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| Be Kind To Animals |
"The worst sin towards our fellow creatures is not to hate them, but to be indifferent to them; that's the essence of inhumanity." ~ George Bernard Shaw
It was very disturbing to know that the street dog who had been battling for his life since last week, having suffered severe burn injuries on the Diwali night, breathed his last this morning. Some miscreant had tied a bunch of crackers on the poor dog's tail and set them alight. It is beyond my comprehension as to how can people be so stone-hearted and brutal towards voiceless innocent souls? What pleasure do they derive from torturing animals? Sadly, not many people try to listen to and understand a speechless creature's heart. That's the problem.
In any case, Diwali can be a very stressful time for animals, especially those who live on the streets. They are not used to such high decibel sounds of the bursting crackers, they run around scared looking for a safe and sound-free place to spend the night, but given our fascination for fire-crackers, they don't find one. Even the pets remain highly disturbed on the Diwali night, some of them becoming so anxious that they skip their meals altogether. In worst cases, some animals and birds even suffer cardiac arrest due to the shock from bursting firecrackers and die.
Two years back while in Delhi, I remember spending the Diwali evening with my street dog-friends Bholu and Kali. They lived in my colony and since I used to feed them regularly and play with them, we had become good friends. On Diwali as the evening wore on, I went out looking for them. However, I couldn't find their mother Laali and the other colony dogs, they had, in all probability, already hidden themselves somewhere but the two poor dogs were left behind. As people started burning crackers, the noise of the explosions sent Bholu and Kali scurrying for cover, they were running scared hither and thither.
Dogs have extremely sensitive ears and so they find it practically impossible to stand the loud noise of the crackers. Somehow I managed to bring them home and closing all the doors and windows, I played some light instrumental music. That helped in soothing their nerves somewhat. In the meantime, I also gave them belly rubs so to help them relax and bring them back to their playful selves. Luckily I had a few Amazon/Flipkart carton boxes with me - those were their favourite playthings. They just loved to chew on the boxes and tearing them apart. So I gave them those carton boxes and newspapers. They were also fond of wrestling :D One would often find the brother-sister duo being busy in wrestling with each other. Luckily the instrumental music could prevail over the loud noise outside and the two dogs remained busy and distracted, playing with each other and the boxes. Finally when they got tired, they fell asleep.
It's not as if I have put myself on a high pedestal and trying to dictate terms to others as to how to live, whether to burn crackers or not, what to do and what not to do. Let me reiterate that this is not a "me holier than you" duel nor am I trying to take a moral high ground. Some people opine that Diwali is a one day affair, so those being inconvenienced by the din of the firecrackers should put up with it. Everyone of course is within their rights to celebrate any festival in any which way they like, but provided that their celebration isn't affecting others in a wrong way, as long as their action isn't causing any discomfort and inconvenience to others.
It doesn't take much to be compassionate towards animals, to be considerate towards them. Believe me, it was such a satisfying feeling seeing the two innocent dogs safe and sleeping peacefully. It surely was one of the best Diwali evenings I have ever had.
Animals love us not just because we feed them, or shelter them or play with them or walk them, or groom them, or protect them, but more so because they can feel Love, they understand Love and they value Love :) If only we could look inside their hearts!
