'MERCIFUL' DEMONS

 

“Pappa please!”

“No beta, you’re too young for a dog! And ever, if we really were to have one, I would say, adopt one instead of buying.”

“Adopt?” “No pappaaaaaa I want a niiiiceeeee clean-clean cuteeeeee doggie!”

And still he won’t listen to me.

I puffed up, a ball of red, and ran my way to that little corner, all with a nice, about-to-reach-the-ground frown, as if I were on a strike, like “humaari maange poori karo”. And who can forget that puppy dog face we make when we want something. Arre, hume kam draamebaaz mat samjho aap.

Not-so surprisingly, my puppy dog face worked, as I could tactically let my vision out of my eyes and trace my dad’s facial lines,

“Ohkay…….fine…..we’ll take a dog” “khushhhhhh?????????”

I jumped up so damn high I could’ve literally hit my head on the ceiling, as if my home was a trampoline park.

No really, so high. … Seriously.

“Yeayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Papa, Labrador ha! please please please!!!!” I yelled at him,

 

“Haan baba labrador toh labrador. Aur kuch madam?”

 

“Naah ji naah aaj ke liya itna hi”

Nautanki toh humari bachpan ki dost hai.

.

.

.

Anyways,

If you didn’t figure this out, this was me, 9 years ago. As, Mercy (that being my dog’s name) is 9 now, and I love him so, so much.

Coming back to the point, this was me a few yrs ago, who thought loving animals simply meant having a classy, shining Labrador, and the term ‘animals’ was limited only to dogs, cats and sometimes fishes and turtles.

It would be my absolute pleasure to mock myself today, travel in the past and hit myself hard, for, about what I thought the love n affection towards animals really is, and how I let off my dad’s advice to adopt a helpless, innocent stray dog, give them a nice home,free from cruelty; instead of buying one, and indirectly increasing demands for imported ones.

Ugh, how stupid of me.

 

Today, we all can put up stories and posts if you see any, regarding animal cruelty with a few emojis, and yeah even I do, as it really does leave scars on our hearts and we certainly do feel sad and sorrowful,

But,

Uske aage kya?

And to make an entirely dogmatic point, why all the sorrow for cats and dogs and maybe a few other types of species, but not for pigs, birds, horses, hens, chickens and other insects? No I’m not being a little ‘too’ much; I’m not being over the top!

However, this might be true that we don’t have many encounters with the ‘other’ species, but I don’t have any fewer stories to tell. And may I tell you, whatever’s coming up ahead, it’s a little too harsh, filled with bloodshed and a lot of trauma, and reading it might not be a piece of cake for you, unless you’re indifferent. But, anyways, no pressure.

Toh ab aap ki ijazat ho toh, let’s, atlast have a sneak-peak on what lies beyond ‘Siberian huskies and Persian cats’ horizon.

Now, you may like dogs or not, but just imagine.  50 or 100s of stray dogs, are forced to gather on a road by people, all of them with their hearts missing a beat at every step they take, are all shot down, or, cut-through one by one, as if it were a virtual game, and the road flooding with the innocent blood. All of their bodies, lying on on top of the other, stacked up, and left to rot in some corner.

You think I’m making stuff up? Here’s the link. Mass killing of stray dogs . Look for yourself. And don’t forget to see the images.

Arre dekho na!

Accha achha baad mein dekho.

 

 But why all this?

Because stray dogs are a menace, are filthy, they roam around garbage, cause infections and have become overpopulated. So killing them is the apt solution. Nice.

But no, we won’t go and seek the truth, we won’t meticulously analyse what conditions they live in, why is it that way?

Simple as this.

Dogs don’t get food easily. They have to linger around filth and dirt, searching for food, searching for life. They thus, become easily prone to infections, and to push it up the notch, people pelting them with stones 24/7 for absolutely nothing,  and they, consequentially and pretty obviously, become aggressive, and bite people, but again, only if they cause harm.  Where’s the solution here? Give them food, treat them nice.

Naah. But yeh log mass killing karenge. Itna kaun sochega na unke baare mein.

Anyways.

The world doesn’t stop here. As I said, I don’t have any fewer stories to tell. Aur yaha tak pohoch hi gaye ho, toh Delhi door nahi hai, aage padh hi lo. Accha hai.

 

So, I don’t know how many of us have felt bad for those hens and chickens at that mutton shop near us, but that’s not the end. I’ll tell you.

Crores of little, male chickens, at big factories, as they don’t lay eggs, are thrown into grinders. 

G-R-I-N-D-E-R-S, if you read that right. Which have blades, which crush stuff. Alive chickens are just thrown in them, allowed to pass through those bloodshed-machines, and turned into meat. Meat, for the country, for the world.

What about hens? Unhe toh acche se cage mein rakhte hoge na?

Reality might hit differently.

100s and 1000s of hens are stuffed in tiny battery-cages, rather, oxygen-deprived cages, left to live literally in their own shit, stinking, with their hearts screaming out for life, but we don’t find that a big deal right?

Okay for a big deal now.

Roosters, which are less profitable, are sometimes crushed alive.

