Deferred updates, resolutions and stray dogs

I've been dying to write about a very exciting update (actually two) in my life, but am desisting - for a few months atleast.

I've decided to go hammer and tongs at the gym once Mad March ends and also get back to running again. Monday looms up ahead tomorrow but I'm kind of looking forward to it. The weekend was great, full of movies, dogs, cats and friends. Amongst the movies I saw Namaste London which was built on a cliched idea but the execution was far from hackneyed, so quite liked it. Also saw 'The Hills have eyes' which was the Hollywood version of a C-grade Hindi flick. The worst part was that the fellow at the box office in Inox was enthusiastically recommending this movie to people who were asking about the new releases. I'd have happily throttled the guy had I gone with his recommendation. A glowing reference for this movie unfortunately came from someone I dont even know, so theres not much I can do about it besides heaping mental scorn and derision on her.

I've been planning to do a feature on some stray animals that I encounter on the streets but Abodh does it much much better and also knows their individual idiosyncracies and behaviours so will send him the pics I've been taking and wait for him to do a detailed write up on each. Below are a few quick glimpses at some of the guys I keep running into:

These two outside the Standard Chartered office near Flora Fountain are a pleasure to watch. I think the cat has a huge crush on the dog, the way she keeps following him all the time

Left: Mini at Eros theatre is an extremely friendly dog who always drops in to say hi and then promptly nods off to sleep. She loves to put her paw on your hand to attract attention
Right: Aravind, the cobbler at Eros looks after the strays - there are two poms left with him after some slums were demolished. One of the Poms getting a Sunday wash here.

Left: The Towing-truck guys near the Stadium restaurant at Churchgate have a special bond with 3 very old strays (Rani, Raju and Kalu). This one is Rani - she's very shy and timid - and pretty
Right: Kalu is probably the oldest stray in the area - he's a fave of the people around there. He's very dignified and quite. Whiles away his time sleeping in the shade. This kid in the pic lives outside the Churchgate station and is one fiesty bundle, tipping us about injured strays in the area.

Left: Jerry is the venerable oldie living in the Freemason house opposite the Sterling theatre. Abodh says he used to be the unchallenged king of this area in his heydays. He's really old and doddering now but still needs to be muzzled before we can do a routine check-up for him. He's like one of those kind geriatrics but you know from the growls in his throat that he was The Don in his younger days. He has class and is one of the few dogs who can truly ignore you if you're not an acquaintance (I'm still trying to endear myself, but it isnt happening anytime soon).
Right: Lilly - she's the sweet timid old girl near Brabourne Restaurant on the Dhobi Talao lane opposite Metro Adlabs. She had an eye inflammation when I met her. She hates being caught for treatment but was a pleasure to catch hold of while Abodh ministered to her. I'm glad that she's off the list of dogs to be treated but miss meeting her.

Left: Raju is the third old stray at Stadium restaurant, Churchgate. He went scratch-scratch-scratch when I met him for the first time today. He's like one of those old-timers who hang around at village corners, unconsciously scratching themselves while taking a snooze or bubbling away at the Hookah. He's extremely camera shy too.
Right: Coco - he was amongst the first few stray dogs to get adopted in the area. He lives behind the RC Church at Colaba, spending his old years in solitude and reminiscing about those good old days when things were cheap and politicans were'nt corrupt.

Rocky - at Freemasons house opposite Churchgate is my favoritest dog so far. Before meeting him, he was introduced as the 'psycho pom' who barks so much that he may just have a heart attack. He's an amazing guy - he hates everyone who comes into his territory with the core of his heart.
He makes this huge production of attacking - straining at his chain to bite but forgot today that he was'nt chained - so shot ahead at me but froze in his tracks when he realized that there was no chain to stop him, hehe. So he piped down and came over to check me out, while we were looking over Jerry, waiting for me to make a false move.
I love talking back to him in an unafraid tone (coz that peeves him to no end) and fantasize about ruffling all his hair or tickling his nose with a straw when he's fast asleep *evil grin*

India shining? More like India ashamed.

"The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated."
-Mahatma Gandhi

Apparently our nation has degraded to the nadir of barbarity displayed by the crass mentality of its citizens.

Dogs are being killed left, right and centre in Bangalore, aided by the bloodthirsty rantings of some Bangalore-waasis who've suddenly woken up to the fact that they may really be descendants of Genghis Khan or have more barbaric origins.

A modern India is witnessing a carnage - of animals that cannot defend themselves or do not have the werewithal to extract revenge from the murderers. And we call ourselves a 'progressive nation'.

