Straight from the Heart

I didn’t want to come to Berlin. Guess the law of Diminishing marginal utility has begun to catch up with me-too many visits to countries beyond the Indian shores and the aura has begun to fade. And why not? Most cities outside India look very much the same, especially the European cities. Clean roads, highways with occasional cars seen travelling at break-neck speed, twisting flyovers that reminds one of the “jalebis” back home and people with near normal shapely toned bodies that make me feel old and diseased! No honking sounds of cars, no traffic jams and perfectly functioning traffic lights ensuring free flowing traffic on the roads. There seems to order everywhere and people go about doing their task with a sombre face, as if they couldn’t care if the world came to an end the very next instant. And then there are those pre-conceived notions about “the-not-so-fair-skinned” people from the eastern parts of the world! “We are serving beef sandwiches,” was what the air-hostess said ...

For a conference they all came. The brown, the furry, the gory and the lame. Heads bent low, tongues hanging out. Some made their presence felt by barking out loud. The park was the place, ideal for a gathering. For rolling in the grass, or for (whenever they needed) peeing. The topic of discussion involved the diminishing crumbs. That’s picked up by the ragged man or the boy from the slums. “The human race has become very greedy”, said the brownie. “They consume all, as long as it doesn’t cost them any money! Every small bit disappears quickly into their stomach. And for us, its only the “foodie” smell that’s left back!” “In frustration we end up licking and pawing. Our noses buried deep, though its futile and ends in nothing. Must we be treated like dogs just because we are so? Live and let live, why can’t the humans practise this motto”?