The journey of a puppy dog: -313-

The streets were interconnected by twisting lanes which were lined with bushes, wildflowers and hovering insects, a primary school with a laidback curriculum, an open meadow marking the end of the village, a picture-perfect set up. A conducive village atmosphere which offered plenty of spaces for the children to play and a chance to observe pups in various stages of growth, from as close a quarter as their mothers would permit.

At times, the children would bring peace offerings such as a cup of milk, crumbs of breakfast or a little lunch. Of course, without the knowledge of grownups, otherwise, will there be fun? The children knew that by earning the gratitude and trust they would get the free pass to cuddle, pet and play with her pups.

In the village, only a few households had pet dogs. Being agriculturists, they used them as chaser dogs to drive away straying livestock from the crops, as their security detail during night visits to the fields and as a sentinel during the rest of the time. A curious boy, slightly different from others of his age, loved dogs and especially had a soft corner for newborns or twaddling puppies. Since his house had no pet dog, he spent many hours in watching and befriending the village dogs and pups.

On that morning, the sunrise was beautiful. Though, the puppy had watched many before this, it never failed to thrill him. On cue, the pangs of hunger began to rumble in his stomach and with a yip, he started the search for his mother. With a sweep of his head, he noticed his three siblings were making their way to the source of food (milk). The boy also had watched many of this this never varying characteristic routine and was fun to watch the twaddling of the puppies.

The mother lay sprawled, after feeding their hungry stomachs, to catch a breath and a wink or two. Hunger vanquished, the pups wanted to spend some energy. Their first target, obviously and always was the mother. They cautiously attempted to climb over her back. In a rush to be the first, each one tried to jostle the other out of the way. The mother growled an "enough” in their direction which the pups promptly ignored. Each one of the wannabe mountaineers yet to fully master the art of balancing, resembled an overloaded tractor- trailer, swaying all over the place. 

Their squeals of yips mimicking the noise of the strained engine. The pups out witted and outperformed in this play which was a fun not to be missed. This family entertainment was an out of the world experience for the curious boy and had enjoyed sneak-previews of many such pantomimes.

Though left to the mercy of their environment, the mother’s love for the siblings touched and troubled his heart. She had graciously accepted the hardships and assumed the role of protector and provider, after giving birth to the pups. She had managed to overcome hardships with a harmonious living! 

Many questions puzzled and troubled him. Why has the mother not made any attempt to introduce them to their father? Have they separated to go their own ways, a sort of doggy or dodgy divorce? Or in the world of dogs, is it customary for a mother to live alone with its litter?  Then how to explain what he has witnessed on the streets - dogs congregating, chasing around and some male dogs fiercely trying to protect their female companions? 

Is it the male, in the dog’s fraternity, that is averse to longtime relationship with the mother and the litter of puppies? Why the puppies never evince any interest to meet with their father? With what feelings these pups, awash in affection, would part ways with their mother, when they become adults? Will they recognize each other, when meeting by chance?

This up-close empathy inspired him to try and understand their psyche. With patience, he built up his own vocabulary, based on observations and interpretation of various cues given out by the puppies, namely the positioning of body parts, modulation in sound and different styles in wagging of the tail, among other things. As months rolled by, he became aware that he could actually hear them conversing with each other. Initially, this awareness frightened him but as his friends have not detected anything unusual in him, he decided to ignore this worry.

The flow of time brought many changes for all of them. The open spaces became crowded and the canine population started to migrate towards the meadow. The search for food became harder yet with resolute spirit they adopted to this new reality.  For the pups, the meadow became a haven as it offered many hiding places to play their hide and seek games. 

The curious boy was none other than Imaginch! To continue his education, he moved and stayed with his uncle, in a nearby town. His visits to the village, during holidays or festivals were his only chance to renew his acquaintance with his favourite puppy, which was growing to be strapping adult dog. Imaginch and the dog conversed silently under the shade of the trees in the meadow. After every such meeting, he sensed a in his puppy-dog as if to express its desire to leave the village and explore the world beyond. During these silent exchanges, its siblings cast their concerned looks on them. 

But the puppy-dog let him know that permanently losing contact with him would not happen during its lifetime. During his next visit, after a year, Imaginch got the news he had been expecting all along. The puppy-dog had disappeared without a trace and none of his friend knew its whereabouts. 