What shocks me is that on an average, 4 out of 10 people I talk to, advocate killing the stray dogs. And that is what the Municipality of Bangalore is finding strength in, in an attempt to save its skin for being thoroughly inefficient, inept and corrupt by not cleaning up the garbage off the streets and not disbursing allocated funds to NGOs to sterilize and vaccinate the dogs. The municipality was caught with its pants down but to its good luck, found that it was in a nudist camp.

The same municipality that professes lack of resources, personnel and funds to catch dogs for sterilization, proudly flagged 30 new Dog-catching vans to catch the dogs and kill them. Shame on you, BMP comissioner K Jairaj.

I am surprised that apparently normal people with allegedly good upbringing actually want the dogs to be killed fully knowing that there are other, more humane alternatives available. Either there is something VERY rotten with the way these people have been brought up or else they're plain stupid.

And I am very very concerned about the children they're going to be bringing into this society. With an attitude like this around me, I wonder if I want to be a contributing member of this society. And the irony is, many of them also say 'oh, we love our pet dogs, but these strays must be killed'.

It is frustrating and amusing at the same time to see the kind of points such people come up with to 'strengthen' their stance. Over all the debates I had, I have compiled a tongue-in-cheek FAQs to the questions/comments I've faced from the pro-killing fools:

What good will sterilization achieve? It is a long-term measure, without any immediate effects

Sterilization of dogs achieves a manifold effect:
1. Male dogs normally chase cars at night or hang around in packs or even have a tendency to be aggressive and bite because they're producing testosterone - yeah the same thingie that makes all the human males you know, so randy and touchy/picky about a small scratch on their beloved cars. Sterilization means that testosterone is not produced anymore in the body (you cut off the source) and that immediately finishes off the aggression in male dogs. They become friendly, docile and unthreatening (in other words, dont have the balls anymore to bite your sorry ass off for kicking them around). They stop hanging around in packs and lead the rest of their lives peacefully without coming in your way.

2. Female dogs are aggressive when they perceive their pups to be in danger. Sterilize the ladies and there are no pups to protect.

Dogs bark at night...its as bad as the loudspeakers during the festivals. Kill em :

I wont go the jingo-istic way and say - hey, do we kill the people organizing loudspeakers and rat-jagaas at night?

Get those dogs sterilized and see for yourself if they still bark uselessly at night. There is a scientific reason as to why sterilization reduces aggression amongst dogs and also makes them more docile etc and people dont seem to want to believe it!

Keep all dogs in your home since you're such a dog lover:

We dont have space or the money, else we would. Seriously. The govt has allocated space and money but refuses to release the same. So why the heck, when there is space and money available and not being released because of corruption and inefficiency, should the dogs be killed? Is'nt this a case of misplaced priorities? Focus, people. The dogs are being held accountable instead of the people in power who're with holding the allocated sums. Is'nt that kind of rotten? And you guys are supporting it?

NGOs/animal lovers dont do anything for the bitten people

ummm...Since you seem to be more sympathetic, why dont you guys do something FOR them for a change? Animal welfare NGOs bring out pamphlets every year on where to go and what to do if you get bitten by dogs and go to schools building up awareness about rabies. What do you guys do for the bitten people? Apart from advocating killing. Heh - I seriously draw comparison to the tribes in NW frontier areas where if something criminal happens, they screw the happiness of the entire families of criminals - do you guys realise that at one basic level, y'all are also displaying a similar attitude? Now if you're fine with that, I'm fine too, but would'nt want my kids to come anywhere near you:-)

You're comparing dogs to humans

I'm comparing the life of an animal that I hold dear, to the life of a human. It is a little ironic that people see the wood but missed the forest. Killing innocent living beings is barbaric. Period. So why should I not draw comparisons? And yeah, I'd definitely cherish the street dog's company near my building more than the company of the municipal commissioner or a Shiv Sena guy - you're welcome to hang around with them, of course. I dont feel insulted if you do. Millions of years of evolution, and to end at this level of barbarity? To be killing 10,000 dogs for an incident which probably involved not more than 5 dogs (probably super-aggressive or conditioned to tear because of the meat shops nearby). Now if that is what is evolution about...you're welcome to evolve more. But please, take the next spaceship to Uranus.

The question of money - keep killing dogs till we get the money to sterilize

A big question. Plagues everything in the world.

