Dogs of War???

NO ONE is born hating another person because of the colour of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite – Nelson Mandela


I have been silent for a few days. Observing. Cogitating. Listening to so many anger-filled voices, spewing so much of venom.

Politically, the resident doctors’ strike is a replay of the Mandal Nightmare that shook the VP Singh Government. In a country where resources are limited, and state-of-the-art educational resources are scarce, the competition becomes fiercer. And here we are, fighting like dogs over a plate of tripe. The ones with the most muscle bark and bite the loudest, as they want to snaffle the juiciest bits. The weaker ones retreat to the very edge of the bowl, and then there are those poor mongrels which can’t even get a sniff in.

There is this one plate of tripe, and a kennel-full of canines to feed. No prizes to guess which dogs muscle in on the feed … a couple or three of the strong ones. But that plateful of tripe is not to nourish the three strongest dogs, and so the guy in charge has to make sure that the others in the pack get some share as well.

When the man in charge wants to set aside some of the tripe, the stronger dogs growl, bare their teeth, even try to bite. So the man has to resort to a stick, to force, in order to facilitate the weaker ones to snatch a bite or two from the plate. Now there are far more weaker dogs than stronger ones … and the objective of the keeper is to see that the special, nourishing tripe is utilized in a way that the general well-being of the kennel is maintained, not just a few smart dogs with velvet coats.

I have witnessed the howls of protests, the bared fangs, the threats of the top-dogs who are using everything in their power to hang on to that plate of tripe.

The top dogs have used the internet, the English language, and their vast international resources. Well, natural animal instincts at work here. Might is right in the animal kingdom, and might is not just brute force… it’s pedigree, breeding, the whole blue ribbon.

Social Justice, however is something that animals can’t understand. That the meek will inherit the earth. That the extra cloak in your closet belongs to your naked shivering brother….

And perhaps therein lies the rub...