Melancholic Reflections

At the risk of sounding selfish and unpatriotic, I am so glad no one I know was hurt in the Mumbai massacre. I am praying hard for the people who are caught up in the madness, but I am just happy I am not sitting next to a hospital bed, or waiting outside the morgue. I cannot deal with any more death at the moment.

I have a television, but not the connection, so I have been glued to the streaming live newscast from NDTV and CNN. It's bone-chilling. The sheer carnage; lives treated like disposable tissues. I cannot understand why people treat life like it is worthless, and I don't mean just human life. Animal life, plant life, and others that we take so much for granted in India. I see cruelty everywhere I go; boys throwing stones at sleeping, street dogs, a traveling entertainer with a monkey on the end of string and a stick in the other hand children with maimed bodies begging at traffic signals, and so much more. I understand it's difficult to think of another when one's own basic needs are not fulfilled. But still - don't harm at least.

Beggars find me a perfect target, because I cannot bear to see the pleading faces and the broken bodies. And I would give them everything I have, except I see the man behind the group of children, who takes the money away from them. He is like a ghost, disappears almost as I see him; but I caught a glimpse. I refuse the child, because I hope that if we stop giving them money, the trade will stop too. I give the little boy something to eat instead, and I see true joy light up his grubby little face.

Outside my father's house in Goa, there is a contingent of strays. They sleep on our porch, meander outside our front door, and follow up back and forth from the car. About five of them bark joyfully if anyone of us talk to them, wagging their tails furiously, jumping up, wanting to be petted. And all because we give them a few scraps every day. My mother or I will mix the food in plastic bowls, and stand over them as they eat. The other will pass water from the window grille and wash up afterward.

I was once feeding one of the dogs, when a scruffy urchin sauntered jauntily into our view. I paid him no attention, but the dog cowered as he passed, running into the bushes. I glowered at him on seeing this behaviour realising he had hurt her in some way before and she was afraid of him now. The dog slunk back, and jumped on me joyfully. She has the most beautiful brown eyes, and I wonder why anyone would hurt her unnecessarily.

I strongly believe in the law of Karma, and honestly, people are cruel to others need to realise, it is those souls that they are at the mercy of later. And I'm sure the terrorists are going to reborn as bacteria.