Wednesday, 8th July, 2009
I'd got of the office cab at around 6:00PM. I was walking down my lane and noticed a bunch of people gathered at the very end of the lane. All that I could notice was a state of pandemonium amongst the ones who had gathered. I was curious to find out what exactly was happening. I could spot someone pouring kerosene over something. Just as I got there they set the thing ablaze. It took me a moment to realize that it was a snake, about 4ft in length. Even as it was burning, I could see its tail wriggle. I overheard the neighbours narrating what exactly had happened. Just at the very end of the lane, an old house is undergoing renovation. The construction workers had found this snake hiding behind a stone. One of the construction workers took a log and used it to hurt it until the snake was rendered defenseless. The neighbours were having fun watching the drama. The senseless human, who had killed the snake, had become a hero. And all that I wanted to do at that moment was to strangle him to death.
I might not have the right words to explain the emotions that I went through. What is it that gives us the right to kill a creature that is after all inferior to mankind? It might have been just a rat-snake which is completely non-venomous. Even if it was a venomous snake, did it deserve to be killed by some sadist?
Isn't LIFE something greater than all beings and creation? Isn't it far beyond something that we humans can comprehend? Don't we respect each one of our lives? If so, how different was this snake's life?
I just wish I'd got back home about 30 minutes earlier than I actually did. All that was required was one call to the nearest police station, and they would have arranged for the snake's rescue. Snakes aren't aggressive by nature. Snakes don't run around wanting to kill someone like some people do. You won't find a snake slithering on the streets with its hood up to scare people off. Just as we are scared of it and stay away from it, the snakes too are scared of us and stay away from us. It would never hurt us until we try to hurt it. Even though they're built for the kill, they don't kill for pleasure.
What I saw this evening was completely unsettling. I wanted this man to pay for what he'd done. I looked up the internet and found a famous herpetologist. His name is Dr. Rahmath Ataaz. Dr. Ataaz goes to various places creating awareness amongst people about snakes. I called him up to see what could be done. He told me that all said and done, the snake is dead. The only thing that could be done is to create awareness among people. Had I taken a video or a photograph of the incident, it probably could have been used. But I was so filled with rage, I couldn't think straight. And yes Dr. Ataaz, I guess I'll have to brave, do my bit to spread the word around and not act out of emotion.
If any of you reading this happen to come across a situation where a snake needs to be rescued, you can reach him at +(91)-9845243864.
'With great power comes great responsibility'. Nature has blessed us with brains that carry far more processing power than any other creature, which explains why the human species has survived so many centuries on this planet. Shouldn't we be taking up the responsibility of protecting the ones around us? Not just other people, but more so, the creatures inferior to mankind?
No one deserves to die or to be killed. Not even a venomous snake.
strange ppl,once they worship it giving milk and al that and then the same ppl kill it,hmmm....
ReplyDeleteWell Naveen I appreciate you man, for your message and the insightful thoughts. What you missed out of your aggrieved thought is to get behind the hero’s eyeball.
ReplyDeleteMany times we are put into a hostile situation where we have to safeguard ourselves and our territory. For an instance say you walk down a street which is not frequented by you, and there happens to be a widely domesticated animal “a dog” which is unknown to you and say it thinks you are trying to encroach its freedom and it charges at you. What would your immediate reaction be? You have all your six senses sane enough, well educated, and equipped. You would try to run as fast possible. Suppose the dog continues its pursuit and you are getting subdued, you would reach out grab a stone and hurl at the dog to leverage some time to make up your life. Will you grab your phone and call the cop? At that instantaneous moment you don’t have time to think about giving the dog a reprieve and offer yourself to it. The dog too deserves some right , or cant it show its aggression on you for once. You would argue the senseless dog charged at me first for my reactions. I have another situation, a simplest insect mosquito what do you do if it bites you or even ventures near to our ears, god has blessed us with two hands with palms one smash and the mosquito is history. We have the all sorts of innovations done to eradicate the flying insect polymer nets, deadly smoke, fragrant fume emitting gadget and the latest “electronic swatter”. Fact is you too have one at home and have used it umpteen numbers of time. One swoosh and the mosquito turns into ashes without a trace. Isn’t that a living being Naveen? Doesn’t the mosquito deserve a delightful meal, or a rightful flight and among them are male mosquitoes which don’t bite you, but still face the same fate as the females. Here how different did you act upon than the hero whom you cursed.
