Zoo chronicles

I am torn writing a diplomatic factual for Yentha, while all I want to do is put down my feelings of contempt and scorn with fancy swear-words seeing the injustice of it all.

You see, I wanted to do a write-up on the teasing of captive animals at the Trivandrum zoo. A friend of mine who I tag along with on most days for trips to the zoo (who also happens to be a brilliant photographer and uses an actual, real SLR to capture the impressions I click in my head) denied me access to some of his photographs which he'd snapped; ones in which teasing, taunting and pelting the animals were portrayed in lurid detail. Being beside myself with fury at this sudden twist of events, I decided to head out to the zoo with my own modest Pentax of 5.0 Megapixel resolution and catch a few snaps myself. Though I still did tag along with this particular friend, needless to say, I was determined to snap some and use the very same for article purposes. Being modest, and knowing fully well that I have as much knowledge getting a good picture as a 3-year-old, I nagged another dedicated friend of mine into being my cameraman for the day.

Thursday, being a weekday, didn't see a lot of visitors to the zoo. The most infuriating ones included a group of philandering college boys, who were hell-bent on being so juvenile in their hoots and claps, it was a wonder they even got into college, being a bunch of dumb shit-heads.

This is one dialogue I found quite interesting, coming from a boy of about 21 or 22: "Eda Machaa! Nyaan patthu ruva koduthu da, enittum aa vrithiketta korangu avide marathinde mandayil kedannu urangunnu".

Translated as ,"Oi buddy! I just spent 10 bucks, yet that stupid monkey has the nerve to sleep on that tree." Heights of literacy?

Anyhow, they kept their hands to themselves, and I didn't see them reach for stones or sticks to aggravate the animals, but their incessant howling and hooting did manage to chafe up my nerves. Though I was waiting for that perfect snap of someone caught in the act, I was almost hoping it didn't just because the thought of being witness to such illegal behaviour was getting my BP rising. Actual pelting of objects or unnecessary taunting would have me die of a heart attack caused by excess fury levels before I could actually lash back some at the perpetrators.

The trip was uneventful, with me and my cameraman taking turns at angling my Pentax for a few snaps that seemed pretty jazzy, while my photographer friend was being all professional and clicking away on his SLR.

We reached the leopard's enclosure, and the leopard was right next to the mesh; so close to the stand-off bar, we could almost reach out and touch its wet little nose. We could look into the eyes and fathom a myriad of meanings from those compelling depths. This little exercise was rudely interrupted by a group of giggling girls, with mobile cameras, all out to click this beautiful feline.

 Then a portly man with the typical moustache strolled along with his daughter, a little girl of about 5 or 6. He thought the leopard was fascinating. So much, he decided to wave his ugly hands in front of the cat's face.The leopard pushed out a paw through the mesh and swiped at the man's grubby hands. The man got all the more excited, with the giggling girls asking him to be careful and the little girl staring up at her father with awe for the daring feat he was trying to accomplish.

The leopard now pushed out the other paw and tried a little more harder to get at the man's hand. You could almost sense the mounting aggravation and anxiousness on the leopard's part. If that leopard had gotten hold, I can assure you that the man would have had mince meat instead of his arm.

The man is a regular malayali; a fully literate man, from a fully literate state.

Literacy is hypocritical, if it didn't teach the man to read the sign-boards that warned people against teasing or taunting the animals for fear of being persecuted by law. Literacy is hypocritical, because he continued to do so and looked at me like I was the crazy one, when I ordered him to stop his puerile antics at once, both in malayalam and in english. Literacy is hypocritical, because he took off with his little girl out of ear-shot, and told her that there was nothing wrong in doing what he did, and that I was just another mental by-stander. Unfortunately, I wasn't yet out of hearing distance and caught that telling snippet .

Coward! I'd like to see his face if ever he finds himself on the same side of the enclosure.

At the end of it, I had my snap (dedicated friend to the rescue as I was busy staring down at the man with the grubby hands), and a disturbed mind . It continues to faze me, how people can stoop to being so callow.

The sense of power lies in being on the other side. The side of false bravery. The side which allows you to act on the false courage and satisfy an over-inflated ego.

It doesn't take literacy and years of education to teach you what is write or wrong. It is within us to fathom the basics and refine them through education.

An old adage says that the true nature of a man reflects in the way he treats animals.

Be compassionate to those who have already lost everything; who have already given up their freedom.

Be human. Be humane!