Apr 16, 2008

If you can't Love 'em, dont Hurt 'em!

Disclaimer: I'm not a member of the PETA. I am not one of those vegan or whatever people as well. I am just an emotional, Animalitarian pet-lover.

Opening Speech: (At the expense of being ridiculed for sounding like a 5-year old, I'm gonna say this) "I have a dog. Her name is Chintu. I love my Chintu very much. I love all dogs very, very much. They are very nice, sweet and playful. They are very loyal animals. They are much better than most ****ing humans. Infact, all animals are better than those ****ing humans. Thank you."

It's true. Animals are far superior to the on-the-top-of-the-food-chain bunch. They may not have as much grey matter or white matter or whatever, but they definitely have a lotta heart matter and that's what we lack. Or atleast quite a few of us. Picture these:

Scene#1: At Dad's factory
Sounds of whimpering in the air. Like someone crying. Dad gets out of the car and looks around and finds a scrawny dog a little further. The dog looks up and Dad sees red. Nope, not anger, blood. The dog's eye is gouged out entirely and it was holding it up with its paw. Pushing the flesh in and it came falling back. Again in, and then down. And then it bent low and went back to whimpering. An absolutely appalled Dad asked someone what happened and the man told him that some sadistic, sad-ass fucker beat it with a stick. Cruel?

Scene#2: My Home
My lil Chintu darling is a harmless 4 yr old German Shepherd. And when I say harmless, I mean she's probably a million times more scared of you than you are of her (you => those of who are scared of dogs). All she does is spend her time in the garage looking out through the gate, catch flies and a lotta sleep and enjoy all the attention we smother her with. Now does this little innocent thing, behind the gate deserve to be stoned? Many a (moronic) passer-by has, chumma, for the heckuvit, picked up a huge stone and thrown it at her. At times, it would merely created a loud twang against the metal gate, while at other times it would get into the gap in the gate and hit her. And she'd be limping for a while after that. Heartless?

Scene#3: Footpath outside Vivekananda college
Eeyore maybe a hero, and maybe the Donkey in Shrek, but the ones found here are not even close. Tiny, cute things (I'm not being girly, baby donkeys are really, REALLY adorable) with shrivelled bodies and that dazed, bored expression, staring up at nothing, and then down at nothing again, too lazy to move, too lazy to even turn their head. Feeding on some scraps of paper thrown at them from time to time. Mean?

Scene#4: Bahrain
*Thwank* Mom rushes to the balcony and sees a tiny pigeon fluttering its wings trying to get away. Mom gets closer and it flutters furiously but unable to move. Mom lifts it up and gently smoothes its feathers and she notices its wings are safety-pinned together. Atrocious?

If you nodded your head vigorously and answered YES to the above questions, then Congrats, you have a heart. If you answered No, with a so-what-? expression, turn to the wall and lower forehead towards the wall with full force and repeat the action 100 times. If you can't, let me know, I'd be glad to do the honours.

The World is indeed a small place. The idiots are everywhere. Everytime I find a stone in the garage, I feel lava flowing through my veins. When I rush out to see the perpetrators, more often than not, it would be a bunch of young boys laughing and back-slapping away. I've tried screaming & cursing but they just mouthed obscenities back. No point talking to a wall, no?

There are manyyyyy people who don't really like animals. It's a matter of choice. I have a best friend who doesn't enter my place even now unless (baby) Chintu is tied up. It's because she had a real bad dog-bite experience once in her childhood and she's paranoid till date. Such incidents may cause rationality to take a back seat and that's understandable, but to go ahead and hurt those vaay-illada jeevans (mouthless creatures, or rather voiceless creatures) makes Cruella DeVille look like an angel.

Having a pet is really one of the best things ever. Watching them prancing around, doing their silly antics is a total stress-buster. Everytime I enter the gate, my (not so) lil Chintu greets us with a huge jump and a slurpy kiss. Even if she isn't well, she would walk up slowly, with her tail wagging away to glory behind her and stretch out her neck for a pat. If that isn't unconditional love, then I don't know what is.

Animals are intelligent. Period. Animals are loyal. Period. Animals are the best companions. Period. If you don't agree, fine. But If you can't love 'em, please, don't hurt 'em!

