, and finally I place my heavy bunch of clothes on to one of the shelves.

We could not laugh much on what he said, because we had already laughed out all our breaths. I have regained by breath ever since, but I would never breathe over the important lesson in communication, that I learnt that day.

Hope you enjoyed it too!