Have you ever come across a dog lover or a cat lover, or maybe are you one yourself? But hold on for a minute and ask, which dog or cat do you love? The one in the video that went viral all over the web last week?
Your neighbours pup who looks so damn adorable? Or the new born cat video on youtube? Or maybe you love Amitabh ji’s Great Dane whose pictures with him are so endearing? Or Alia Bhatt’s cat that is so well groomed and oh yes lovable? Do you love Snowbell from Stuart Little or the well fed Golden Reriever in the Pedigree ad? Or just a sec, maybe you love Pluto from Dil Dhadakne Do?
One question keeps hitting me- why wasn’t DDD’s pluto a stray dog? Well it wouldn’t have looked all that cute then? (that too with Aamir Khan’s voiceover?) And surprisingly, no seasickness for Pluto throughout the cruise journey…Surprising enough!
Remember the scene when Ranveer and Anushka(Their characters-Kabir and Farah),are talking and Pluto is cuddled into Ranveer’s lap and makes the scene so much more beautiful? Bring in a likely circumstance-the dog pukes! That was definitely not showed for obvious reasons.
The crux of the matter is, the outward appearance in a video, image looks cute that makes u go awwww. But there are innumerable underlying problems, and situations that can unfold which don’t make the animals look as cute as they earlier did!
Now, why do cute dogs' or cute kittens' vidoes go viral? Because then an “animal” lover sees it and shares it in his/her Whatsapp group of “animal lovers” and then comments roll in..awww….so chweeet! The animals are cute, so that the video goes viral!They clealy state, “tag three dog lovers you know."
You'd love to stare at a chubby little well groomed cat, and share it…would you reconcile to do the same with a gross image of an animal with its eye out, or limb severed and bleeding? And would you dare to share it in the group of “animal” lovers who would only say cho chweet for really cute animals?
Many a times people count a dog as their best friend…they want a companion, a companion when no one will be around for them…a companion to talk to…a companion to play with…a companion who won't judge you…a companion who will make you feel good after a hard day of work...well, ever asked a dog if it believes that man is his best friend?
We humans are selfish enough to call an animal our companion or our best friend just because we feel incapable of occupying ourselves for maybe a day or a week…maybe because your best friend is out with his/her own gang and you are left out, maybe because no one’s home, maybe because your only support system who keeps you occupied is busy or you can't access the medium(it can be a person, a game, a serial, or anything tht keeps you occupied) !
So to fill that one moment when you have no friend around you,you proclaim, “Dog is man’s best friend! And mine too! I want a dog now!
And what will happen if you get that dog? You'll find it cute and adorable and lovely and it will spend time with you play with you be your COMPANION and keep you happy when no ones home…
Now think for a second…
What would happen of the dog, if the selfish need is fulfilled, or say, your best friend is back with you, or your support is not busy any more and can devote time to you, or the serial that had taken a break is back with season 2 or now your parents and cousins are back home…so now you go out with your friends and party and have fun…or you are well occupied now, then, what about the dog? Well, now its alone in the house…Now, who needs a companion? Who needs a friend? And who is being selfish?
The being you just isolated needs a friend, but not in the form of someone of a different kind.
Practically speaking, wouldn’t a being of a species just love to be among beings of its own species? Moreover, aren’t 7 billion people enough that you need a companion in the form of a being of another species? On the lighter side, how would you feel if you were to live among aliens on Mars? What if aliens were to take you there and keep you as pets? No doubt, they'd feed you, breed you, groom you, take cute pics of you, take you to the doc, and do everything possible for you. Would all of this be justified? Even if there was a saying on Mars “Human is Alien’s best friend!”
Is it justified to take an animal of a species away from it’s people and put it into house arrest and cuddle it (and still be unsure if it likes all of that) …? Animal love, is secondary…compassion for them is what we need.
Some might just not love to keep any animal at home, because they are not “animal” lovers, and they would still volunteer to help if they see an ailing animal, who is injured or in pain!
Many “animal” lovers would argue…”It's not just that we need them, even they need us, they need us to take care of them!” Take care of them? Count on your fingers and say, how many of the animals need our help according to you? And how many need the care of humans and a habitat in the form of our apartments (which our cosy for us but they might find claustrophobic)? Dogs, cats, fish, birds, turtles??? You could name a few more but that’s all!
Is it possible that all organisms were created in such a manner that out of billions of species of animals, a few countable animals need humans’ shelter and care?? Doubtful!
So is it that we are keeping pets just to meet our aims and ends? Just fulfil our selfish desires of having a companion and give the excuse that “animals’ love is unconditional? It would be highly cruel to state the contrary, but honestly, did we ever verify the fact? It’s true animals are harassed because they don’t have a voice…but isn’t it also true that because the animals don’t speak we have proclaimed that their love is unconditional and so now “WE WANT A PET!!”
