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2008/10/25

A little ooze,cheers and a lot of blood ..

To kill a dog you need a gang of boys from the slums, a dog which did not oblige and hence could be termed mad , a length of rope, a thick club to bludgeon the dog with , two brutish leaders and a gaggle of excited boys to cheer them on.

They would have cornered the dog which would have been snarling,angry at first, snapping a little later when the pestering got out of hand, foaming at the mouth with rage and fear ,showing its teeth, a little later and then the chant would begin "mad dog!"; in a matter of minutes ,the noose would have been flung around its neck and secured to a tree or post.

Then, the pelting with stones would have started ; the dog thrashing around,trying to get away and failing - the children excited at this unaccustomed revelry ,chucking stones , bricks, whatever came to hand, the men joining in,while the dog would have howled in agony.

When it would have hung limp ,exhausted ,wracked by pain , they would have untied the rope and a man in black pajamas and a dusty black kurta would have wrapped it around his wrist, for the final act.

Joined by two thuggish looking teen aged boys in singlets,shorts and hair tied in ponytails, the macabre cavalcade would have taken off ,at a run ,dragging the dog, the children cheering , one of the boys, bludgeoning the dog in the hindquarters from time to time .They would have accelerated around the corner and drawn up full speed at the corner where the road meets the golf club wall.

Saving the best for the last .The dog would have reared up up one last time on its hind legs,aware of the limitations of the possibility of escape , with a phenomenal surge of strength , and, throwing its head back ,would have let out a last unearthly howl which would have been cut off as the teen aged boy would have battened its head in with the thick beam of wood ,bashing the skull and watching with glee as the brains oozed out and the children howled and cheered .

It is the same blood lust, lack of logic ,reason and sanity which prompts the forming of a mob - which acts no differently with a man than it does with a helpless cornered animal . It is the that thick palpable fear which attracts an unimaginable bestiality when even the most rational man can lose his sanity and become capable of looting,killing ,raping defying all reason and rational thinking . Today it is religion or a regional parochialism that gives a different name and characteristic to a man who has lived alongside you for years. Tomorrow it could be the food you eat or the way you dress or how old you are ,which might define the standard of whether you are allowed to exist at all.

Side by side with the murder and mayhem of Kandhamal, Maharashtra and Bihar and the jarring incident of the mad dog bashing on a side street in Golf Garden( which is an infinitesimal speck in the much bigger picture of man killing man, yet important as a livid example of blood lust ) is the celebration of Chandrayan- Space Odyssey India ,wherein India seeks to say "Yep , I also ran".
Note, we are not saying to the rest of the world that we are running with Serbia-Bosnia-Croatia and Rwanda too .

20 comments:

SweetAnnee said...

Oh how sad..there was a few boys who cut a puppies head off and then played baseball with it
the head I think
in our neighborhood before
tragic
fondly

hillgrandmom said...

I saw something like this once when we were in growing up in Cal, when someone started calling 'chor, chor' and running after this man. It is always scary to think at how easily a mob forms.
But re Chandrayaan--I have a different opinion :)

Unknown said...

@Sweetannee- absolutely ghoulish behaviour
@HG- Oh I am proud of my country wrt to Chandrayan - but my point was different - we tend to get very evasive about issues like Khandhamal and the bhaiyya bashing in Maharashtra - except for the media and the injured junta who cares ?I have an Orissa Christian friend who had to pack up and shift with her family to Kolkata till things cooled down .

Mama - Mia said...

EL - you made my stomach churn and turn and i still i have a deep frown on my brows and hurt in my eyes...

it seems unreal that someone we KNOW could be behaving like this next! already there are educated friends who talk about how Raj or VHP is right in hunting down bhaiyyas or christians.

will they also take to the road next?

i hate to even think...

so much for happy diwali, eh, EL?!

abha

Mallika said...

That whole mob mentality scares me rotten when I go back to Cal. It's too late for me to wish you Shubho Bijoya so lots of Diwali wishes instead.

Monika said...

oh god... i dont know how to react... that is why i always believe that dog are better than men

Hip Grandma said...

sad, very sad the way the world is heading.But let these incidents enable us to stand up for what we feel is right. A Happy Deepavali Mallika!

Thinking Cramps said...

That was chilling. Yes you are right. It takes very little to bring out the monster in us. I really liked your last line.

Mana said...

There are many such incidents where mobs are easily formed and beat up or even set fire.

Even if the Govt brings a new law, it wouldn't be implemented strictly.

Sue said...

That's terrible, Evie. You saw it all?

Giving me goosebumps right now.

Shaapla said...

This post is going to remain unpleasantly etched in my memory.
I can't bear things like this happening to dogs.
Those people should just burn and die.

Anonymous said...

i feel extremely unpleasant after having read what you wrote about this dog, more so because i go near the bharat petroleum office almost everyday. where did this take place? in the lane just next to health centre? or in the lane next to the in and out or the lane leading to the bustee opposite in an out? i am asking this because i know someone who feeds some of the dogs over there regularly and i sometimes help her and i go inside that bustee quite frequently to find some of the dogs and feed them. some people in that bustee are nice but some are obviously very cruel. almost all of them get drunk all the time and i can imagine this happening then.

Anonymous said...

you couldn't actually have seen this incident, could you? because then you must have tried to stop this from happening. you must have read about it or heard about it, haven't you?

Unknown said...

@Abha,Monika,TC,HG,Sue,Manasa- Chilling .What I cant forget is the shouting, cheering ,gleeful children.
@Namesake- Stay tight Ms M
@Shaapla- Yes ,Im with you there
@BR- Nope just outside the rear gate and to the left - the blind alley.The dog was practically dead by then and when I rushed out ,they surrounded me ,and they were so menacing .I think they came from near that small lake thing further down the road.Again what I cant forget , is the children. They were so happy , it was bizarre.

Jane Turley said...

Mrs G,

I am so sorry you had to witness this; I am certain it will cause some distress for some time. And you right it is even more distressing to think that children have participated in this barbaric act... and what's more we know that the dog could easily have been a human.

Why oh why do people act in such a way? It makes me ashamed to be part of the human race.

A Muser said...

That was horrible, EL. When it's said that humans are closer to animals to explain the race's lack of rationality, i think animals are being deeply insulted. We can be much, much worse...

Monika said...

Oh this is absolutely brutal.
Thnakfully,Never seen anything so brutal except on TV.

Rohini said...

It makes me sick to see and hear stuff like this. The base side of human nature is not only disgusting, it's downright frightening...

Thinking Cramps said...

A flippant comment: Just to throw your words back at you: "Long silences will no longer be condoned."

mummyjaan said...

Poignant, indeed.

Delurking to say "hi" because I noticed the exhortation on the sidebar ("Delurk and say, 'hi', do!")