I am very happy to be a part of this competition. It provides us a platform to display our thoughts and creativity. I am very fond of animals so liked reading books about different animals fot this competition. THE STORY OF LAILA In the dark of the night, as I lay bruised and hurt at the edge of the jungle, thinking about my little one, I also thought about the ferocious men who shot me and left me half dead in the jungles of Kerala. The mean men had torn my tusks out of my flesh leaving an open wound, out of which blood flowed as I lay in extreme pain. My senses though numb, flashed back in time to the BEGINNING. I am Laila the elephant living in the deep forests of Kerala named the Silent Valley. 
I was born here in the deep evergreen jungle. When I was small I always used to cling to my mother’s tail in my trunk and walk behind her. She was the one who protected me from the evils and dangerous situations in the forest. I also had many friends - Babul, the baby squirrel who used to go up and down my trunk and tickle my nose in order to irritate me and several others. But, my best friend of all was the Lion Tailed Macaque. We always used to be together. He used to take a ride on my back when we went to the watering hole and I used to spray him with water from my trunk as he looked for places to hide. 
We always had a fun time together. There was enough to eat and the river Kunthi had plenty to drink water from. There often used to be rain when the darkness fell over the forest and we used to get a glance of the magnificent peacock dancing, in the last rays of the setting sun. All the animals lived happily in the forest without harming each other. The forest was closed and protected on all sides by high ridges. However, there were always hidden dangers. My mother had warned me about the biggest evil, “Man”. I always used to wonder how they looked and what they did. But as I grew up, I started to know more about “Man”, “the evil man”, “the predator man”. I had never faced such a “man” situation in my life before. But when I was small and my mother and I were feeding on some grass, we heard the noise of man. We ran thundering through the forest to save our lives. 
We always remained in a herd so no one attacked us. I learnt more about man when some of my friends disappeared. I asked my mother, “Where have they gone, Where are they?” My mother answered, “The wicked man has killed them.” I asked her, “Why? Why has he killed them and for what?” My mother said, “They kill us, elephants just for our tusks. They sell our tusks and earn money from which they can live a luxurious life. They are the worst! They kill us not for hunger but for money and not like the other predators, the lions and tigers who only kill when they are hungry or for their survival.” As I grew up to become a mother and had my own child I understood how dangerous it is to live in such jungles. 
Man was always an unpredictable danger. We could most often save ourselves from the Wild Cats when we were in a herd, but Man used different methods to trap us and hunt us….. Then when I moved a bit, my senses came back to the present; the pain reminded me that I was still lying at the edge of the jungle, waiting for help. I was anxious because I had so much to tell my child and also feed him. As dawn broke through the horizon, I saw a “man” child appear and behind him was his “man” father. I thought “here is my end” and that they had come to kill me. I lay in fear with my eyes closed. But I was wrong as they came near and gently tended to my wounds. They used herbs from the forest to cover my wound and gave me water to drink. They came everyday and gave me food and water and nursed me back to health. Today, I feel strong enough to stand on my feet and go back home to my loved ones. On my journey home walking into the deep jungles, I think that I have a lot to teach my little one. 
I have to teach him about “the wicked men who lie in wait to poach you and leave you for dead”, like my mother taught me. But I will also teach him that there are others who are good men, the Men we need not fear, the Men who respect fellow living things, Men who live and let live, Men who love us animals, Men - who are the Children of God.