"Stray dogs are so much a part of our daily life but we hardly take notice of them, says Nashik-based artist Aruna Nene who has painted the canines in acrylic on canvas.The paintings capture stray dogs in various moods at different locations that could well be any spot anywhere in Mumbai. While a pensive-looking brown dog slumbers on a footpath layered with paver blocks, another catches snoozes on a carpet of grass.
Amidst the grind of daily life, Nene, an animal lover, says she took time to stand and stare at dogs that “know to live better than us humans”. “Whenever I visited Mumbai and travelled by its local trains, I would often see people running along, forever in a tearing hurry to get to their destinations. And right there, these stray dogs would lounge comfortably without any trouble whatsoever,” says Nene who hails from a family of defence personnel. And Nene says we can learn a thing or two from dogs.
“We are forever racing through life, the list of our chores never ends. But where we are headed?” she asks. “In contrast, these dogs seem so content despite the fact that they possess nothing.”
The phrase ‘dog’s life’ takes on a new meaning when you see these dogs, says Nene who will donate the proceeds of the exhibition sales to the Parel Animal hospital."
It seems like an elitist act when India needs better things to be done but this need not be a zero-sum game. Caring about stray dogs has nothing to do with poverty in India and both can be handled and they are mutually exclusive (and in-fact poor people are the ones care for the strays more than anyone else). The lessons from history has taught us humanitarianism started as a elitist propaganda since sometimes they happen to see the forest when masses gets lost in the trees. Living in India, I got used to and worse became oblivious to it albeit the omnipresent stray dogs. My genome has all the traits to rationalize it and even give deplorable talks, masquerading our short comings in "humor". Things changed after Max and a mere look at a stray dog, sky rocketed the anxiety level and for once, neurotransmitters did their job. There are some of great ideas - here and great acts - old age home for dogs:
"A Chennaite has done that precisely. Forty-two-year-old Ashok has set up an 'old age home-cum-permanent shelter' for abandoned dogs and cats at Injambakkam near Chennai. "It is already functional but the formal inauguration is on January 7," says Ashok, a professional dog trainer. "I have always been an animal lover right from childhood,” he adds.He had set up a temporary shelter for dogs, Benji's Dog Academy at Injambakkam eight years back. The present home is about 4000 sq feet.
"I have about 80 dogs and nine cats," says Ashok who bought the property and set up separate enclosures for the animals with his money. There is also a pet cemetery. He spent about Rs seven lakh for the property and building. Dogs have to be treated with love and affection. This home allows them to live their life in peace and dignity. You should have the heart to take care of them"
Peter Singer's philosophy is right and it will take few more generations since civilization is an on-going process and at the current state it will seem ludicrous to most. We cannot make the world a better place for these animals with one single stroke but we have the power to make the world inside our homes a much better place for them. A reader comment about caring for animals after Pepper's story says it all:
"I have a child with insulin-dependent diabetes. I am constantly aware that every single advance keeping her not only alive, but so healthy that others never notice her condition, rests on the shoulders of thousands upon thousands of creatures. These animals have suffered, and these animals feel pain as much as we; many are almost unbearably intelligent and are emotionally...sweet, endearing. It is for this reason that I keep lab rats and greyhounds as pets--a small thanks that cannot go nearly far enough, and an act which has only made me simultaneously more grateful and sadder for the involuntary plight of the laboratory animal."
It's impossible to pay back what animals went and go through each minute to make our lives better and making the life of one stray dog a little better is the least we can do.
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