Tiruchirapalli, Nov. 13. (UNI): The pachyderms of the Srirangam Renganathaswamy, Tiruvanaikoil Jambukeswarar-Akhilandeswary and the Rockfort Thayumanavaswamy temples faced "elephantine" problems in getting trained to board lorries for their rest trip, on November 19 following the Tamil Nadu Government orders that all temple elephants be provided month-long rest in natural habitats.

The mahout's ploy of 'carrot and stick' paid with Srirangam temple elephant 'Andal' pushed aboard the vehicle after a hard struggle, while the Tiruvanaikoil temple elephant 'shanthi,' true to its name, got into the lorry without any fuss.

However, the Rockfort temple elephant refused to budge an inch and could not be coaxed to enter the vehicle leaving the authorities in a fix.