JOIN USMan cannot live without animals or birds. That may be the reason why his behaviour or beliefs are intertwined with those non-human members of the animal kingdom. If not, why do we shed crocodile tears, drink like fish, or feel like fish out of water or some of us become black sheep or guinea pigs?
Not just that. We are influenced, too. Take the cat. Not to bell it. When the poor feline creature crosses our path, literally of course, depending on the direction, good or bad supposedly happens. If its journey is right to left then it is good. But for the chap coming from the other side, it is left to right, so it is bad. See how a cat can influence both ways simultaneously! That it has absolutely no idea of our belief is a different matter altogether. Have I let the cat out of the bag?
When a crow enters a house, disaster awaits us, or so we feel. An owl is shunned because it is a harbinger of bad omen. But the entry of a cow is a must during griha-pravesha. Many feel lucky if they spot a fox. The stock market makes us feel bullish and bearish. A lizard might be harmless till it lands on us, even unintentionally. Besides screaming, we run to the nearest priest who would just be waiting for such a frightened soul. He then takes out the menu card of requirements to ward off the evil that the reptile will or has already cast.
Back to fish. We feel something fishy in the behaviour of others. Guests like fish stink in three days flat, says a proverb. I am sure you must have cooked up an improbable or a boastful tale to impress someone or to wriggle out of a situation? Well, that’s called a fish story. We can fish in troubled waters even during drought. If it rains cats and dogs, drought disappears. Oh! Yes, we fight like cats and dogs, too. The cow might be divine but the man’s best friend is still a dog, even if it is a stray one. One cannot become a holy cow but a cash cow? Yes, certainly.
Some of us (white elephants?) have an elephantine memory which makes us unhappy because we cannot forget unpleasant things. How busy are you, sir? As busy as a bee, might be the reply. What about the chameleon? Well, we change colours like that lizard. Why do you flog a dead horse? Is there an elephant in your room? Are you in the rat race or were you ever a dark horse?
All insomniacs count the sheep tossing on the bed, not just the black sheep among us. Some of us are sheepish, of course. You cannot help it. Pigs, too, are not spared. If I am a glutton then I am eating like a pig; and I look like a pig if I am dirty and/or ugly. The CBI is a caged parrot, opined the court. Some parrots talk, too. When the wolf is in sheep’s clothing, it refers to us not to either of them.
And finally, have we not surrendered to the mouse?