At nine-thirty in the night, my daughter brings home an enthusiastic mongrel. “She was being attacked by other dogs!” Ashee validates the intrusion, backed by Shivy and Kary, who are both work-worn, yet scurry about trying to make the puppy comfortable.
Within half hour the pye, now named ‘April’, is duly fed and cuddled in a makeshift bed, with a bowl of clean drinking water to battle the heat.
We already have two dogs, a pug, ‘Winston’, who enjoys the luxury that goes with the breed, and we have adopted a pye off the street, ‘Pixie’, as luck would have it; has her own kennel and the perils of the street are now her past. This sends me on a muse on how important breeding really is, fawned and fussed over, therefore hereditary defines our lives, and then luck plays a pivotal role too, like Pixie, who now has a home.
What will become of April and all those who have neither the inherited edge nor the luck, and sadly they are the majority on the streets and as well as in life? April’s overly wagging tail reminds me of the scores of urchins I see, enthusiasm rift over a game of cricket, their unshod feet, internalising the actions of their favourite heroes, innocently never questioning destiny.
My train of thought takes me to the impending elections. Who are these chosen few who get the ticket? How does it happen that term after term, they are sullied by misconduct and corruption and yet are returned to power. What innocence of human nature reposes faith in them, despite being disappointed time and again?
As I see hope in April’s eyes, that she too will find protection, so do hundreds of hapless citizens, happy to cast votes on promises, happy with crumbs, which a few populist schemes offer. As is with Stockholm syndrome, empathising with politicians who have held the country to ransom, so evidently, with unfolding of scams like it were a TV serial. Or are we just too forgetful or too overwrought?
When human nature has its own perception of equals and lesser mortals, the elite and pedestrian, how do we apply the rule of law? Why is there such outcry for Sanjay Dutt? Guilty is guilty and yet perception of his offense as oblique, is perceived quite differently.
Is popularity the essence of Indian culture? Is populist statement more valuable than realistic endeavors? Whipping mass emotion the rule of the land? Is this what we must practice? What happens to real issues, of sustenance, poverty and education will they never be addressed? Will Indians like a mongrel April remain largely vulnerable to government indifference and will rapes continue in Delhi?