Slaughter . Murder .

We visited a slaughter house as part of a reality-check trip from our veterinary college .We bore witness to the slaughter /bleeding of an animal .It is by far the most horrific , deplorable , nauseating and disgusting sensory and emotional experience I have ever had . To watch the animal being thrown to the ground , tied up by all fours and having its neck hacked at without any stunning left me shaking . To be fair no one was forced to witness this and it was voluntary , yet I wanted to bear witness to how it is practised in reality in our very own city (very different from the perfectly sanitary and hygienic methods propagated in our textbooks , supposedly carried out 'HUMANELY').

If we humans were out in the wild, had to chase down the prey and fight tooth n' claw with it to obtain a meal , it might have been understandable to maintain the natural order of things . Yet ,here we 'civilised humans' have animals packed off to slaughter houses , so as to provide that packed meat carton at our neighbourhood cold storage, so that we the end consumer don't have to bear witness to the atrocious , merciless , terrible act which I just did .What should have been said is ,'FORGIVE ONLY THOSE WHO KNOW NOT WHAT THEY DO' . Well, ignorance can no longer be an excuse .

A Life Gone Astray

Born in the dark bowels of an alleyway ,
With no crib for a bed .
Heralded by not just one but by the entire repertoire of twinkling stars ,
yet barely a tear at my funeral shall be shed .
With a belly full of worms ,
I'm neglected and left for dead .
Mother's love lost early
(such dastardly times).
Born a stray , I demand to know ,
''I'm consigned to this life by whose damn design ??''
Forsaken by mortals and by all powers known n unknown,
my siblings lie strewn : lifeless and cold.
Run-over , starved , kicked around or stoned .


Born just as wonderful as any other young one,
Even so , while with my eyes-yet-shut I lay,
through no fault of my own my life went aStray .
Cute fluff , intelligent bright eyes , a quirky one-eyed patch:
all that and more just doesn't suffice ,
because I'm born on the streets I'm inferior in Their eyes .
Mongrel , street-dog , nondescript , Indian-dog or stray :
call me what you will , but show me no disrespect just because of where I stay .
Nurse me back to health and find me a caring home,
With tonnes and tonnes of love I shall repay.                    

Lets Live Together and Precious Paws Foundation work for the welfare of homeless , orphaned puppies by rescuing , fostering and subsequently finding them permanent loving homes to live in . To adopt ,foster volunteer , sponsor or donate u can reach them at :


Lets Live Together : Phone: 9986413916 http://www.facebook.com/LetsLiveTogether?ref=ts
http://letslivetogether.wordpress.com/


Precious Paws Foundation : Phone: 9742543510 http://www.facebook.com/pages/Precious-Paws-Foundation/323173584393532?ref=ts

The Voice of Stray Dogs works for the rights of these strays, lending a much needed loud voice to the voiceless . Do check out their blog http://www.strays.in/ http://www.facebook.com/strays.in?ref=ts http://www.facebook.com/VoSDAdoptions

Castles , Closure , Catharsis and Clearing the Cache

It is rather peculiar how someone could have gone in a mere 7 months from building castles in the air with a Goan to building sand castles at Goa [the Goan having vanished into thin air]. Lofty dreams GROUNDED ? A capricious world indeed .

For a kid who prided himself on his logic and ability to reason out things , it was certainly unsettling to be fed purely on emotions . A pessimist-turned-optimist who turned cynical all over [ does the glass even exist ?!]. Where better a place for true perception to be attained than standing grounded , ankle deep in sand , looking out at the sea [Closure with a capital sea?! ;)].

The book lies shut under the glow of a table-lamp .It is only partially thumbed through ; I may never know what the rest of it reads . The cover of the leather tome still never fails to amaze me . I pause for a moment , run my fingertips across those familiar inscriptions on the cover , dreamily remembering the hours spent admiring it . I examine the once sturdy binding and nod my head in disappointment at some of the now loose leaves . Allowing myself a whiff of the delicate odour given off by the sheets , I lose myself in a reverie : a recapitulation of the preface and four-and-a-half chapters I had read . With heavy footsteps and a knot in my throat I carry it to the bookcase . Ascending the rungs of the ladder to the very top , I proceed to stand on tiptoe , stretch my arm out as far as can go and place the book on the highest shelf . A place of honour for a work I once cherished . The dust on the shelf is disturbed into a cloud . A violent cough is induced and my eyes turn moist and misty [surely brought on by the dust of course , cos as you know big boys don't cry! ;) ]  Steadying myself to avoid tipping right over, I then climb slowly down the ladder and walk away from the bookcase fighting the urge to take one last look at the volume with just one thought in my mind ,'' Well too bad for her , because there's this amazing book with(in) me too that she had begun to read, but shall never get to complete.''

Chagrin. Closure. A cenotaph . Carte Blanche.

''Shit happens'' , I once said to a pal . ''Don't worry soon enough someone will come around with a pooper scooper!'' , she replied. That was certainly the most amusing and perhaps even the most helpful line said to me over these tumultuous months. Hope is a funny thing with the power to destroy you at times , while at others it can piece you together like nothing else can . Pooper Scooper , oh Pooper Scooper where are ye ?! [waiting for you to come along and scoop me off my feet!]

While I await your arrival , this lil peasant boy shall try to fashion himself a suit of armour and shine it as bright as can be! I shall then practice the walk , shoulders held high , the gait of a noble knight . Through it all I'll just hope that knights-in-shining-armour haven't been completely sidelined [by vampires with sharp canines!]. Considering that times have changed , I'll proceed to sit back and wait for a damsel to come and rescue [or atleast inbox!] me.  *hint hint*  ;)  

Now , I'm off to build myself up from scratch . Wish me luck [or atleast the right array of circumstances!].

Construct. Change.

{ @ Calangute beach , Goa...built along with Amulya}

Pencil to paper

A pencil shading portrait I had drawn of a friend about a year back .Was rather pleased with the outcome! :D

A pencil to paper ,
An expression of my appreciation
A stencil of She-who-meant-so-much ,
Infused with a sincere adoration .

Cheers ,to what was !
Cheers , to whatever shall be .
Even as all the greenery is lost and the whole globe thaws,
A friend that was , shall always be in need .

Bridges need not always be rebuilt to cross the turbulent stream ,
a dinghy that even barely stays afloat will do just as well for me.

''All lives end. All hearts are broken . Caring is not an advantage , Sherlock''

That's what u call a dialogue!

If you haven't already watched any of it's episodes , you really ought to give the new BBC Entertainment series 'Sherlock' a try . It is a completely new age Sherlock Holmes story that's truly brilliant . Didn't ever expect to watch Sherlock slapping on nicotine patches in the place of his traditional pipe or tapping away at a laptop / PDA for that matter! Being one of those guys who spent many a day flipping through The Complete Works of Sherlock Holmes as a kid , I'd expected myself to be aghast at what I thought would be an utter desecration of the work (much like the recent Sherlock Holmes movies, which thanks to the action-packed sequences and impressive acting skills portrayed could be considered to be quite fine flicks ,yet still leaves you wondering why they bothered to use the name of Arthur Conan Doyle's detective at all!). Surprisingly I found myself extremely appreciative of the twist to the whole story . It is just four episodes in , so it's certainly not too late for you to start following it . It is even being shown on television here in India at about the same time as the release of each episode :)

House MD, you've now got competition !

Eventually everything comes around to bite you .........Especially when you're studying to become a vet ! :D