Monday, April 13, 2015

Wag this way



Today is the day I turn 15, old age has started to affect me, I am no more the nimble beast I used to be, I fear that there may come a day when I just go senile, but until that happens I am for now a cranky senior citizen, if you are wondering that how can a 15 year old be an old person, then congratulations, you belong to the second most narcissistic species (after cats) there is, who go by the moniker 'humans'.



I always had a tough life, the textbook 'dog's life', I never knew who my father was, I always had to bark and bite to get through life, all the women I came across in my life have literally  been bitches, but still i am grateful for not being born as a human. 

I was born near a slum, in an area where toddlers were clothed no more than I was, ate nothing different from what I ate and had the same insecurities that I had, but I saw them sad and angry, all because of the need to preserve their human dignity.

I would eat out of a trash can, drink out of a thrown one, walk naked on the streets and yet feel good about myself, so for these specific reasons I thank the creator who blessed me with a dexterous tail rather than a self conscious, self depreciating brain. 

As you all know how cuddle worthy and adorable we are as puppies, it was just a matter of time before I was picked up as a play buddy by some kid and indeed it happened one day, two boys came, mongrels like I was and we stuck a camaraderie, what started with a few biscuits finally resulted in them taking me home and my mom was true to the name (bitch) and was happy to see me leave. 

They were in a phase where the concept of rich and poor was yet to sink in, we played in the mud, we rejoiced in the rain and by the fires we danced like there was no worry in the whole damn world. 

I was with them, when their parents fought, when they were sent to do their chores, or when their parents needed some privacy, or when they ran from the frequent wrath of their drunken fathers, in short I was with them for the whole time a human from an impoverished home can be allowed to be a child, because as it stands for now, childhood, teenage etc are all a concept rather a reality meant only for the rich, in a world where every morsel requires a blood sacrifice, innocence is but a useless obligation much less a virtue. As they grew up I was given a name, Jaggu, they called me and I too deciphered that the kids know till now as munna and babua were Yatharth and Adarsh. 

Yatharth was the pragmatic one, the scarcity of money and due respect from the society embittered him, he was a Rebel, a renegade, he believed that in a world where money is the master, everything is a lie, he was enraged by the seasonal philanthropists, their fake tears, he could see them flinch at the stench of the slums, their game face they wore to mask the disgust they had for them filthy lot!. 

Adarsh to be more accurate was an oddity, even though he was a slum kid, he had an aura of nobility, while other kids were fast asleep, he was up waiting by the tap to have a bath, he had for the greater part of his life followed a self imposed moral code, which placed him at odds with Yatharth who believed that he was too saint like to survive in this country. 

Yatharth was a con, a thief, he was what you wanted him to be if you pay well enough, bikes mobiles and every other thing he had swindled at some point of time and yet being a con didn't have any repercussions on his conscience, though he easily could have been one, he was never a pimp, he was repulsed by the act of trafficking for the pleasures of the seedy underbelly of the society, but rather than cherishing this inability, he was angry at his emotions which came in the way of him having a prosperous life. 

Adarsh on the other hand, was a man who angers the flawed humans, he was selfless, he worked three jobs, all meagre, all petty, but his job was that of a teacher, for the slum kids, he brought them books, toys and apart from that he worked with the police as an informant, he was thrashed countless times by the drug and trafficking mafia, had it not been for Yatharth, he would have been dead by now. 

Their friendship was a turbulent one, Adarsh loathed the fact that he was under the protection of a goon, he was repulsed by the fact that he had Alliance with a thief and ostracized Yatharth every chance he got. 

Yatharth was fed up with his idealistic bullshit Adarsh was so full of, but deep within protecting him was his salvation, the bonds of mud which bound them ran stronger than the ties of blood, but all this, he kept within, on the surface he yelled curses and called him an ungrateful swine. 

both live on, walking on two different paths, a dog's life is too short to form conclusions, i have seen them both from the beginning, but sadly wouldn't be alive to witness the end, their struggle, their unending quest to achieve social status or rather social acceptance transcends the ideals of good and bad, they carved their own ways, but eventually, they too will find peace in their Graves. 



As for me, I am just a shabby mongrel, I have a fickle heart and alas! life is even meaner than a bitch!, for me there is no such thing as hard earned bread, flour is flour, bought with money however dark and murky or earned righteously tastes equally good to me, I go to them both, eat both types, and wag my tail for the time that I have left.