Humans, The Superior Creatures? … A Prejudice

In this opportunistic world can anyone expect kindness, mercy when they are aged or helpless? Of-course not; at least for me it is far from a ‘Yes’! Who says slavery has ended? It has just gotten exciting. As I lay helpless now and reflect on my life, my faintest memory goes 15 years back. I was a toddler when i was introduced to “Saab-ji”and left with him …

Saab-ji-That was how everybody addressed him; was the only licensed teakwood supplier in the city of Nainital. I never remembered seeing my parents and therefore he was everything to me. Like every other young one, I was given food and was taken care of very well. I always felt grateful of Saab-ji for adopting me, feeding me and letting me stay at his place and above all, giving me a family. The love and compassion that I received from him made me thank God each day and pray for everlasting happiness to Saab-ji and his family. I was given odd jobs at his godown and I was happy contributing as much I could – with a sense of service for the good he had shown upon me.

As I grew, the days seemed to become longer and restless. The job became tougher and yet my loyalty towards Saab-ji was enough to fuel my motivation to serve him. Being his most loved resource at the go-down, I take pride in having served him relentlessly for 15 years. Once, it rained very heavy – the landslides closed the only road and there was an urgent delivery of the wood to be made from the go-down to the workshop. Age had already taken a toll on me and yet I tried my best to not let Saab-ji down. While I was transporting the logs my legs had slipped, breaking one of them and resulting in the tumbling of one log into the valley.

I was hurled with abuses, beaten black and blue and remorselessly tied to a corner in the rain. Was it my fault that I aged? Or that it rained so heavy? Or that I was so heavily loaded? Or that I slipped? For once I wished that I could speak! The next morning, on Saab-ji’s orders I was told that they no longer required my services and I was left in the jungle – weak and feeble. I was betrayed by Saab-ji as he realized that I grew old and was of no use to him.

My whole life came back to me in a flash. I could relate all the actions of my master all these years as transactional and with an intention of receiving gains in return. He was being an “Opportunist”. No wonder, I mistook it as care and had got carried away by his gestures. Now when he does not foresee any gains after 15 years, he abandoned me. Depressed by his act and with a heavy heart I hopelessly started walking in the jungle in search of some food and water to drink.

As I kept walking, I could see jungles becoming thinner and understood – leave water, I might end up not finding trees either. Not just my master but seems like entire mankind has turned opportunistic in the past 15 years that i was away. While all these thoughts were still popping in my head, I hear the horn of a vehicle and rush in that direction – thinking I might miss them if I walked slow. Unable to walk, I still summed up all my energy and increased my pace hoping someone there would give me some water to drink. A few meters away from the origin point of that sound, I saw there were not one but many vehicles that sped past honking – it was a road! Aren’t forests supposed to be more of trees and animals and less of humans, roads and vehicles?

Well, the prejudice of humans as superior creatures persists! To my joy, I see a petty-shed with a man roasting corn and giving it to people. The man was a savior to me as he unloaded the sack with corn husk in front of me to eat. I ate as if I hadn’t eaten for ages and suddenly a vehicle whizzed past me and a piece with a nice aroma flew off it. I had never smelt something this good ever with my master, so tried eating it. As much ever I chew, I could not break it – it was a plastic wrapper they said! I feared that this place is not good for me and convinced myself that 2 hours walk away into the jungles is much better than these plastic littered and over-crowded settlements.

Saab-ji’s place was still better and in that distress, I made peace that he only betrayed me; while the entire mankind is betraying mother Earth every minute by cutting down trees, extensive constructions, exploiting resources and killing almost everything they touch. My fortune is that Saabji left me, alive.

~ A Mule’s Narrative

As I stopped by a corn seller’s shop and he roasted a corn for me, I asked him if the mule that limped as it walked nearby was his. To my surprise, he denied owning it and said it was an abandoned one. Also, he told me stories of how cows, buffalos, mules, female dogs and other domestic animals are discarded when the owners find them not profitable. All the while I was at the shop, it felt I was talking to that mule and it was narrating his story. We human beings often become so opportunistic that we forget we are just part of this vast ecosystem and it is our responsibility that we co-exist with all the constituents of it for a sustainable and balanced future. A humble appeal to all for being more responsible towards nature and making an effort to treat all the other life forms as an integral part of our ecosystem. We should religiously refrain from exploiting other life forms for selfish motives and orphan them. Plant more trees, reduce using plastic, up-cycle used plastic and do every bit we can do!