33 comments:

SK said...

Hey Preeti,
Beautiful post.
When I read the first incident at your Dad's factory, I almost had tears in my eyes.
I am not sure why some folks dont like animals. Even though I have never owned a dog, what with both parents working, no one was at home to have a dog, my heart skips a beat everytime I see a dog, outside wherever we go, or even on TV for one of those dog food ads.

In US dogs are sometimes treated with more respect and love, than human beings! We can talk abt a whole different issue, of how humans love animals more than fellow humans, but thats not related to this post.

Anyway, I had two cats, and fishes, (nice combo I know!) they were manageable, when I was living alone for a year or so. I absolutely adored them. It was soo much fun to watch them play around, curious of everything at home. I miss them a lotttttt.

Acho too long a comment. :--)

Narendra shenoy said...

Beautiful post! I share your outrage at mindless cruelty. I can understand people killing animals for food but cruelty for the sake of it? Mindless!

Most of us abhor cruelty because we emphathise with the creature and imagine ourselves in its position. That, I fancy is normal. What chills me is the fact that so many of us do not have that capacity.

Winds of Change said...

whoa!
dat wuz crazyyyy...especially the pigeon part....dat wuz truely atrocious!!...bout dogz....wel im very scared cuz ive been chased twice! n i cudve died.....REALY!....n i wuz petrified of chintu initialy..but these dayz...even if she comez close to me n sniffs me often i jus dont get scared cuz shez truely harmless....one dog dat im realy not scared of.....n shez realllllllly cute!....but thrz jus one single thing i cant tolerate...the lick! ..guez id take sum more time to like dogz dat much..heehee.....newayz....yeah sum ppl r seriously cruel to animalz...dats really sad. they hav to b treated the same way for them to realise!

lotsa luv
u kno who

busy-writer said...

hmm, whoaa, the incident at your dad's factory is crazily pathetic! whoaa.. I am not a lover of animals, I do not hurt em either.

animals---------------------------busywriter.

we're far away.

err, and yeah i did answer only yes-es throughout! :)

wish people would stop bein unreasonably, unnecessarily, for-the-fun-of-it mean!
nicely written post. :)

Anonymous said...

"...most ****ing humans. ....than those ****ing humans"

HuH! Which 5 yr old uses ***ing;).

I hate dogs, cats and all forms of pets. In any case, I think there is to much of injustice being done to humans to start worrying about the injustice (all the above mentioned are cruel) done to animals.

So I think we should first set right the situation for people. Maybe when we do have a Utopian society we can consider making it better for animals.

-Ok

skeptic saint said...

wondeful post...

i love pets...what you have said about watching their silly antics being a stress buster is so so true...i had a wonderful dog n afterwards a lovely cat...i loved them both...i have promised myself, the day i get my own flat, i would like get a horde of pets for myself...

and yeah for those illtreat animals, your exercise ll surely do them good...

Confounded-Lady said...

I sort of echo a bit of BW and OK.

Animals should be left alone, yes. But sometimes its pathetic how even humans are treated like vaai-ilaada-jeevans.

Its indeed a cruel soceiey we live in. Very inhuman (pun intended)

Anonymous said...

Have you considered the possibility that they are throwing stones at the dog so that the could get a glimpse of its owner.;)

Sigh! Its indeed a surpise how I am single. I can come up with 10 such corny lines in like a second:).

-Ok

--xh-- said...

*vigorously noding head to all the points* hurting poor animals is sadisam... pets r fun to have and be around with...but somehow, i never got myself to the next stage than petting animals @ friends places... if i can have any pet of my choice, it will be a snake :-)

the people who did that atrocities towards the doggie and pegion.. cant even fanthom the depths of curality... sigh!

nice post da...

Keshi said...

Lovely heartfelt post Preeti!

Yes, if u cant love em, dun hurt em. ppl u can be just neutral towareds em cant ya!

I dun like ppl who hurt innocent animals. It makes me very angry.

Keshi.

Nirmal said...

hwy nice post..i dont have a pet but i dont hurt any animals....
its really sad.......
there is a nice saying

REAL MAN NEVER HURTS ANIMALS.....