What would be the reason if I asked, “What is the reason you never thought of having a tiger or a lion or a cheetah as a pet?” I know your answer, “They are wild animals baba! They live in the forests, they have a life!”
And what about these few species we have called our best buddies and trapped in our pigeon holes? Why have you never thought of getting an eagle or a vulture? Why just selected parrots and love birds to be trapped in cages that don’t even measure a few meters square! Why is the same treatment not doled out to all these animals? Lets make all of them our companions and feed them packeted food? Lets trap all birds in cages! Lets get all fishes out of the oceans and sea and thrust them in our fish bowls and aquariums!
Won't it be cruel to snatch them away from their habitats and communities of their own species? Well, yes! Then isn’t the magnitude of cruelty the same when we confine and take away the freedom of these few animals and birds?
There comes the question…then what should one have for an animal or being of any species?
Love? Love, that means confining them within the boundaries of walls.
Or compassion? Compassion, that would mean to feel their pain when they actually are in distress and volunteer to heal their pain! Compassion, to an extent would also mean to just not put in our nose in their matters. They never asked for our help. Animals in the wild have their own ways of healing their wounds and overcome their illnesses. So every animal sure does have their own natural healing methods. There were no veterinarians for dogs, cats or birds thousands of years ago. At least, there was no commercialization in the name of cure for ailing animals.
The question is asked. The answer is our choice. We have the choice to have compassion, or love, or both or none…having compassion might be of help to them, having love will make them our “pets” and having none, won’t hurt anyone per say!
Animals seriously don’t care if we love them. It is because we have forcefully accepted that they need our love and that they would also love us back, has caused this delusion. Let's face it! Leave a caged parrot or love bird out from the cage, it won't come back. It wants to fly, and not be enclosed within that “cute” little cage!
Leave your fishbowl with someone else. The fish don’t care who they are with! All they care about is if they get their food on time!
Take a stray dog to your home. It will happily sleep cosily on your rug. Don’t be mistaken that it is attached to you and found solace in your pretty abode, it has just found your soft rug more comfortable than the concrete road. If not the rug, maybe the floor is much cooler because you have an air conditioner.
There is a dog that occassionaly keeps visiting my parents’ workplace. It is tough to keep him out because he has taken a liking towards our cool floor, moreover, he likes the colder atmosphere inside than the hot weather outside. So just because he keeps pushing through the door every day does it mean he loves us? Likes us? Finds a companion in us? Nope!
All he cares about is his comfort! Its amidst its battle for the survival of the fittest, which is often misconceived as love for us! Earlier, he occasionally drank milk that we offered to him, lately, he has found someone better to get his meals, someone who would lovingly offer him something tastier, something more filling!!!
It would still be argued…"That dog has found some attachment for sure! Otherwise why would it come into your room so often" Surprisingly, he comes only when its scorching hot during the afternoon, he leaves when its relatively cooler later in the day. That answers the question!
THEY DON’T CARE ABOUT US, AND DON’T EXPECT LOVE FROM US, IT DOESN’T MATTER TO THEM IF YOU ARE AN ANIMAL LOVER OR HOW MANY CUTE ANIMAL IMAGES AND VIDEOS YOU HAVE SHARED AND THEY WONT EVEN MIND IF YOU NEVER NEEDED THEIR COMPANY; SO LETS LIVE, AND LET LIVE!
LET US BE HAPPY IN OUR PIGEON HOLES BUT NOT RESTRICT THEIR FREEDOM BY GETTING THEM HOME. THERE ARE 7 BILLION BEINGS OF OUR KIND TO SELECT A COMPANION FROM AND EVEN THEY AREN’T LESS IN NUMBER TO GIVE ADEQUATE COMPANY TO EACH OTHER.
LIKE WE LOVE WATCHING MOVIES, THEY LIKE PEEING ON POLES, AS WE LIKE GROOMING OURSELVES IN FRONT OF THE MIRROR, THEY LIKE SCRATCHING THEIR BACKS AND NECKS, LIKE WE GO AROUND WITH CLOTHES, THEY DEFINITELY PREFER TO GO ABOUT WITHOUT ANY! GIVING THEM RAINCOATS, BOWS OR ANY CLOTHES WOULD MAKE THEM FEEL AS WEIRD AS ONE FEELS IN A MASQUERADE PARTY!
LIKE THEY DO NOT EXPECT US TO BARK, PURR, WHISTLE, NEIGH OR GO ABOUT WITH CLOTHES LIKE THEM, THEN WHY ARE WE INSISTENT ON DOING THE CONTRARY FOR THEM???
Now the best thing to do would be to choose...choose between sharing this article in your "animal" lovers group! Or chose to continue being an animal lover!
