On Dogs & Dog bites.

Dogs like any other animal are known to be peaceful beings unless provoked. Even a snake bites only when it senses danger to its own existence. 

Of late social media  especially WhatsApp is witnessing a trend of forwarding gruesome videos of dogs mercilessly attacking children. Nobody knows the origin of these videos, but same are being forwarded mostly with a tagline about consequences of feeding of stray dogs and a request to forward these videos as much as possible.

Sounds like some propaganda at play.

Amongst all animals, dogs are known to be very benign and loving when kept as a domesticated pet at home. Even as strays they are known for their attachment to human beings and unfailing loyalty to the hand that feeds them.

Every locality has its 'Kaalu' or 'Sheru' or 'Chotu' or 'Rani'  which in majority cases came to the locality as an abandoned puppy and was collectively adopted by the locals. As it grows into an adult, these stray dogs, not only display affectionate responses to the locals but also have unflinching loyalty to the premises, which perhaps may be more than the loyalty displayed  by the locals themselves for their premises. In such situations, an outsider may not always be welcome and the dog may bark. The outsider can be a delivery person, security guard or any random visitor new to the premises. If on such occasions the person concerned tries to show fear or agression over the area domination exercise of the dog, then the dog may turn violent and may even attempt to bite the intruder as part of its animal instinct. There is absolutely nothing wrong on the part of the dog if it is so provoked. Rather it is prudent for the human being blessed with superior thinking abilities, either to ignore the dog and confidently move ahead or to get acquainted with the stray rather than intimidate it. 

Another reason for stray dogs displaying attacking behaviour can be unpleasant memories of having been themselves attacked by human beings, or having been injured or having lost its kith or kin by being run over by a speeding vehicle. That's why we witness dogs running after vehicles in certain localities.

Left to themselves dogs will rarely attack human beings especially when they know that their very survival is due to us.

Coming to the appeals being made for stopping feeding of stray dogs, thought in the right perspective, isn't such an appeal equivalent to starving a living being to death? Does any religion on earth allow this?

If we as dominant human beings sitting pretty on top of the food chain as consumers, are to stop feeding other animals then what are such animals supposed to do? Sit quietly waiting for themselves to be starved to death, or will they not start attacking us more sensing danger to their very existence? 

And if we are to stop feeding dogs because they bite, shouldn't we also stop feeding cats, pigeons, birds, etc. etc. for the various risks they pose for our healthy existence. To think on extremes we should also stop feeding ruminants like cows and buffaloes as they produce toxic methane gas. Things can spiral unreasonably, if stopping of feeding of a dependant animal species is the way forward for ensuring safe living environment for us human beings.

And more importantly who has licensed us human beings to decide which type of living organism should survive and which one is to be eliminated?

Lastly, considering the sage advice that hunger is the root cause of all evil, how prudent is it to stop feeding a stray dog to ensure that it wont attack /bite? Conversely all that a well fed dog does is sleep peacefully. Isn't that more prudent?

Life comes full circle

As a child every person waits for the parent to be back home no matter which hour of the night it is. Mostly because, as a child one tends to look upto the parent as a Hero, without whom every childhood story remains incomplete. 

Years pass by and the child grows to be a young adult leading life on  own terms and conditions. Now it is the turn of the parent to look upto the child as a Hero, without whom every parents' story remains incomplete. 

Having a parent who is a workaholic and a social animal at the same time, can be really tough on a child. The world may go to sleep but the child remains wide awake each time the parent returns home late at night. Nagging fears abound in the young mind about something bad happening to the Hero which may turn each childhood story upside down.

Equally tough is life of parent of a  young adult, who over the years has forgotten the special bond that kept the child awake late nights. But as we say life is a great leveller wherein tables get turned and roles reversed. 

Now it's the turn of the parent to keep awake till the child has returned back home safe and sound. 