Superficial Gibbering prater said...

In a country where human beings are treated far worse.I am not able to totally relate to the compassion in your post.

However i accept "even if u dont love them,dont hurt them" is a totally agreeable idea.

Anonymous said...

I am somewhere betwee ok, busy writer and mayth! I've never ill treated or thrown stones at a dog. But I am quite scared. So I just avoid, like your friend.

The Silent Waffler said...

There are a number of Marquis de Sades at home too... They keep dogs/cats/fish as pets and never give them food, water, clean their kennels or tank... These pets, sometimes I'd feel, would have been better off loitering in the streets or seas than suffer within the four walls of a mansion with a merciless master...

Anonymous said...

well i know wat it means to come bk home n get licked all over ur face by ur doggie.as for as kids pelting stones there are a lot many really cant do anything b'ut it

wrt PETA,SPCA ....its all a sham(am talking from my experience with them)

Preeti said...

@SK: Oh no, definitely not too long a comment... Nice :) It really is a whole different issue on how people love their animals much more than others...Man, u should see the japs! Indulgence is an understatement! :)

@Shenoy: Yea, cruelty for the sake of it...It jsut makes me 'pop a few veins' in our beloved Drenched's language :)

@Ruby: Yea, Chintu is the best isn't she? And the licking...don't worry, u'll get used to it... ;)

@Buji: I'm still recoverin from the attack ;)

@Busy gurl: I understand...Infact, my dad and animals are like that ---------- too...It's all about tolerance...

@OK: That ****ing was meant to be anomaly ;) and at the stoning to catch our attention theory...even if tat is true, bad idea...i'd never go for a guy who throws stones at my dog!

@Skeptic: Glad u agree :) n thnx for droppin by :)

@Mayth: Cruelty to ppl is a different thing altogether...My point: If ppl wanna fight to prove their bravery, they should pick someone their size!

@xh: Pet snake???Lemme know when u gt it, id like to come and see :)

@Keshi: Thnx gurl :)

@Nirmal: Yea, how true...

@Superficial: Compassion mustn't be compartmentalized...It pains me to see that there are people here who still feel that hurting animals is bad, but it's ok compared to ppl undergoin it...Why must we segregate compassion..??If you feel it truly, it must be for all fellow LIVING things, irrespective of animal or human...

@Gradwolf: Fear is ok, hatred too is ok, but noone has the right to hurt another person, whthr it be a person or an animal...I do not agree when anyone (including OK) says, First let's make the world a better place for humans and then for animals...Please read comment above too...

@Kumar: Glad u agree too...I've heard abt the PETA and SPCA enough as well to understand that they don't realy do what they say they do...Sad...

Superficial Gibbering prater said...

On your comment on why compassion should not be compartmentalized.Well to begin with,the supposed "unconditional Love " tat one shows towards his/her pets is very self centric.It has reasons like Stress buster..Loyal friend etc..etc(reference to this can be found from ur own post) ..the genuine humane concern one has for say starving people or for children with no/poor access to education is on at totally different plane altogether.

I still maintain that hurting animals for sadistic pleasure is a NO--NO..But my view remains there are more important things which demand attention.Prolly this should be last on the list(maybe never in the list,Depends on whose list it is !!).

I guess we can agree to disagree on which is of higher priority

Unknown said...

You voiced whatever I've been trying to yell for so many years! I can't understand what people get from hurting animals. What is it? Sadistic feeling of being "powerful"? The feeling that they can hurt animals who are helpless? WHAT?
Ever since I can remember I have always fed the stray street pups/dogs no matter where I am living. My mom, who's never let me have a dog because she thinks it's too much responsibility would make sure that she makes extra chapatis or she'd take out the bread slices for me to give to them every night. Where I live now, I can't find any such dogs but earlier, I'd seen the neighbouring kids telling me it's dumb. There was TWELVE-year old who said it'd be better if they starved to death 'cos they were "nuisance" (they used to sit in the parking and catch flies and wag their tails).
And people who blame old dog-bites for their fear/hatred of dogs, I don't get them. I have been bitten thrice in childhood by the same dog. I still love dogs and most dogs love me. (The one which bit me was just a pathetic, jealous Pomerian bitch. It didn't like the fact that its owner, my dad's elder brother, used to give a 5-year old cutie-pie Drenched more attention. :P)
People tell me I'm dumb to be a staunch vegetarian. (I refused to eat non-veg abroad too, even though I didn't know how to cook and the alternative meant 2942975835 types of cheese sandwiches only.) I don't care about that. I once saw a chicken getting killed in a meat shop. It put me off the whole thing forever. My dad is so proud of me...and my mother thinks I'll die because of my "abnormal" diet one of these days.