A few months later, Imaginch had to appear for a competitive examination, in another and more populous town. Two sessions and after attempting tough question papers, he felt mentally and physically drained. He wanted to do nothing but return home and sleep. He was impatiently waiting in the bus depot for his father to return from an errand. Amidst the bustling crowd, honking of horns and buses arriving and departing, he was lost in thoughts.  But a chance meeting on this day with his favourite puppy-dog, from his village was not one of them. 

He sensed an eerie feeling slowly engulfing him.  Goosebumps started to erupt and hairs on his neck and arms came to attention in parade-style. Surely, someone was watching him with a focused intent. Perturbed, he looked around frantically to locate the person sending that intense stare. He could not. Unable to put up with it any longer, he moved to another spot but the eerie feeling kept growing in intensity instead of diminishing. Another fruitless search also failed to locate the source that was disturbing him. 

Then his eyes brought into focus a well filled out dog (unlimited food from nearby eatery?) with an unwashed coat, watching him.  The barely visible, white band at half the length of its tail looked very familiar and it stirred some old memories. Had he seen this dog before, and if so where and when? Questions kept racing in his mind. 

As if sensing his dilemma, the dog tilted its head slightly to the left and with a gentle sweep cum wagging of the tail, signalled its recognition of him.  After establishing its secure connection, the dog becoming  confident stood up and stretched to its full length. Then it started to walk up to him, while vigorously yelping and wagging its tail, again in a characteristic manner. He noticed that the dog holding its tail high on its right side, was giving him a broad and loose wagging of the tail. This tilted circular motion of the tail reminded him of a helicopter changing its flight orientation. 

This tail wagging performance with a similar song and dance routine, instantly reminded him of the pup in the meadow of his village.  This was exactly what the pup did whenever he came to the meadow. For him the crisis in identifying his puppy- dog ended along with the disappearance of the goose bumps and hairs assuming their natural stance. He was overwhelmed by the dog’s clever thinking in putting up this show to settle his doubts. 

Dormant memories came to life, flooding his mind. At that time, he was just seven years old, and it was after three years of intense friendship. Then came the intermittent absent periods due to his schooling, and a disruption when the puppy pulled a Houdini act. It was by pure chance that his father had insisted and brought him here to take an under 12 competitive examinations. He wanted to know why his puppy-doggy pulled that disappearing act? All in good time, but now his worry was how to convince his father to take the puppy-dog with them? A lot to process and it was a daunting task for him. 

On returning from his work, the father saw his son and a dog wrapped up in an affectionate cloak. He immediately understood the depth of the bonding between them, even after a gap. He understood that the obvious step forward should be to keep them united. He took the decision to relax his ‘no pet in the house rule’. As their bus just got in there, he hastened to ask the conductor, whether he could bring this dog along? 

The conductor looked at the driver and asked, “How should I charge for it, as a passenger or as a luggage?” The driver replied, “As a luggage, of course!”  Then, in doubt the conductor asked, “How can it travel on the roof, as a luggages do?”  The driver replied, “Treat it as a hand luggage and ask him to keep it under the seat” 

Imaginch understood that the puppy-doggy would get a ride. The dog did not understand anything that transpired but was ready to travel with them. A disturbing question arose in the minds of the father and son. Are we doing the right thing? 

Back at home, Imaginch bathed and fed the dog and led it to the meadow. The puppy-doggy carefully surveyed its old stomping ground. It subtly conveyed the message that it was not searching for its mother or siblings. Then it lifted its head and moved it right and left and made motions as if it had seen enough and getting ready to go away from there. 

Imaginch stood stock still. It was a jolt for him to finally understand that his puppy-doggy had no attachment either with the mother or the siblings or the meadow. Maybe, nature’s intention was such that a dog can move along on its own way.  Or is it confiding in him, an urge to explore places other than its birthplace?  

He chided himself for failing to find out what had happened to the mother and the rest of the siblings. Now he understood what the puppy-doggy meant when it conveyed “losing contact with him would not happen during its lifetime.”  

Imaginch felt a ray of hope that they may meet again, somewhere else and soon!

