Sunday 4 August 2019

Chennai dogs and dog owners.

This pomeranian. Was abandoned by its presumably well off owners. A month ago. It moped for a week, refused food which local small shopkeepers gave.
Then slowly made terms with the fates. And started searching for food in dustbins.

Rummaging in the garbage. Seeking survival. In the drastically changing currents of life.

Now this homeless man who lives in ths cart, sustains himself and the dog.
I hang my head whenever I pass them.
Me and my class are the scrouge of this earth.
The poor sustain this earth..with their goodness.
 



We were returning by cycle, late evening now. Suddenly a skinny white dog started jumping on us. Then we recognized it as the stray from the end of our street.
This was 4 km away, and the only way she could have come to this unfamiliar alien territory could be by running here in sheer terror. Diwali crackers.
We walked back with her and she slunk behind us, tail between her legs and shivering. Terrified of crackers. Of the snarling unfamiliar dogs objecting to her presence.
What are we doing this to them for ? To prove our right to our traditions ? To burst crackers ??
Traditions need to be collectively re examined and redefined. Otherwise it is idiocy and self obsessed behavior. Definitely not tradition. In its best meaning.



Heavy heavy rains. We left the gates open at night. 3 streeties crept in and curled in dry corners. Their tails wag when we go to check, despite their being chilled to the bones.
We just needed to throw some newspapers around them. And put some rice and milk in a bowl. We did not do anything more.
When the rains cease they'll go away. After a shared existence of a day/two.
We are all here for a few hours, days, decades. And then we leave. Its only for that brief period that we can open the doors to help another.

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