It’s an early morning walk to refresh and rejuvenate outside the compound of my posh colony. I take my leisurely steps towards warm-up, and sheepishly look around at my fellow homosapiens, who are accompanied by their four pawed furry friends of various breeds and sizes, as they become an integral part of our social status. They also happen to be a man’s best friend.
As masters and helpers take their canine mates for the morning rounds along the boundary walls, which are adorned with pictures of Gods of all religions and faiths, reminding us that Cleanliness is next to Godliness.
But sigh, despite being expensive high bred dogs, they lift up their legs at that very place.
Poor owners, they feel so cheated, they have taught their dogs to shake paws, sit, sleep and fetch, but have not been able to control them with pee and poop. Alas ! what can be done when it is ‘nature’s call’.
Well, they can only act ignorant and move ahead, may be accepting the fact that “God’s in the heaven, and everything is all right in the world”.
But as I moved ahead, something had gone definitely wrong with me, rather drastically wrong. Oh no!! I had taken a wrong step, and now there is no looking back.
I was more embarrassed than the ‘walk the dog’ guy, who was acting ignorant despite knowing what sh*t happened with me. But then, this was not the first time that I had landed on the wrong side of the road. The occult happenings were regular to me, so how could I blame the poor guy or girl, who were busy multitasking, as their hands were full, with the leashed pullers on one hand and attending mobile phones from the other.
As I rubbed my shoes on the green grass, it made me realise that it’s good to have green grass on the other side as well. I had to be vigilant enough myself, to avoid these unwanted souvenirs, every now and then.
Robert Frost was wise enough when he said “Good fences make good neighbours ” but with slight variation for now, as we hardly know the next door neighbor, except when the tail wagger comes out and performs his job near our gates. It often leads to a dog- fight, between the never seen or heard neighbours, further ensuing into barking like dogs. A few cuss words here and there, where the favorite one pertains to the poor pet, who doesn’t even realises and now is caught in between the war of words.
Poor animal doesn’t understand that his masters who bought him, keeping his pedigree in mind, do not carry a single carry bag to scoop the poop.
Love of the dog lover, the human kindness here does not include cleaning the waste product of the pet.
If animals were capable of cleaning themselves then won’t have been strapped by their so called owners. We flaunt our pets on social sites, put their display pictures on our cell phones, but feel embarrassed and ashamed to clean their poop in public places.
Poor canine wonders where is ‘love labour lost’ of their owner at such times. At least they, themselves cover up their act by throwing some mud on it with the help of their hind legs, but we humans leave no stone unturned. We indulge in mud slinging, we are pretentious while wielding the broom for the clean India act, broom swapping sessions are limited till paparazzi peeps in, but beyond that we truly believe that charity not only begins at home, but is limited till home only.
Indoors are kept clean, spic and span , but beyond the threshold of our houses it is the Lakshman rekha where all the filth is scattered outdoors. We complain and crib about the ‘poor civic sense’, deliver sermons on hygiene and sanitation, but we are too much smitten by the litter bug, some of our men folk feel so much hesitant to flush or rush to the toilets at public places that they just empty their bladders out in the open.
No spitting or littering have just become a part of empty messaging, but what we preach, we do not practice. We shun responsibility of the mess we create, so how do we take the responsibility of our chained best friend.
Dear pedestrians, the fault lies in our stars, when we are lucky, we come out clean, otherwise we land ourselves in trouble.
Remember the next time when you walk in the dog friendly neighbourhood, Mind your steps, one giant leap may end you in a trouble.
And if you are destined for so, just be like our chained canine companion, ‘throw some grass/mud over the sh*t and move ahead from the muddy waters to the greener pastures.
Anjali, with a masters in English is a teacher on a sabbatical, loves travelling and spending time in the lap of nature, observing its bounties and being thankful to the hills.
