While in the US for
my Fulbright Teacher Exchange Program, I noticed and wondered at the fact that the animals there had more value to their
lives than human life in India.The fact that I did not see a single stray cat or dog there really amazed me! I attributed this to the difference between the
developed countries and the developing world. I thought we were too busy trying
to make two ends meet, improve our
lifestyle, fight the bad political system etc etc. A shocking incident later, today
I think we have no one to blame but ourselves!
I was at a stationary shop in the neighborhood market
getting a photocopy of a document I required for my daughter’s passport. I
noticed that the young boy at the
photocopier was interested in some activity that was going on in the corridor
in front of the shops, a few yards away. I turned to look and saw a group of men cheering and kicking
something around. I assumed they were playing a game. I paid the shopkeeper and
turned to walk back home. As I approached the group, I was shocked beyond
belief to see that the men were kicking around a mongoose, that must have
strayed into a shop. One of them gave the animal such a kick that he landed on
the bonnet of a car parked nearby. In the meantime, I had reached the venue of
this activity . The men looked at me sheepishly, and the mongoose took the
distraction for a fraction of a second to scamper away. I do not know if he
would have lived after the massive abuse at the hands of these men. I must add
here that these men were around eight in number and were in their 20s and 30s.
They were not immature youngsters or school going boys! Before I could blink,
they slunk away and just disappeared into the market, just like the mongoose.
In any case, their so called entertainment
was over!!!
I walked back home in a daze, kicking myself for not having
spoken. The least I could have done was to have given them a piece of my mind. The
poor animal has been in my mind since then. We humans destroy the natural habitat of so many creatures like this
mongoose, and when they stray into our homes or our neighborhood, because they
have no place to go, we either kick them or kill them.:(
We as a people do not respect and value our environment, our
trees, our wildlife, our pets and our
other resources, hence land up not valuing our own lives.
Today I have learned that no matter how much we may
progress, we will never add any value to
our lives unless we learn to value all the things that nature has given us,
which we take for granted!
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