By S.Sarwar.Malik
Not Shakespeare, Molier, Aldous Huxley but apparitions of men like Fikr Tounsvi and Naseem Hijazi glide in the sky of my imagination this midnight as I peer at the blank screen of the laptop . What I personally encountered during late hours, awarah galiyoon mein,( in vagabond streets) this-evening (and also midway of today’s morning walk) brought the creature to the center stage.
The day became ‘special’ because ‘sitar baagnai’( constellation position determining horoscope) matched so perfectly that I was emboldened to walk freely even on those rehgozer (roads) where even firishtay ( angels), some say, dare not tread these days.
Down Town, Uptown, Posh colonies of civil lines, whether of Jammu or of Kashmir… all
are the same because of this omnipresent creature. This much is at least common so people cannot grouse about ‘disparity’ …my quizzed lip corner seemed to say.
Sharp lenses of our media men , at times, capture some photographs of this creature; found enjoying siesta on garden benches (-City father’s recently- installed- benches no exception) , traffic police booths, planks of shops, road divider-green-stretches, in hospital corridors and where not. Large packs feeding on the ‘g’dumps, or those roaming (menacingly?) in the vicinity of schools etc are a common sight. The mulaqaat/ encounter is really unnerving when these creatures give chase to pedestrians and vehicle drivers during early or late hours; maybe we are mistaken, it could be a regular practice hour for them, post announcement of some special-drives, christened ‘khelo…..khelo’.
True, in the post-domestication stage, this creature has made strides along with homo -sapiens, from caveman to spaceman,graduating to become the proud escort, then to phirangi( westerners) laps and cozy beds and then to Lica’s astronomical heights… What progress, this creature has registered! Besides appearing in popular cartoon channels they have been cast as stars in many movies and shows. Even Kashmiris have dragged these creatures in heir pre 1975 politics- calling them kroehun te safaid: black & white; (not knowing it amounts to racial discrimination akin to blacks & whites). Also their name found mention in some Persian couplets & they even adore English idioms. Vow!
True majority of their brethren, including those who opened their eyes in poor places, had a different taqdeer( fate), like humans, as far as roti, laadpyar aur makaan( food, pampering & home) is concerned;(yes, yes I am talking about dogs ; ) but those whom we daily see in Srinagar are somewhat better off. Thanks to the abundance of food among wazwan-relishing people; the sprouting of poultry chicken, mutton & beef sellers in every corner; to the garbage dumping points littering all streets– courtesy: citizens- devoid-of – civic- sense and partly SMC & administrators- over awed by law -framers , and animal lovers.com who together, in unison, seem to say “Tso-neukh Insaan Hoennen”; (idiom= disregard to human).
Many years back a Columnist had written “ agar illaqay kay doctors inka health checkup kerkay export trade to Nagaland ki possibility explore kertay this readily-available-abundant potential of our impoverished UT; revenue returns whereof would have benefitted all but our top brains, who have been inspired by family planning itch of Sanjay Gandhi of yore , decided in favour of snail -paced sterilization; conveniently with holding what it is going to cost; as well as length of life these creatures would still enjoy after nasbandi ( sterilization). In an English daily a million dollar question posed by a Law-knowing- writer was, ‘would dogs stop biting after sterilization’ and another Ace Columnist wrote, ‘no grudge that people talk about the rights of animals, but this much has to be agreed that humans too have rights; at least accept, humans too have them….a little more than dogs.’
Those at the helm advocated to go for special hospitals (sarcastically an acquaintance suggested.. “In all districts and blocks of J&K; reserving some wards in Maternity Hospitals, as interim arrangement. Insaanun Balai; — to hell with humans)”.
So, O’ common kashmiri don’t give the dog a bad name; even after you are advised to look for froth in the whole population of your area ; when a canine leaves your kids with encounter marks and Docs at the lone anti-rabies administering SMHS, make you wait for availability of anti- rabies .
More than a decade has passed since catch & sterilize programme was launched in Srinagar district but dismal achievement on that front too; ( -that has left a huge dog-population, as this creature grows in geometrical ), was the subject of conversation of a group of friends,, some days back, when a late-comer barged in and announced a news in all seriousness:
“Listen guys! Our Government has prepared a directory of Animal Lovers & Animal Rights Activists and by April 2nd 2024 all stray dogs will be apportioned among them for adoption as per their individual vocal cord-decibel-rating, followed by a daily free-parcel of koker paache ; not neglecting Manika Gandhi & her followers in this UT”.
Ye thee Katha hooen lattech hay, as Zareef Ahmed or Ali Majboor would have said.
Adieu; till we meet again.
- The author is a Srinagar-based Poet and Columnist
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