Ironies of life

No matter the travails a person has gone through in life, no matter how lonely one's old age was, no matter how much one longed for being comforted by loved ones in the dark final days of life, beyond life the bereaved do manage to pull out a more presentable image of the otherwise frail and hapless soul whose sufferings were perhaps not known to even the most loved ones. Seemingly a manifestation of our selfish selves and desire to absolve ourselves of having failed to some extent in providing succour to the departed soul when alive. 

No wonder, images of the departed souls,  which adorn walls of our homes, display a trace of bemusement on the face, as they benignly look down on us from the high pedestal we place them beyond their lives. 

Ironies of life.

Parental Dilemma

As a parent one always aspires for a child who could fly high. 

Right from the school days parents prod  children to perform better and be achievers in whatever they do. Be it sports or academics or co-curricular activities, every parent want their child to be the best. 

Come the career defining phase, again parents wish from the core of their heart that the child acquires a good professional qualification and secures a high flying career. 

Parents feeling helpless when they witness their child falling by the wayside in the intense rat race, is a common phenomenon. A good professional qualification is considered as the key to fat pay packets which in turn is considered to be the passport for a successful life. 

It is but natural for every parent to aspire for a secure life for their children. 

But as years pass by, parents grow old, and their debilitating health turns the apple cart upside down. 

Children who were fortunate to have secured a high flying career have loads of money but are devoid of time for their parents. 

Support  emanates from the lesser fortunate child, who fell by the way side in the rat race, and could not be a high flyer.

Paradoxical it may sound, but such lesser fortunate children provide the much needed succour to old aged parents in their sunset years.

At such a juncture, fortunate are the parents who were blessed with a lesser fortunate child, and unfortunate are those who have high fliers as their children and are left to the mercy of care givers in their old age.

Strange are the ways of life.

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Social distancing

The fad for catch words has seen every major event in history being linked to some tag-line. Be it 'Boston Tea Party' that symbolised the first major revolt of Americans against East India Co. or nearer home the famed 'Dandi March' that mobilised millions of native Indians against British colonialism, or the more recent 'Brexit' symbolizing the parting of ways of the United Kingdom with EU.

Same way the term 'Social distancing' appears all set to symbolise the global war against Covid-19. The term perhaps finds its origin in Sociology which defines 'Social distance' as the level of acceptance people have of others outside their own social group or class.

However, Covid-19 has forced mankind to impart another connotation to the term and refers to ability of one to maintain safe distance from another be it within his/her own group/class.

While such a narrow meaning of the term may be a bit harsh on us human beings, a bit of introspection may perhaps reveal that we have over the years been conditioned mentally to deal with the new calling, possibly because of lifestyles which we ourselves chose to adopt.

With better education came better job opportunities and financial independence, and so did the desire for personal space.  While the world shrunk with increased connectivity, individual mobility expanded multifold and resulted in four members of one family leading disparate lives at four corners of the world. While, virtual/online relationships saw new heights, meeting of one human with another in flesh and blood became rare. Even those who met mostly ended up as cases of familiarity breeds contempt, and chose to meet lesser often or simply stay away. Personal egos grew bigger than the roof shared, and need for individual space over shadowed all other needs. 

While the latter part of 20th century saw the concept of joint family getting replaced by that of nuclear family, the new millennium witnessed real time threat to the very concept of a family, with those living together either remaining glued to gadgets in the confines of their rooms within the same house, or choosing to live separately in different homes. With each person leading a hermit life, social distancing as seen in the present times was never a new concept and many had already adopted this as their chosen path.

But, human behavior says that we gladly adopt a way of life on our own choice. But when same is thrust upon us by way of compulsion, we always tend to revolt against it and start craving for the very opposite. 

Hope the present predicament makes us introspect on how far we drifted away from the concept of community living in the name of individuality. 

Hope Covid-19 makes us realise that we as human beings were never meant to be lone wolves, and never meant to fight our battles alone. We as human beings were always meant to live together and live for each other.