Your neighbours pup who looks so damn adorable? Or the new born cat video on youtube? Or maybe you love Amitabh ji’s Great Dane whose pictures with him are so endearing? Or Alia Bhatt’s cat that is so well groomed and oh yes lovable? Do you love Snowbell from Stuart Little or the well fed Golden Reriever in the Pedigree ad? Or just a sec, maybe you love Pluto from Dil Dhadakne Do?
One question keeps hitting me- why wasn’t DDD’s pluto a stray dog? Well it wouldn’t have looked all that cute then? (that too with Aamir Khan’s voiceover?) And surprisingly, no seasickness for Pluto throughout the cruise journey…Surprising enough!
Remember the scene when Ranveer and Anushka(Their characters-Kabir and Farah),are talking and Pluto is cuddled into Ranveer’s lap and makes the scene so much more beautiful? Bring in a likely circumstance-the dog pukes! That was definitely not showed for obvious reasons.
The crux of the matter is, the outward appearance in a video, image looks cute that makes u go awwww. But there are innumerable underlying problems, and situations that can unfold which don’t make the animals look as cute as they earlier did!
Now, why do cute dogs' or cute kittens' vidoes go viral? Because then an “animal” lover sees it and shares it in his/her Whatsapp group of “animal lovers” and then comments roll in..awww….so chweeet! The animals are cute, so that the video goes viral!They clealy state, “tag three dog lovers you know."
You'd love to stare at a chubby little well groomed cat, and share it…would you reconcile to do the same with a gross image of an animal with its eye out, or limb severed and bleeding? And would you dare to share it in the group of “animal” lovers who would only say cho chweet for really cute animals?
Dog-Man’s Best Friend!
Many a times people count a dog as their best friend…they want a companion, a companion when no one will be around for them…a companion to talk to…a companion to play with…a companion who won't judge you…a companion who will make you feel good after a hard day of work...well, ever asked a dog if it believes that man is his best friend?
We humans are selfish enough to call an animal our companion or our best friend just because we feel incapable of occupying ourselves for maybe a day or a week…maybe because your best friend is out with his/her own gang and you are left out, maybe because no one’s home, maybe because your only support system who keeps you occupied is busy or you can't access the medium(it can be a person, a game, a serial, or anything tht keeps you occupied) !
So to fill that one moment when you have no friend around you,you proclaim, “Dog is man’s best friend! And mine too! I want a dog now!
And what will happen if you get that dog? You'll find it cute and adorable and lovely and it will spend time with you play with you be your COMPANION and keep you happy when no ones home…
Now think for a second…
What would happen of the dog, if the selfish need is fulfilled, or say, your best friend is back with you, or your support is not busy any more and can devote time to you, or the serial that had taken a break is back with season 2 or now your parents and cousins are back home…so now you go out with your friends and party and have fun…or you are well occupied now, then, what about the dog? Well, now its alone in the house…Now, who needs a companion? Who needs a friend? And who is being selfish?
The being you just isolated needs a friend, but not in the form of someone of a different kind.
Practically speaking, wouldn’t a being of a species just love to be among beings of its own species? Moreover, aren’t 7 billion people enough that you need a companion in the form of a being of another species? On the lighter side, how would you feel if you were to live among aliens on Mars? What if aliens were to take you there and keep you as pets? No doubt, they'd feed you, breed you, groom you, take cute pics of you, take you to the doc, and do everything possible for you. Would all of this be justified? Even if there was a saying on Mars “Human is Alien’s best friend!”
Is it justified to take an animal of a species away from it’s people and put it into house arrest and cuddle it (and still be unsure if it likes all of that) …? Animal love, is secondary…compassion for them is what we need.
Some might just not love to keep any animal at home, because they are not “animal” lovers, and they would still volunteer to help if they see an ailing animal, who is injured or in pain!
Many “animal” lovers would argue…”It's not just that we need them, even they need us, they need us to take care of them!” Take care of them? Count on your fingers and say, how many of the animals need our help according to you? And how many need the care of humans and a habitat in the form of our apartments (which our cosy for us but they might find claustrophobic)? Dogs, cats, fish, birds, turtles??? You could name a few more but that’s all!
Is it possible that all organisms were created in such a manner that out of billions of species of animals, a few countable animals need humans’ shelter and care?? Doubtful!
So is it that we are keeping pets just to meet our aims and ends? Just fulfil our selfish desires of having a companion and give the excuse that “animals’ love is unconditional? It would be highly cruel to state the contrary, but honestly, did we ever verify the fact? It’s true animals are harassed because they don’t have a voice…but isn’t it also true that because the animals don’t speak we have proclaimed that their love is unconditional and so now “WE WANT A PET!!”