Don’t blame the Ostrich! -312-

ChintaMany was taken aback by surprise to know, that memories from the distant past possessed such a force, to travel through layers piled up over time. He had assumed, that memories were stacked up year wise for storage. The memory that came up by itself was the one that he had acquired, some years ago, out of curiosity. 

In those days, the footpaths were really available to the pedestrians.  But here and there, a flower or fruit seller claimed a spot to peddle their wares. Occasionally, a different type of ware-merchant plied his or her trade. A man with caged parrots and another with a picture of human palm crisscrossing with the roads of destiny. The parrots drew ChintaMany’s attention for a closer look. 

The three parrots were held captive in the cage. For living comfort, the cage had separate entrances and grill doors for safety. This arrangement provided light and ventilation. For entertainment, each parrot-room had a stick or a ring hanging from the roof,  to sit or swing around.  A cup of water and some grains to take care of thirst and hunger. 

The parrots looked through the doors, at whoever was passing by on the road. In front of the cage, the card- reader had a small mat and over that he had spread a few open-ended thick covers, printed with the image of his favourite gods, arranged, in domino style.  Later on in the show, ChintaMany would come to know the purpose of these open-ended covers. The parrot show started, when a passerby came to know what tidings, the parrot would reveal through the cards! 

The passerby paid the going rate and the fortune teller, called cute names to entice one of the parrots to come out and pick a cover that held the forecast. To impress upon the inquirer or to show deliberate disinterest, the parrot took its own sweet time and slowly walked up and down the row, to pick and discard some covers. Finally, to get it over with, it picked up a cover, dropped it near its minder and retreated, not before collecting a few grains as reward for its labour. 

Now, ChintaMany understood the purpose of the open-ended covers. The fortune teller, looked at the deity printed on the cover, spent considerable time on the significance.  Then he slid out a printed card and read it aloud and sold his reading as a divine blessing. The inquirer listened to the purported future, in rapt attention. 

Somehow, the pity ChintaMany had felt for the caged parrots, not being allowed to fly, has triggered the memories from the distant past and made him feel empathy for the Ostrich, a bird unable to fly. A false pretense for the parrots, and a false attribute for the Ostriches! 

The misattribute might not have humoured the Ostrich. But it has immense practical value, if the 'mis' is detached to free the attribute. The following case by case demonstration will prove the point.  

Imagine a terror attack occurring on a foreign soil and a terror outfit claiming responsibility from another country. Now many things happen in the ‘host’ country. It weeps and sniffles, as being itself a victim of terrorism. The much-vaunted Ostrich comes out willingly to help the host country to bury its head in sand and feign ignorance of such terror groups staying, staging and being sponsored on its soil. A soil only of sand! 

If pressed for proof, this country brings out another Ostrich, to proclaim that neither domicile or postal addresses could be found to incarcerate terrorists nor have details of bank accounts to freeze and break their financial spines. This host country is thus a large-scale user of Ostriches. For their head in the sand efforts, this Ostrich rich country gets rewarded by other Ostriches, as the focal point to eradicate terrorism in any form around the world! Begging a pardon from Ostriches and other avians to say, “It pays to be among the flock of the same feather!” 

ChintaMany thought if these pseudo-Ostriches don’t qualify for a Nobel for Peace, who else could be worthier than them? 

The job of the Romanic Ostrich is not yet finished. In fact, it has given birth to a new species- pseudo-ostrich!

Pseudo-ostriches sit in terror fund monitoring task forces, to trace and trap the funding or fund transfer facilitators. The task force picks up courage to threaten and show the red card. Lo and behold, another Ostrich, with financial clout comes forward to extend massive loans to the same nation which does not know the terrorists operating from its soil, weep and bring out a pack of victim cards to play. 

Like the real Ostrich fleeing from danger, the task force flees from the scene. Likewise, this Ostrich with financial clout does not know where the leaked funds would go! With a desert and more to spare, the operator and sponsor nation takes along two more Ostrich heads to collectively bury in the sand. 

The Ostriches that strut around in politics are quite special and can easily fit anywhere and in any venture. They do not bury their heads in sand but in loads of money, earned out of sand. If it appears like a legitimate enterprise, think again. It is by illegal mining. On this la affair sand loot, the other Ostriches involved are the parties that get to share the loot and the people who vote them to power. 