Growing up with a sister

Both of us were born free. Both of us were loved equally by our parents and perhaps being the first born she was more loved than me by my parents and relatives alike and was also more popular in the neighborhood. Both of us had a naughty and normal early childhood. Between us we never had any gender bias and I always expected her to climb trees with equal ease like my male friends and she too expected me to play "Ghar Ghar" with her and her female friends. But gradually things changed. She started being more reticent and mature. While I continued with my childish ways she started behaving more like my mother than my playmate. While she started admonishing me for playing beyond evening time with my friends, she herself would often get sermonised by my mother for her occasional attempts to relive the carefree childhood. No longer I got to see her wearing the frilly frocks that she used to wear till recently. She wouldn't be seen running around chasing a ball with gay abandon. Even if she did chase a ball, it would be an awkward attempt by her and the ball would appear to be teasingly beyond her reach. Very frequently she would be seen keeping to herself in a very irritable mood. The sudden change in her persona was beyond my comprehension and my curiosity to know what was wrong with her resulted in me getting branded as an intrusive pest. While the love between us remained unchanged there was a discernable change in the way we interacted and I drifted away from her to be more with my male friends beyond the four walls. While she silently fought her own battle and yet managed to evolve as a responsible adult I continued to be a child trapped in an adult body. While she found the daily dose of milk intolerable I continued to gorge on the same. While she  thought it fit to lend a helping hand to my parents in managing the household even in the midst of her career blues, I continued with my carefree and naughty ways, exploring my new found adulthood, blissfully unaware of how the family was being run. While she was consulted by my parents on major family decisions, I was allowed to sleep till late in the morning after late night outing with my teenaged friends. Eventually she with her half spent childhood matured much earlier than me and assumed her responsibilities well in time. Whereas, I with my extended childhood continued experimenting with my adulthood at the cost of my parents discomfort. It was much later in life that I realised how much of a childhood did she sacrifice only because she was the elder sibling and probably also because she was born  a girl. Guess same would have been the situation even if she was my younger sibling. Because boys rarely mature into a man and continue to be a pest for the women folk around. 

A big salute to all Behnas of the world on this special day for being the more capable and stronger sibling and for putting up with pests like me😊

Sanju - the saga of an errant son of an illustrious Dad

Like any other Raj Kumar Hirani movies, Sanju too stands out for a perfect casting as it Hallmark. Each character howsoever insignificant is cast so right and played so good that while leaving the theatre we carry memories of every character notwithstanding the length of footage. Like Sholay thats perhaps is the essence of good film making. 

Amongst the ensemble Ranbir stands out as he ought to be in the titular role. Once again he shows his pedigree and proves that he is the true heir to his illustrious ancestors and miles ahead of his compatriots. Inspite of his comparatively smaller body frame vis-a-vis the towering persona of the deadly Dutt, Ranbir manages to portray each and every nuance of the legendary Sanju baba swag to near perfection. Paresh Rawal does have a handicap in his Gujju diction but with his measured talk and equally measured walk he has brilliantly played late Dutt Saab. Nobody other than Manisha Koirala could have played late Nargis Dutt  better. Being  herself a cancer survivor her face with naturally worn out ageing looks adds to the gloom and trauma the Dutt family would have faced on the eve of release of Sanju Baba's debut film Rocky. While Boman Irani and certain other regular favorites of RKH do with their few moments on screen manage to remain in our memory, the real scene stealer is Vicky Kaushal as the US based Gujju friend of Sanju. Being a Kaushal he has to be a Punjabi or Hariyanvi. But the way he has played a heavily Gujju accented Hindi speaking naive friend of Baba is really praiseworthy. While Ranbir may walk away with best actor award this year, Vicky Kaushal definitely stands a strong contender for best supporting actor.

Overall the movie appears to be a tribute by RKH to late Dutt Saab and his family without whom there would not have been a Munna Bhai MBBS and RKH would have not have become a hot shot film maker overnight. Through this film RKH has given us a glimpse on the contribution of Dutt Saab in making Munna Bhai MBBS a reality.