"Recognition from PM Modi inspires us": 'The Elephant Whisperers' couple

Mudumalai (Tamil Nadu) [India], April 9 : 'The Elephant Whisperer' couple, Belli and Bomman on Sunday expressed their happiness on meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Theppakkadu elephant camp in the Nilgiris district of Tamil Nadu and said that receiving recognition from PM Modi inspires them.

"It is a great pleasure for us that such a big personality like our Prime Minister came and met us. What we were doing till now, taking care of elephants, was our job. It is part of our life and we have been living this way for several years but now getting recognition from such a great personality inspires us so much", Belli said.

"We feel so honoured to meet Prime Minister. It was a great moment for us when he asked about our issues, and what we are facing here including the availability of water in homes and many other things. I told him that we don't have a proper house. And along with us many tribal people also don't have a proper house. I requested the Prime Minister to help us in building houses for the tribal people here", Belli added.

"I felt so great when Prime Minister honoured me with a shawl", she added.

Talking to , Bomman said, "We have been living here for a long time. Since my childhood, we have been taking care of elephants. These two small elephants which we found in the forest are not the first elephants that we are taking care of. For several years we have been doing this job."

Bomman said that the meeting with the Prime Minister was completely unexpected. "It was completely unexpected that such a great person came to meet us. He kept his hands on my shoulder, asked about our problems, and invited us to his Delhi home. It was a great pleasure talking to him. I smiled when PM invited us."

"He also asked us to send our kids to schools and give them a good education. We also told him about our grievances, about the houses, roads and other facilities. He said that everything will be addressed", Bomman said.

He said that he has been an elephant whisperer since 1984.

"We are elephant whispers. I have been working for several years now. Since 1984, this has been our life. But if the government can provide good quarters and other facilities it would help people like us. They provided us with small houses which leak when it rains. Even after working all these years, we don't have a proper house. We don't get any facilities, there are no roads here and we don't even have clean drinking water", he said.

Meanwhile, the couple's daughter Manju said, "It makes us feel so proud that my parents are being recognized by such great personalities. Being children it is expected of us to achieve something and make our parents proud but in our case parents are making us proud."

"The Prime Minister has come and met my parents which makes us feel so honoured. Whenever I see these photos it makes us feel so proud", she added.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday met the Bomman and Bellie couple, stars of the Oscar-winning documentary 'The Elephant Whisperers' during his visit to the Theppakkadu elephant camp at Mudumalai in the Nilgiris district.

PM Modi posed with Bomman and Bellie couple. He also fed sugarcane to some of the elephants in the Theppakkadu camp.

With the aim to curb poaching and illegal wildlife trade, he launched the International Big Cats Alliance (IBCA) in Karnataka.

PM Modi also inaugurated the 'Commemoration of 50 years of Project Tiger'.

Bomman and Bellie featured in 'The Elephant Whisperers', which recently won the Best Documentary Short winner at the 95th Academy Awards.

Helmed by debutant Kartiki Gonsalves, the 41-minute short documentary movie explores the tentative yet precious bond between Raghu, an orphaned baby elephant, and his caretakers - a mahout couple named Bomman and Bellie - who devote their lives to protect him from poachers and raise him.

The project, which is backed by Guneet's banner Sikhya Entertainment, beat four other contenders to clinch the statuette in the Best Documentary Short Category, making it the first Indian documentary and one of only two Indian productions to win an Oscar (the other one being 'RRR').

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