Mysuru: Speaking to Star of Mysore about the festival, debut author Sreevalli Sreenivasan, whose book ‘Let the Elephants Bee’ was officially released on the occasion, described her experience as phenomenal. She shared how engaging with children on the topic of environmental conservation left a lasting impression.

“I began my session by asking the children why elephants are important and received a range of responses, from their ability to carry weights to being helpful in various ways,” she said.

“I concluded by presenting a solution to the human-elephant conflict and encouraged them to brainstorm solutions for human-leopard and human-tiger conflicts. Their responses, such as using dogs and protecting forest land, were heartening. As a debut author, this was a big victory — inspiring children to think about coexisting with nature.”

Sreevalli shared two inspirational moments from the event. The first was her interaction with an estate owner from Hassan. “She shared her experience of trying low-voltage electric fences to deter elephants, which proved ineffective in the long run. By the end of our conversation, she revealed that she would explore installing beehive fences to keep elephants at bay,” Sreevalli said.

The second moment involved a grandmother who approached her with her grandson. “She told me that I had inspired him to think and write about conservation,” she added.