A Lesson!

A lesson!

This Sunday was quite a busy one for me. My wife invited some of our friends for lunch, so I had to go to the market in the morning to fetch Chicken. The nearest shop was closed, so I decided to walk down to the Bhangel market. It’s not far, just a 10 minute walk. I am growing fat day by day, so decided to walk instead of talking a rickshaw. As it was early morning, the road was quite empty with very few vehicles. I walked slowly. Few guys in front of me were walking very fast discussing the global meltdown. “This time possibility of a salary hike is nil. This fucking recession has fucked us fulltime yaar.” “Lot of firing is going on”. “You know yesterday a CEO was shot dead in Silicon Valley by a fired worker. That CEO was an IITian yaar.”
I slowed down my walking speed. The chit chat between the guys was quite alarming. I was forced to think about the safety of my job. Although I work in TCS but at the end of the day it’s also a private company built on the foundation of hire and fire. Hope I am not committing any crime by eating chicken today despite this awful recession! Please forgive me if I did.
The chicken shops in this place are very dirty. There are thousands of flies swarming the shops. After all, its free food for them minus the dignity of labor. One chicken down, hundreds of flies party on the leftover. There were about ten shops in a row, which one to visit. All looked the same. One among them looked a bit clean and had no customer. It was a Muslim owned shop, the Hallal type. For me it was not an issue. I told the shopkeeper to give a good stuff of one and a half kilo. “Hey Allah! Rehem kar”, the shopkeeper told. Throat slit, the chicken was thrown into a big bucket to die slowly. I looked at the other side. Killing is bad, and slow killing is worse. I know I will be accused of hypocrisy but there are thousands of non-vegetarians like me. Why single me out!
I also got Onion and Vinegar from the market. I called my wife to confirm if there was anything more she wants me to bring. Most wives have a habit of forgetting. Once the Husband comes back from the market, he is sent off again to bring something else which the wife forgot. I did not like to take any chances and therefore had a quick chat over the phone. I started to walk back. Thoughts of recession over griped my mind again. I tried to brush it off. Negative thoughts of any type are not good in this fresh morning. But sometimes you can’t help thinking.
Then the strange scene took place. On the footpath there was a congregation of some donkeys. I have always looked down upon donkeys. These animals always keep their heads down and constantly have a sad face. As if their entire life is a recession and a depression. One among them suddenly lied down and started rolling on the streets. All the others looked to him, shocked as if he has committed a blasphemy. The donkey was rolling and believe me, he was smiling. I could see all his teeth. They sparkled blessed by the morning sun. This rolling continued for a minute and then he quickly got up and made a funny sound. All the other donkeys gathered behind him and started following him. May be this is the way leaders are born. All you need is a quick roll, a sparkling charismatic smile, and you are the Barrack Obama of the streets. The donkey group went straight to the fields. I followed them for sometime but then suddenly realized I am following a group of donkeys. I took the street leading to my flat.

I took a big lesson from this donkey. This donkey was sent on this earth as a flag bearer of suffering, inferiority complex personified. Despite all the stakes stacked up against him, he decided to look and smile and look up to the sky. And the sky did not fall upon him. The sun blessed him with a radiant smile. Proximo, in the film Gladiator has told, “Ultimately, we're all dead men. Sadly, we cannot choose how, but…we can decide how we meet that end, so that we are remembered…as men.”
Just when I reached the society gate, I heard some people rushing towards the street shouting. I looked at them. They were trying to stop a car. Some people crowded against something lying on the street. No doubt, it was an accident. I too rushed at the spot. Pushing my way inside I was horrified. I couldn’t control my tears. People laughed at me but I simply couldn’t stop my tears. The donkey who dared to smile and look up to the sky was dead.