What would be the reason if I asked, “What is the reason you never thought of having a tiger or a lion or a cheetah as a pet?” I know your answer, “They are wild animals baba! They live in the forests, they have a life!”
And what about these few species we have called our best buddies and trapped in our pigeon holes? Why have you never thought of getting an eagle or a vulture? Why just selected parrots and love birds to be trapped in cages that don’t even measure a few meters square! Why is the same treatment not doled out to all these animals? Lets make all of them our companions and feed them packeted food? Lets trap all birds in cages! Lets get all fishes out of the oceans and sea and thrust them in our fish bowls and aquariums!
Won't it be cruel to snatch them away from their habitats and communities of their own species? Well, yes! Then isn’t the magnitude of cruelty the same when we confine and take away the freedom of these few animals and birds?
There comes the question…then what should one have for an animal or being of any species?
Love? Love, that means confining them within the boundaries of walls.
Or compassion? Compassion, that would mean to feel their pain when they actually are in distress and volunteer to heal their pain! Compassion, to an extent would also mean to just not put in our nose in their matters. They never asked for our help. Animals in the wild have their own ways of healing their wounds and overcome their illnesses. So every animal sure does have their own natural healing methods. There were no veterinarians for dogs, cats or birds thousands of years ago. At least, there was no commercialization in the name of cure for ailing animals.
The question is asked. The answer is our choice. We have the choice to have compassion, or love, or both or none…having compassion might be of help to them, having love will make them our “pets” and having none, won’t hurt anyone per say!
Animals seriously don’t care if we love them. It is because we have forcefully accepted that they need our love and that they would also love us back, has caused this delusion. Let's face it! Leave a caged parrot or love bird out from the cage, it won't come back. It wants to fly, and not be enclosed within that “cute” little cage!
Leave your fishbowl with someone else. The fish don’t care who they are with! All they care about is if they get their food on time!
Take a stray dog to your home. It will happily sleep cosily on your rug. Don’t be mistaken that it is attached to you and found solace in your pretty abode, it has just found your soft rug more comfortable than the concrete road. If not the rug, maybe the floor is much cooler because you have an air conditioner.
There is a dog that occassionaly keeps visiting my parents’ workplace. It is tough to keep him out because he has taken a liking towards our cool floor, moreover, he likes the colder atmosphere inside than the hot weather outside. So just because he keeps pushing through the door every day does it mean he loves us? Likes us? Finds a companion in us? Nope!
All he cares about is his comfort! Its amidst its battle for the survival of the fittest, which is often misconceived as love for us! Earlier, he occasionally drank milk that we offered to him, lately, he has found someone better to get his meals, someone who would lovingly offer him something tastier, something more filling!!!
It would still be argued…"That dog has found some attachment for sure! Otherwise why would it come into your room so often" Surprisingly, he comes only when its scorching hot during the afternoon, he leaves when its relatively cooler later in the day. That answers the question!
THEY DON’T CARE ABOUT US, AND DON’T EXPECT LOVE FROM US, IT DOESN’T MATTER TO THEM IF YOU ARE AN ANIMAL LOVER OR HOW MANY CUTE ANIMAL IMAGES AND VIDEOS YOU HAVE SHARED AND THEY WONT EVEN MIND IF YOU NEVER NEEDED THEIR COMPANY; SO LETS LIVE, AND LET LIVE!
LET US BE HAPPY IN OUR PIGEON HOLES BUT NOT RESTRICT THEIR FREEDOM BY GETTING THEM HOME. THERE ARE 7 BILLION BEINGS OF OUR KIND TO SELECT A COMPANION FROM AND EVEN THEY AREN’T LESS IN NUMBER TO GIVE ADEQUATE COMPANY TO EACH OTHER.
LIKE WE LOVE WATCHING MOVIES, THEY LIKE PEEING ON POLES, AS WE LIKE GROOMING OURSELVES IN FRONT OF THE MIRROR, THEY LIKE SCRATCHING THEIR BACKS AND NECKS, LIKE WE GO AROUND WITH CLOTHES, THEY DEFINITELY PREFER TO GO ABOUT WITHOUT ANY! GIVING THEM RAINCOATS, BOWS OR ANY CLOTHES WOULD MAKE THEM FEEL AS WEIRD AS ONE FEELS IN A MASQUERADE PARTY!
LIKE THEY DO NOT EXPECT US TO BARK, PURR, WHISTLE, NEIGH OR GO ABOUT WITH CLOTHES LIKE THEM, THEN WHY ARE WE INSISTENT ON DOING THE CONTRARY FOR THEM???
Now the best thing to do would be to choose...choose between sharing this article in your "animal" lovers group! Or chose to continue being an animal lover!
By Shahen Pardiwala