And donkeys! OMG! I have the same feelings for horses too! Have you seen the owners of horse carts cruelly belting them? I can't help turning my face away because I know I can't do anything else. The poor horse has to run even if it has been hurt. Someday, when I take over the world, I'll get all these animals released.

"If you answered No, with a so-what-? expression, turn to the wall and lower forehead towards the wall with full force and repeat the action 100 times. If you can't, let me know, I'd be glad to do the honours."
Hahahahaha! Great! Can I help out too? :D :D :D

Preeti said...

@Superficial: I don't think I would agree with to disagree with ur view...

How can you even say that Compassion is self-centric???What kind of a skewed logic is that? I think you would next say that a person is in love because they want to feel loved???! And, EXCUSE ME, but i said that unconditional is what a PET gives it's owner...u wouldn't know because u don't want/need one...but even with a kid, they become spiteful if u scream at them, howveer, if u try and scream at a dog, the next second it would come bak to u with the same love as before...

I'm still flabbergasted at u saying that I would shower love on my dog because i would 'use' it as a stress buster! Whr on earth do u gt a view like that!??! That is probably a reflection of hw you view relationships- whthr with an animal or whoever...

*the genuine humane concern one has for say starving people or for children with no/poor access to education is on at totally different plane altogether*

Nope, it is the same...I would cry the SAME amount of tears if i see a person in pain or an animal in pain...i will maintain COMPASSION CANNOT BE COMPARTMENTALIZED...Either u feel it or u dont...

Maybe that's why ur tag reads "Superficial.."

Preeti said...

@Drenched: Right now, gurl, I LOVE U! (Hell with whoever says anything corny) I'm in that vein-popping situation rite now...Please read above comments for reference...And your comment (and ofcourse the others)has just reiterated that r ppl in the World with a heart...

ARRRGHHH!

Anywayz, baby horses are absolutely adorable too....I forgot to mention it...there used to be a stable near my place in Bahrain and it was a pity to see those poor things suffer the way they did...

And I feed the stray dogs too...Outside this supermarket here, there are these 2 ultra-cute scrawnyyyyyyy dogs...me and my sis named them Itchy & Scratchy...We don't know which one is which, but they both r sooo darn cute!

I repeat...I LOVE U and all the other fellow-compassionate souls!

Preeti said...

@Superficial again: U have a right to ur views, you don't like animals, you think humans r more important, TOTALLY fine...but PLEASE don't say that my reasons for compassion are based on what i get back in return...I would prefer it if u keep ur statements on U and not on ME...Thank you!

Prathi:-) said...

Kudos gurl!!!!
as in, wch really conked guy would thnk we wud use the love of our pet... or the pet itself as a stress buster????? wht the hell??? as u said... dts probably hw he treats his relationships... wth whoever or whtever...

and abt ur blog???? di... i swear... i soooooooo agree wth u... d very first fav movie of mine is "hallo"...
and i alrdy told u abt this...
i had been to blue cross on velechery smtime last week... trust me... i had tears in my eyes...
the whole time in the ride back home... i kept thinking... is there any way... that i cud do smthng...???? as in...

imagine a small 20X20 cage... and some 30 to 50 puppies in there?????
the same case for kittens????
and the entire place has a some ten fifteen dogs... that are "passive" and have been operated on... some of them had such bad injuries!!!! some limping.... some hurt in their face... or body... gosh.... it was pathetic... some of them were soooo thin.... it was allll soooooo sad... :(
and these puppies??? they were jus soooo cute... they kept calling out... looking at our faces wth this really sad look on their face....

