Elephant whisperers Bomman & Bellie on cloud nine

Udhagamandalam: The stardom of mahout Bomman and his wife Bellie touched the skies on Friday, when the pilot of their Coimbatore-bound Indigo flight announced the passengers on board that they were travelling with the stars of Oscar-winning short documentary film ‘Elephant Whisperers’.Bomman and Bellie, who were returning home after meeting the crew of documentary in Mumbai and attending a felicitation ceremony, were caught unawares when the pilot made the in-flight announcement honouring them.“Flying with the stars of ‘Elephant Whisperers’ on board. How lucky we are to have them on board,” the pilot said and asked the passengers to give a big applause to the couple. In gratitude, Bomman and Bellie stood up with folded hands.“They are not actors. They are real people,” the pilot went on to add, even as the co-passengers continued clapping. The video of the incident has gone viral on social media.Supriya Sahu, additional chief secretary, environment, climate change and forest, tweeted the video with a caption, ‘Nice gesture’.Responding to the tweet, Indigo’s official twitter account said, “Flying with the team was a delightful experience. Congratulations to the complete cast and crew of the ‘Elephant Whisperers’ on their well-deserved Oscar win. Thank you for sharing with us.”Life hasn’t been the same for the mahout couple ever since the short documentary film depicting their poignant bonding with orphaned elephant calves Raghu and Bommi at Theppakadu elephant camp in the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve in the Nilgiris won the Academy Award. While their world was limited to the elephant camp, today they are travelling around, gaining people’s attention.When TOI contacted Bomman and Bellie, they were travelling to Ooty by road from Coimbatore. “In fact, it’s Raghu and Bommi who brought fame to us and the Nilgiris,” they said. Bomman said they were proud of everything that happened in the past one week. “We never dreamt of this kind of honour for us.”When asked about his future plans, he said, “The forest department is asking us to take care of another orphaned elephant calf brought from Dharmapuri. I have only two to three years of service to retire. I think that I should take care of the calf till I retire.”Bellie, who couldn’t hide her emotions, said, “Whenever I attend felicitation functions, my heart is with Raghu and Bommi. I feel like going back to the forest and looking after elephants. Cities don’t fascinate me at all.”Bellie said she wanted to take care of the new elephant calf. “A woman can give better care to an elephant calf than a man. I am looking forward to taking care of the new calf.”