A few days ago, I happened to watch a Czech documentary about India (Kerala in particular) and about some Indian traditions and I actually realized that I already knew some of them from your posts :) I know that Ganesh is one of most important characters in your culture. Maybe the fact that he is depicted as elephant also means that actual elephants are treated with love and respect in your country? I know that in some Asian countries like Thailand, elephants are abused in the tourism industry :(