Some are from very good breeds also… I really wish more n more people wud go n adopt pets from there… they also have cages for rabbits… pigeons… parrots… cows… donkeys…
I must say one thing tho…
P3… if its possible plz jus add a small note in ur blog saying if anyone could go to blue cross… n give food… dt will be more than generous… trust me… di.. If anyone is uncomfortable about donating money… its okie… jus go get a pack of bread… n give it to the keepers there… or some fruits… or some milk… anythng…

Dts jus some of the thngs I wanted to say…
Nwz… nice blog di…. Very touching…

Love u di:)

Unknown said...

Superficial Guy:
"unconditional Love " tat one shows towards his/her pets is very self centric.
Preeti mentioned her own dog in the very end. Look at the examples she gave. They were all about the stray animals which people are heartelessly cruel to. So, the "self-centric" love doesn't come here. The compassion that makes a person give food to a hungry, starving child is the same compassion which makes the same person tend to a badly injured stray dog.
As for unconditional love being self-centric and other yada yada, you give me one example as to which love is NOT self-centric. Why do our parents love us? Because we're their children, a part of them. No matter how we behave, at the end of the day, we know that our parents will love us, accept us. Why do they do that? Same reason. Unconditional love, which you prefer to call "self-centric". Even in a romantic relationship, why do we want to stay with a person? Because we feel happy with them, we think that person is our true soulmate/the one/whatever. Same goes for siblings. Same goes for friends. Every kind of love is self-centric, just that people don't call it that because it makes it sound selfish and low.

And for all the people who are saying that we should solve the world's other problems first: Is it too much of an effort to speak out against cruelty when you see it happening in front of you? And like Preeti said, you can't compartmentalise compassion. Either you feel it, or you don't. And if everyone starts thinking this way about every issue that's there, we'd never resolve anything. "Oh, human rights abuses in India or China or wherever? No, no, let us concentrate on starving African kids only.", "Oh, starving African kids? No, no, let's first solve the problem of AIDS epidemic.", "Oh, AIDS epidemic? No, no, forget this one for the time being. Let's first talk about the high infant mortality rate."
I could go on and on about this. Bottomline: You can't ignore or sidetrack an issue just by saying that it's not important enough for the time being.


@Preeti: Sorry, couldn't resist this comment to Superficial and the others.
I love you too! :D :P

Superficial Gibbering prater said...

Looks like I have got on ur nerves(@drenched and preeti).I certainly "did not" say lets not talk about creulty to animals.I was throwing in another perspective that somehow the kindness to vai-illada-creatures is over romanticised,thats all.Period.

@drenched ::to say all "love" is self centric is another discussion in itself

Quote from ur comment::" Every kind of love is self-centric, just that people don't call it that because it makes it sound selfish and low.
"

Hmm..Should i call it hypocrisy then ,when we know what we are doing ,but just dont accept because it may "sound" as selfish to some one ????

I Dont know...but perspectives can differ.
@preeti::i certainly dont want to comment on your love for animals.I said in my very first comment that ,I couldn't totally relate to the compassion that u share.That is all, So I do speak only for myself.Period.

Unknown said...

@Superficial:
"Hmm..Should i call it hypocrisy then ,when we know what we are doing ,but just dont accept because it may "sound" as selfish to some one ????"

You didn't get it. What I meant to say was that from a cynical point of view, every love is self-centric and from any regular human's point of view, it's just love, unconditional and fulfilling. It's not about sounding selfish. I say I love my parents. Why? Because they're MY parents, because they give in to MY whims, because they love ME, because they will always accept ME as I am. It's all about ME, did you notice? Sounds selfish, anyway...but it isn't. Anyone else will talk like that too.

As for "overly romanticising" the whole thing, as you put it, the same can be said for any cause that someone stands up for - AIDS, starvation, refugee crisis, Iraq war protests, Guantanamo issue protests, the latest Olympic torch protests, Darfur, Palestine, everything is being "overly romanticised" because people care to be passionate about it and talk against it?

Anonymous said...

ha ha ha.. vairy funny!!