Broiler chickens are pumped with a 'reckless' cocktail of antibiotics and steroids for inhumanely boosting the growth rate. Pretty obviously, their bodies fail to keep up and handle the steroid overdose, their organs start to fail, even get crippled and paralysed, and most often die of heart attacks.

And to twist the knife in the wound, to make it worse,  governments of different countries are banning ‘feeding steroids to cattle’ not coz they are horribly affected, but for the people not to fall ill due to those shitty antibiotics.

I mean. Wow.

 

And it’s still not the end.

 

Hey you remember how we used to ride on horses at fairs? How fun it used to be right? (Except the fact I sat only once and never again, anyways)

We used to pay money for that… money, for their pain and suffering, which were again overlooked for our own gratification. Ever looked deep in any horse’s eyes? Ever have you ever seen eternal happiness there? Ever?

Wonder why?

Chemicals and mechanical devices are used to pierce through and cause pain to their front feet when they touch the ground, so that when they touch the ground they could run faster than they usually do. Those horseshoes are literally battered in their feet. Imagine if nails are screwed up our feet and being forced to run that way for our entire life without getting a say in it. And we pay money to have a ride on these horses.

 

Bohot serious ho gaya kya? Accha achha thike.

Birds sound like a relief then?

 

Oh… it does not? Waise kyun?

 

Some who buy birds, I apologise beforehand, but isn’t their freedom important?  Is their purpose in life, just to repeat your words, or look out through the window and see other birds, flying free out there? In some cases, wings of birds are amputed, to disable their flight and become immobile.

And we don’t stop here.

 In enormous factories, immediately after birth, birds are fed excess food, forcibly, by stuffing a huge pipe in their beaks and gushing food through it, more than what they might usually eat.  And why, to boost up growth. Oh sorry, I meant economy.

 

Let’s enter farms, shall we?

Pigs, after birth, are forced to have their tails amputed to control their aggression. Their teeth are clipped; they are at times chopped, for pig meat. In cattle, for identification purposes, hot, burning iron is pressed on cows buffalos and others, called branding. Their horns are chopped off, their ears, noses are pierced and wired through, and many are slaughtered by electrocution or simply are beaten to death.

And still I wouldn’t say this is the end. But I think enough bloodshed for today.

 

Majority of us might know all this, but then “hum akele kya karenge?”

Arre kyun nahi?! Bohot kuch ho sakta hai! Kar ke toh dekho!

 

The older generations might be tough to bring about changes in, but what about us? What about today’s kids?  Can we at least show them all this cruelty bubbling like soda everywhere in this world?

Let’s at least do this. Our peers, juniors, little brother-sisters, lets show them the reality instead of huskies and Persian cats. Instead of trying to transform opinions, let’s inspire mindsets. Then it would be upto them, what to do and what not to. But at least start now. I might’ve changed around at least 4 people, and certainly there’s a lot to come.

 

To all my dear nonveg-lover-friends, I apologize beforehand, once again, but please let’s be practical and logical enough.

Please introspect, do you really really really, need nonveg. Are you so badly in need of proteins? If yes, fine. But if no, try to gradually reduce. Think of the suffering, the pain. If there are alternatives, why choose nonveg? Why choose weekend nonveg parties? This would be my personal humble request to everyone, think, and not only think, please please please self-analyse your thoughts repeatedly.

When you see stray animals anywhere, try to feed them, whatever possible. They’ll eat anything, remaining chapatti, biscuits, anything. No one’s asking you for pedigree. And treat them nice and sweet, once, try to look deep in their eyes, with love, with compassion. If you’re afraid, at least don’t hit them. They’re like you, like me. They’re living beings.

 

This is the least that we can do on the personal level.

But what can we do altogether?

It again requires personal contribution. All this takes place due to ‘DEMAND’. Increasing demands, increasing cruelty and bloodshed. Let’s reduce our ‘wants’ and once and for all look for our ‘needs’.  If we reduce our demands, supply will decrease too, and gradually, over decades or maybe centuries, this might come to an end. But it needs us, not to procrastinate, but to take quick actions. Have a talk at our homes, convey to relatives and friends. Don’t miss a chance to create opinions regarding this and convey them too.

Even if, 3-4 people change their habits, because they are truly convinced with the reality, that chain will hopefully continue.

I personally went through the ‘prevention of cruelty to animals act 1960’ , noted a hell lot of things,and I humbly request you too, to go to through it once, as I have added the pdf link above. See for yourself, how the fine for cruelty ranges from mere ₹10 to ₹50. How even in the act, cruelty to cattle is not considered as cruelty, but as ‘necessity’.

Certainly, laws are present, but how strong are they?

As per the laws, pelting stones at stray animals is a crime, but how we witness myriad of such instances on a daily basis.

I beg you to have a look.

 

A few articles, if you wish to research-

Cruelty on the rise

Animal cruelty news

Animals- the right to live without pain

Humans losing humanity

 

 

What else can you do if you witness cruelty to animals? Click here.

 

 

Let’s not always think about the world being a better place, hypothetically.  These are all simple things, we just have to change a few things and inculcate in ourselves. Let’s be humans for once, and not demons.

Let’s be humans for once and not demons, I repeat.