Naveen you live in a concreted roof, well cemented walls, sturdy and strong doors to safeguard yourself, that poor man who in fact works hard to build you a house sleeps on a muddy ground with stones, scrappy things, with only a thick sheet of plastic as roof and walls, where you cannot live with a mosquito inside your room he has to sleep daring the snake and nothing to safeguard him.
We have too many veils over ourselves behind which we make hell a lot of sins but when we see some one else doing such an act our sixth sense immediately makes us point our fingers at.
I remember a quote my Norman Cousins “Death is not the greatest loss in life. The greatest loss is what dies inside us while we live.”
that was just one incident...by using plastics, eating non veg, wrecklessly running our vehicles, and many many more things that we do, are slowly killing the entire fauna and flora around us....
ReplyDeletethink more deeper we are already doing that....
we can definitely spread awareness...every big thing has a small beginning....lets be committed to spread the word aroundd....
@Satish
ReplyDeleteThanks a lot for you views on this.
You certainly did shed a lot of light on the reality. You're absolutely precise about the kind of things we do behind the walls that we've built around to protect us. And in most ways, we safeguard our territory like the dogs do. I don't have an argument for that.
But as reality has it, we most definitely need to protect ourselves. Defense, my friend is the key word here.
All of us do need to defend what we hold near and dear. That's how nature has it. Sure enough, I would reach out for the nearest stone ‘when’ I have a dog on my back. I would most certainly do the best possible thing to keep the mosquitoes away from me ‘when’ they try to hurt me. I would defend myself ‘when’ I'm in danger and fight it out ‘when’ I sense danger. We need to defect ourselves only ‘when’ we’re in danger.
But there’s another point that I’d like to talk about. Madness, it is something that can only be associated with humans. Most of time, we act out of prejudice. We tend to be aggressive even when the scene around isn't remotely hostile.
When I spoke to Dr. Ataaz yesterday, I was told that most snakes only try to stay away from humans. They don’t attack unless they sense danger. We also need to take the whole picture into account. There were about fifteen people when the snake was found yesterday. And if my memory serves me right, I didn’t find any one short of words. Most of them were running up and down in the excitement. Having taken this into account, do you really think that the snake would have tried to jump around the people to have its say? All that I believe it’d have done is to find a safe hiding place. And thank God snakes don’t have ears. The poor snake would have died just from the noise around. So, we didn’t have the snake chasing people around trying to poison them. All that it was doing was to keep away. What do you think would have been the best thing to do at that moment? Sure enough, letting it go might have only caused more problems. But, do you really think that the right thing was done by jamming its head to a stone by using a log?
We do have the ‘sixth sense’. I’d believe this one to be the ‘common sense’, something that the animals lack. Would it have hurt them had these people just paused and thought for a moment before taking an evasive action? The situation certainly wasn’t demanding enough. Unfortunately for the snake, the Hero’s brain is just as big as his eye ball.
Somewhere down the line, we do tend to forget the very thing that separates us humans from the rest. It isn’t something fantastic. It’s just plain ‘common sense’, an intellect that has the capacity to judge having weighed in everything that’s at stake. So long as we forget this, we’re no better than animals.
P.S: I’m giving up on the mosquito repellent from this very moment. I’ve already quit consuming meat. Have you? :)
snakes are probably the most misunderstood creatures in the world. They do not mean intentional harm and try to cover away from light, heat and habitation, burrowing in hole and crevices. Yet somehow, the confrontation with mankind is inevitable because snakes' natural prey- mice and frogs are rampant in habited areas. Snakes' confrontation particularly with the uneducated people (sometimes even the educated lot) leads to the destruction of the snake's life for no fault of its own.
ReplyDeleteIf anyone spots any venomous snakes, he/she can always call any conservationists and they will be glad to come and take the snake away to a safe haven, perhaps bannerghatta sanctuary or somewhere else, where the snake is able to thrive in the environment it deserves.
Good post, highlights a very nice issue of animal abuse in our day-to-day life. Adding to your post, I have seen street children tying crackers to the tails of stray dogs during diwali time. They watch the dog scream in pain when the crackers burst and they take sadistic pleasure out of it. I feel like stuffing a lit cracker (maybe a hydrogen bomb) in their mouths and watching it burst there... and watch them experience the pain of a burning fire.