It has come to my attention lately that I have been a bit to harsh and negative about India. Though I started this blog as I way to vent (and venting by its nature is a bad the frustrations) I also want it to become a medium to share the good things. In my head I was doing that through my pictures, but I think I need to make a more clearly defined effort. I really do not want to be seen as a hater, because the reality is that I love being here. So far this has truly been a rewarding enriching experience and I do not want to take away from that. For those of you who know me and know that I revel in sarcasm and like to paint everything in bitterness, also know that underlying it all I would not be ranting about it if I really didn’t love it.
So all that being said I want to share something that has temporarily restored my faith in humanity, at least until man does something fucked up again.
As I push 30 (though I am still in the sunny side of it the shadow is looming ever closer – eek, only 7 more months to go!) I am trying to pay more attention about this new fangled theory about exercise. Apparently it is supposed to be good for you or something. In an attempt to retain my youthful good looks for as long as possible (and trust me this pollution is not helping any) I’ve been jogging every other morning around a tidal basin park 10 minutes walk from my house (I posted pictures earlier). To get to this park I have to cross the railroad tracks and not the slum neighborhood that resides along its edge.
For those of you who have never been to a developing country “slums” is used as a term for the areas where the economically disadvantage reside not as the violent ghettos of the west. These slums rarely have electricity let alone running water. Most of the residents struggle each day just to survive.
The other day as I was crossing the tracks to get to the park to go for my run I noticed a group of men gather around something along the edge. Curiosity being what it is I moved closer to see what I was missing. At the center of this group of 10-15 grow men was a female dog with her litter of puppies trying to nurse. The pups could not have been more than a week old, and the mother looked like she had seen better days. The men were ooh’ing and aah’ing at the doggy family which was adorable. But the most touching part was the fact that this men, the very men who tend to believe in keeping their wives barefoot and pregnant were taking care that all of the all the puppies were feeding well. When a pup got pushed out they would nudge the others and put it back on the teat. A few of the men were dispatched to fetch food for the mother. These men, who really do not have enough to spare after feeding their own families brought milk and bread and helped the mother dog eat. They put her snout to the bowl and one went as far as putting milk-soaked bread in her mouth.
After witnessing this, I walked away with a warm and tingly feeling (different from the one you get from the ointment). It truly was one of the sweetest things I have ever seen. The tenderness that these men showed with the puppies was breath taking. It re-affirmed my belief that individuals are truly amazing, its people who suck. One-on-one a person does great things, it is when you group all these persons together that things turn to shit.
Ok that is enough mushy crap from my end. If I ever start to be too India bashing again I will plug in another lovey-dovey, puk-o-rama story to balance it out. But honestly, when you think I am being too mean just look at the pictures, that is where all the good stuff is.
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1 comment:
that's really lovely...
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