Petish

To wonder about humans is my favorite pastime activity these days. I don't consider myself inhuman / sub-human / alien - however the differences between breeds within humans is quite stark today. A couple of incidences have led to this post write up.






Incident 1
7:30 am on slightly sunny Bangalore morning. I took my pup for a walk. To beat the mundane activity as well as keep sleep away, I had headphones blaring with Classic English Rock music in my ears. Felt the rock-shock would enliven me and put in an instant good mood.

When  the lift reached the 12th floor, I saw a man and child enter. There was some delay on account of the child being scared of my pup. But the man forced the child to enter. All of this happened in a dumb  charade format for me as I had the music in my ears.

Suddenly I saw the ratty man (his teeth jutted out and  a scowl hung low on his face as if tattooed on by a permanent marker) address me - angrily and loudly enough to pervade the sanctity of my noise cancelling head phones.

As I took my headphones, the man continued ranting. My groggy state made registration of his chaff - in slow motion.  He kept glowering at my innocent pup and asked me why I had to go take her out during school time. My pup chose that exact moment to stand up and sniff at the man. To which, he took particular offence and nastily kept telling its wrong to take pups out when school kids are in the same elevator too.

By now, my anger system kicked in - the boiling point reached. I snapped at him equally ferociously and told him that he had entered the cargo lift where there was no time allotment to take pups out. Cargoes are meant for pets - rest of the 2 lifts for humans. Since he was so concerned about his child's safety, he should have taken the passenger lift instead of blaming an innocent pup for her form and state.

He even said "It should be leashed." I do take offence at relegating animals to a third gender - they are gendered as us. I corrected him saying "Its her. Its a she. And she is very well leashed" dangling the leash end in front of his bumbly nose. Along with his teeth, his mouth too hung open now. I am not sure what angered him - my talking back or the fact that veracity was definitely on my side. He was on the wrong footing where the grass lay barren and not green.

The pup in question sensed something off and lay at my feet. I risked a look at the child - his small stricken face showed up from beneath the cap he was wearing. My heart went out for the poor boy with the ill-mannered father. I pointed out the man's rudeness and called him out for talking rudely with a girl so early in the morning - that too in front of his child. These were surely not the values his son would have wanted to inherit from his ratty father.

The ratty snappy cantankerous man, at a loss for words, stepped out when the lift hit Basement level.

It felt good standing up for your child - pup or human doesn't matter - the bond is what foretells your own responsibility towards your ward. It felt great to call out a man for being rude - and pointing out clear facts than let him create facts. Men may feel they have the upper hand on women, sneering and jeering with palpable disdain - its good to put them in place.



Incident 2
Each tower of the society complex have their individual groups on WhatsApp. We keep checking for maid related updates, sales of certain home items or any requests that we neighbors can help each other with. One evening, a neighbour, messaged in a very angry tone, complaining bitterly about dogs being taken in passenger lift too. She was steadfast about maintaining the distinction and dignity between species - humans of course were more privileged and had access to all lift while dogs can only use the cargo elevator. All that's well - but in situations of lift out of service, it becomes imperative for the human to be humane too. While all the neighbors - most of whom practiced 'love thy neighbor' except for our angry lady here, volleyed back and forth in support of the dog rights, it marveled me to imagine the deceit and conceit that finds space in the core of the heart. How can one be so insensitive / inhuman to place a barrier on what's accepted / not because of species difference. Why can't we all live in harmony - helping one another out, instead of bearing grudges to our graves?

These incidents made me wonder about who or what is human today? Is a human privileged because of its bipedal status and its earning capacity? So in that case human is all about mind and no heart? Where is the humanity - that shows love to all forms of life - celebrates life?

Dogs are with us for such a short lifespan - what is really being human enough to discriminate?
Live and Let Live! Slowly humanity rings its own death knell bell - live and let live or love and let love - these concepts only belong to a select few. Sadly.