NISHAL AROSKAR
“Where there is love, there is life”, said by our great leader, Mahatma Gandhi. We’ll come across so many preachers and philosophers who conclude their teachings by telling us to love all humans despite all the flaws and negative energies we possess. We’ve grown up with lessons to love humans without discriminating on the basis of their race, religion, region and origin. The one question that follows; Are all these teachings only applicable to humans? What about animals?
Recently, it has been a trend rather than a responsibility to adopt animals and tame them as pets. May be because of the social media effect where we see rich people and celebrities pose with their furry, rare breed dogs. Alas! Like how we dream of having a certain person as our soul mate, we also decide what traits our pet will possess, beauty and race being the most crucial factors.
It is so much easier for people to spend thousands of rupees and buy a Rottweiler, a golden Retriever or even a Prussian cat. Unknowingly, it somewhat fuels our ego. But there are thousands of stray cats and dogs looking for shelter in the rain, searching for food in the dustbin and even dying under our vehicles; still left unnoticed at their state of misery. The skinnier their bodies emphasizing all their bones, the flatter their tummies, the more injured parts they carry, the more stones they are thrown at.
May God have mercy on us, but this is true. First of all, I ask, why do we even tame a pet? Is it out of real love? Or is it to portray to the world that we sacrificed thousands of rupees to add a new member to our family? Or is it so that it is easier and we are happier to take a Rottweiler for a morning walk over an almost dead, skinny, corpse of a body stray dog? May be because we wouldn’t get any likes on Instagram. It’s unbelievable how we tag even animals to our status.
It is tragic and very shameful on our part that we are putting labels and price tags on the collars of every animal depending on how “rich” the breed is.
It is not right on our part to link the breed of an animal to our status. On the contrary, these animals; beautiful, ugly, healthy, injured, classify all the human beings they encounter on the basis of love they receive from every individual. Food, shelter and love is all that they crave for irrespective to what race they belong and how shiny their fur is. They don’t care how big your house is, what car you drive, what your profession is.
If they do not care what our akin colour is, who are we to bring up all the differences? At the end of the day, all pets wait for owners to return home waiting for their warm embrace or a simple pat on their heads.
Every human is special, likewise, every animal is special. Every animal has ita own beauty. When we learn to love these stray animals despite all our tastes, we evolve as humans and also inspire our closed ones to so such deeds. The real connection builds up when you love an animal despite all features you don’t like.
Imagine a pregnant lady; homeless, hungry, all worn out roaming along the streets in pain looking for food and comfort. Our hearts would melt at such a sight. We would even be angry at God for being so harsh. But what we all forget is, the same way so many cats and dogs give birth to their new ones along the road, in the woods, dark secluded corners and then looking for food to feed their babies. Isn’t this and equally heart breaking sight? Some don’t bother to notice, some turn around their gaze to save themselves from guilt. Some are ruthless enough to hurt them.
Why are we so resistant towards adopting these animals? It is definitely not difficult to love them once we open up to them and allow love to be bidirectional. Let all your tastes and dislikes fade away. This is the time for change for the sake of safety of all animals and preserving mankind; because if we are kind to animals only then we are eligible to called as ‘Humans’.