V said...

i have this white neighbor who owns a pitbull, i love that dog because it's got an aura of power and authority around it.. but i hate that mofo, he keeps cursing that dog everytime he takes him out on a walk... why curse at an animal? and then i figured he is a racist because i've seen him yell at his dog only when i or another indian friend walks past him.. if only he looked at me and said all that he says to his dog, damn! these are the times i wish people curse at me! so i can show then how it's actually done.

Subramanian Ramachandran said...

yea preeti..really a beautiful and a thought provoking post... i felt like my kintergarden teacher instructing me and i following her.... :) antha maathiri oru feel blog padikka padikka

nijammave........ if you cant love em', dont hurt 'em is worth a million words....

and i said yes to most of ur questions, but poor me had very few supporters :) hmmmmm..... sila samayam otherwise romba nalla people, unknowingly hurt so many animals...ungala maathiri harsh ah kooda avangala pathi solla mudiyaathu... thatz when konjam feel aagum :)

Preeti said...

@Prathi: Thanx di...the plight of the animals at Blue Cross is certainly pitiable...But im glad they r doing a good job...love u...

@drenched: Please, go ahead and feel free to use this space to comment howeverlong :) I couldn't even retort yesetrday, was pretty worked up over a lotta thingz n im juz glad u wr thr to reply...thnx! :)

I totally agree with ur putting-off-the-help-for-more-the-more-deserving logic..we keep doing that alllll the time, which is probably y the world is whr it is rite now...

@Superficial: Dude, please go bak and read ur comment again...u were referring to my own blog and u wr speaking for me...I obviously wouldn't have retorted had u spoken for urself cuz if u c, a lot of ppl dint agree or understand animal-compassion as well..But i dint give them the same reaction...Anywayz, forget it...

@Anonymous: ?

@V: Racist comments mis-directed at the dog! Man, where DO these ppl come from...!?

@rsubras: Thanx..Just an emotional post (as alwayz)...not meant to preach though :)

rantravereflect/ jane said...

:)
well, i'm here after a long debate seems to have passed..

heart-twitching post peeto- well-written- animals, babies,lil' things with those whimpering eyes, raped women, suppressed men, sexually abused children- they are weak,n they deserve all our love, not because we pity them, but because we can impart our strength to them, and love them jus like we've been loved and hand-held at our weakest moments..

People are different, and they have varying views on things..
as far as compassion goes, it either gets compartmentalized or communalized..
we (you, drenched.prathi, dolly, rub, n many others here) communalize cos it comes unconditionally, sum people jus dunt think its worth sharing in the open, but i guess that's them, and they can't criticize and cut to pieces what's on our plate..

love chintu :)
i think im loya 2 her- i still dun have a dog,.. :)

love ya bebo.. meet ya at hiphop soon

Preeti said...

@Janie: Finally ur here! :) was waitin...!

ur rite, for us, i guess the love IS communalized, whereas fr others who don't see it the same way, it is necessary to probably take it a step further to 'feel' the compassion...tatz totally alrite, juz tat they cnt say what we feel is wrong...

n chintu is ever loyal to u tooo...u knw she luvs u :D

muahhhhhhh...!

P.S: Hip hop ws fun today rite??? as usual :D

CHATs said...

Animals are the dearest ones to sight. I live in city that is desert turning into LA. And I come from a country where rich land is turning into deserts. What am i getting at.

I see animals all over my country. I see them where I do not have to see them. Roads. I have when I do not need them. Ever been chased by 10 street dogs, at night, when you are 2 shots down.

As a kid all my friends used to consider killing a garden Lizard (Onan in Tamil) a mark of respect for some God. So they chase and kill. (The Squirrils it seems are better off.) Once there 7-8 of us chasing a small lizard down a narrow (very very narrow- just enough for one of us to run) alley. We were all running one after the other. All of a sudden the leader of the gang turned back and started running back. He was shouting run, run. We all turned and started running for our lives. It is only later we realised that, we were running because the poor animal after reaching thh dead end had no where to go so turned around.

There goes our contribution to good God. I love animals. I make them part of atleast one of my meals.

Preeti said...

@mkt: I'm a lil confused as to whthr ur in support of or against the topic at hand :) It is a pity to see animals like cows and dogs roamin the streets endangering their lives...Sad..Welcome here...