Love is Beyond Form, Caste and Colour
Posted on Monday, 28 May 2012 and filed under Genevieve Tan Shu Thung , News , Scrolls of Inspiration , . You can follow any responses to this entry through theRSS 2.0 . You can leave a response or trackback to this entry from your site
"A bright new born baby girl by the side of the dustbin. Sitting around her are three street mongrels. The same unchanging picture throughout the night. This unbelievable and inconceivable incident is not a scene from a screenplay.
Nor is it the background to a story causing a sensation throughout the world. It is real-as unalloyedly real as light and air, life and death.This incident stretched at Hartokibagan Lane under Burtolla Police Station from the night of 23rd May, 1996 to 24th May, 1996 morning. Not just that, the three dogs followed like responsible guardians when some people of the locality rescued the new born baby girl and took her to the Burtolla Police Station. They had, unnoticed by all arrived at the door of the Officer-in-charge at Burtolla Police Station I.K Hossain as people were busy watching the baby, who had been put on the officer’s table, move her hands and feet. This scene did not elude the eyes of the policemen and the curious people present at the police station.
This report states that it was only around 2 pm on 24th May, 1996 , when the baby was put in a car to be taken to a home for foundlings did these three street dogs walk back to their old neighbourhood, walking slowly…." - From Savage Humans and Stray Dogs, a book by Hiranmay Karlekar, Sage Publications 2008
Moral of the story:
If animals can be driven by their instincts to protect another being of another form, caste and colour, why are human beings still fighting and harming each other? The story in the above shows unconditional love, and that love is beyond form, caste and colour.
If these 3 mongrels could stay by the baby's side to ensure her safety, we should ask ourselves how many people actually stop and help an injured animal on the street? As if ignoring the injured ones is not bad enough, Man even goes to the extent of deliberately inflicting harm on animals!
Different countries adopt varying methods of ridding stray animals. Just last year, it was reported that Ukraine resorted to the use of a mobile crematorium to rid their streets from strays to prepare to host this year's UEFA European Football Championship. The animals are thrown into a 900 degree oven and burned alive. According to sources, before Ukraine adopted this method, stray dogs and cats were previously killed using an illegal poison called ditiline, which paralysed their respiratory muscles causing them to drop dead.
It has been over a year now that Ukraine's animal rights activists have been protesting against this practice, and are furious that nothing has been done about these mass animal killings.
Seeing such cruelty, one may ask, do these animals not have equal rights to live?
Another famous example of animal cruelty would be whaling in the Faroe Islands in the North Atlantic. The community there considers the hunt for whales an important part of their culture and history. Around 950 long-finned Pilot whales are killed annually in the summer during their community hunt known as grindadráp.
Pilot whales belong to the oceanic dolphin family, which are not only beautiful, but friendly and curious creatures. Animal rights activists criticise the hunt as being unnecessary and cruel.
Why must Man interfere with the living of another being when it has not interfered with his? Man today shows no respect to LIFE. He kills merely to satisfy his urges, desires and for pleasure.
No doubt animals too resort to killing, but they kill either to feed or to protect themselves. Never have we heard of an animal killing another merely for pleasure.
This is the lesson that we must learn from Mother Nature. Let us stop animal cruelty today.
Related Articles:Why Be Vegetarian?
My One-Eyed Mother
Author: Genevieve Tan Shu Thung
Photograph: Tapan Mukherjee, courtesy of 'Aajkaal', Bengali Daily (May 25th, 1996)
Copyright © 2012 Sandhya Maarga Holistic Living Resources
Holistic Living Annex (Volume 1, Issue 6 - JUNE 2012 Edn)
Photograph: Tapan Mukherjee, courtesy of 'Aajkaal', Bengali Daily (May 25th, 1996)
Copyright © 2012 Sandhya Maarga Holistic Living Resources
Holistic Living Annex (Volume 1, Issue 6 - JUNE 2012 Edn)
10 Responses for “ Love is Beyond Form, Caste and Colour”
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Inspirational Gallery
How touching.
I felt like crying d :'(
Human beings are so stupid these days!! I'm so angry about the whales. grrrr!! I feel that human beings are behaving worse than animals nowadays!!!!
Try including the photographs from the whaling activity on that island. A picture speaks a thousand words. I'm sure it will help make the article more effective. :)
How inhumane to burn the poor animals alive. How would human beings like it if they were forced to die at 900 degrees??? It's such a shame that Man has stopped so low to this level just for $$$ and fame! Worse still, just for fun!!! IS BRUTAL KILLING SO FUN???? Try to be hunted and see if it is fun!! idiots
pfffffffft! brainless fools! as if there is no other food to eat! why must kill all the lovely whales in the sea?? are they not endangered and protected species??
Awwwww... The dogs are so sweet. It is confirmed. Dog really is Man's best friend! :)
The baby girl is so lucky that the dogs did not attack her. This does not happen every day. Nevertheless, it is still inspiring. Search on youtube. We can see so many strange things happening in this world.
what insanity! i googled those pix of the whales. poor creatures! why do people have to be that cruel?? mother nature will retaliate one day, she already is now. and we're still not learning from our mistakes. see all the earthquakes and tsunamis?!!
Is that picture of the 3 dogs real? Seems to me like the baby was placed in front of those 3 dogs on purpose. Where is the dustbin by the way? And how did the reporter know about this before the authorities took her away? How very strange.