We dont see anger on Bill Gates Foundation for spreading awareness about treating AIDS patients nicely? They also lack enough money to take all the AIDS affected people in and give them a great life and medication so they try and bring out advertisements to make people aware that AIDS patients are not really dangerous to the average idiot on the streets.
Well, maybe some of you will soon raise a voice against that too. 'Get along with just finishing these walking disasters, right away - we dont have money to treat them, who knows tomorrow they'll come and scratch us and infect us with HIV..these NGOs dont have money, so let the govt finish em off. Keep killing the AIDS patients or the polio kids till we get the money to treat em all' - very Nazi-esque.

As for people again being incredulous that I bring humans into the picture - I'm just forseeing your attitudes in the future when you find validation on a smaller scale in dogs.

So yeah to get back to money. There's enough money. Only not in the right hands. Instead of acknowledging that and holding people accountable, kill dogs..oh yeah...the municipality guys MUST get rich...after all they deserve more than these dogs...they're humans, aye. Sigh..and you guys project yourself as the face of a modern India?

'I/my family have been chased by dogs, so I'd love to see them all killed'

Dude, get those dogs sterilized - you dont have to do a thing apart from making a phone call to an animal welfare organization. They wont even ask you for money - they'll try to raise the money on their own from people who do care. You wont be attacked in the future - its all in the testosterone. And yeah, for gods sake stop bothering the dogs on the streets or kicking their pups around - otherwise they WILL screw your happiness if you're alone.

Why dont you direct your attention at the poor farmers committing suicides?

We'd love to. However we're constrained by priorities. If thats a bigger priority or you, do something about it, start a petition (at the very least, heh) and we'll sign. Maybe we'll even talk a bit in your favour on internet boards and play an advocacy role. We promise not to bug you by asking you to do something about the dogs too just because you're keen to help someone in some way.

Neutering is not humane-have you asked he dogs if they want to live like that?

frankly, I agree with that too. However, given the options - to kill or to neuter, I choose the lesser evil. As for the macho statement of 'I'd rather die than have my balls cut', I sincerely hope that you never ever have to be in a situation where you have to make a choice. However I'm willing to bet my last paisa that you'll eat your words then.

I pay my taxes, why the F are these dogs still barking at night?

Well dont ask us or the dogs! Ask the politicians and the babus who were supposed to get the dogs neutered and get them quieted down for the night. And while you're doing that, please also ask them why the f*, when you're paying your taxes, are you still stuck in traffic jams, why you have to pay a bribe to get anything done, why is your food getting costlier, why do you not get uninterrupted power supply, why is the drinking water so effing dirty and ummm..I'm sure you can come up with many such questions. Maybe then you'd advocate killing all the babus who just took a bribe to feed their family - killing seems to be the 'in' thing with some people after all.

Why are we wasting time here debating and punching keystrokes while dogs are getting killed

I know it is as impossible to convince people who strongly blv that dogs should be killed as it is to get me to change mine - all arguments put forth here are more for the fence-sitters and to ensure that wrong information/half baked information and bad logic does not propagate via this medium.

In todays age, information and access to it is not a rare commodity anymore. We have to make sure that we advocate for causes we believe in, lest some impressionable people read blatantly wrong views and form their own on that basis. Debate, while being a lot of hot air, is important to help fence-sitters crystallize their own opinions. Advocacy for a cause is often as important as the cause itself - because it affects mindsets.

One plea to anyone who cares to read this. The next time you're walking down the road, try being kind to a stray dog and it will respond with twice the affection you gave it. Try petting it and watch its tail wag so hard that its entire body shakes, just because noone has ever loved it like that.

And then imagine all those poor loving animals being dragged by putting steel wires around their throats, being swung around by steel wires to choke them, being hit on the head with iron rods, having their throats slit, being electrocuted or burnt alive.

I saw a video where a municipality worker caught a dog with a steel wire and the poor dog was still wagging its tail thinking its in for a treat. Its head was smashed in moments later. Where the hell is Maneka Gandhi, for all her animal loving protestations in the past?

A guy I know from an online forum mocked a dog-lover for breaking down on TV while describing how the dogs were killed. I guess this guy never had someone it loved dragged away by steel wires and electrocuted to death.

I've no intention of sending you off with a bad taste in your mouth but the situation is SO bad that everyone MUST feel some kind of shock or distaste at whats happening in Bangalore these days. Hence these pictures below. If you still dont feel anything for the dogs, may god save you:

Throats slit open, brutally killed and dumped - all with the active support of the citizens of a 'modern India'

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