The pseudo-Ostriches managing political parties are unique and try to keep the heads of voters buried in sand forever. Like wild animals migrating en mass in search of food and water, the voters trek to polling stations and elect representatives believing in their promises and honesty. These voting Ostriches at least know, that they have to keep their heads buried in the sand only for a maximum of five years!

The breed of Ostriches managing a party doesn’t bury their heads in introspection. Before and after an election, they let out caged parrots to read the printed cards. Unlike the caged parrot, these pseudo-parrots could read the cards from anywhere in the country. Having done these enough times, these parrots recite the cards by rote. Predictably the parrot readings would be - No level playing field, voters removed from voter rolls, pre-loaded EVM’s, voters ditched them, election was biased and unfair and so on. The party’s representatives were part and parcel of the election process and yet burying their heads, the loser whining foul is a ploy not to read the writing on the wall. 

The real parrot does not know what it tells and these political parrots do not know any other thing to tell! One is caged, the other is bound by loyalty! 

Closer at home, one may be surprised to find pseudo - Ostriches. These bias driven Ostriches strut around blindly, siding with a preferred one, not counting the missteps and not condemning aberrations and condoling indiscretions in loved ones.  They emulate Einstein by inventing different frames of references -one for the family and rest for the others. Preferring a different type of sand to bury their heads, these Ostriches only end in harming the loved ones! 

There is a litigant Ostrich, hanging on to an advocate’s black gown. Buffeted by adjournments, squeezed by the expenses and court appearances, the litigant still believes in winning the case. How long will he keep his head buried in sand? As long as the advocate wants? Only the real Ostrich would know! 

The real Ostrich would not be satisfied if the story about this idiom, in which it has suffered a mis-attribute, is not retold. Burdened with this task, ChintaMany set to work and came up with the following write up. 

The myth of an Ostrich burying its head in the sand, originated in ancient Rome about 2,000 years ago. The Roman naturalist Pliny, the Elder is the likely author. He might have seen the act of Ostriches bending down to tend to their eggs laid in the shallow ground(nest). Seeing it from a distance, he might have erroneously concluded that the ostriches are trying to bury their heads in the sand. Or did he suffer an illusion, there? 

Another possible explanation could be, the "disappearing act among the landscape” performed by an Ostrich. when threatened. It lies on the ground with neck and head stretched out flat, when being stalked by predators, it bends down its heads. From an onlooker’s perspective, the Ostrich appears to be burying its head. The misrepresentation in the idiom comes to light later in this write up, to vindicate Pliny the Elder. 

Thus, the Ostrich burying its head in the sand is from our perspective and the Ostrich does not have anything to do with it, except bending our perspective! Probably, Albert Einstein might have got inspired by this bending of ‘perspective’ to befuddle our minds with space-time curvature! In a sense the Ostrich is unique - no competition and has the exclusive right over this myth, and holding on to it for over 2000 years. 

What is the connection to the real Ostrich? The real Ostriches could come and learn a few more tricks from these pseudo-ostriches, before deciding to bury their heads in sand or bush. 

The afore mentioned human efforts, pales into insignificance compared to the telling, seismic effects this myth has left on generations to come and counting.  The present generation, who bury their heads in sand outstrip, outwit and outrun the Ostrich, with wings that are merely an appendage to this flightless bird! Though humans lack wings, they use imagination as their flight instrument. 

Now, ChintaMany had to undertake some historical tour, to vindicate the Roman naturalist. He might have travelled a lot away from Rome.  He might have seen African, Asia Minor, Somali and other native birds, of the same flightless feathers. He might have come face to face or at least seen them in action, over and again under different settings. 

Then probably, as every writer does, included his observations colloquially, in Latin of course, to describe the foolish act of a person who wishes to bury some things under the rug. Actually, his idiom was “...cum caput et collum in fruticem condidere, totum corpus existimant latentum.”  to mean when they have hidden their head and neck in a bush, and they think the whole body is concealed. He did not mention about sand. Like the Ostrich, Pliny also had suffered a mis-attribute! 

There are flightless birds such as emus, cassowaries, rheas, kiwis, penguins and the Inaccessible Island rails. Why Pliny had singled out the Ostrich? Excluding the smallest Inaccessible Island rail is logical but not the penguin, the next heavy weight in the list. Was Pliny biased to cold-shoulder the penguin by not authoring a suitable idiom? Probably, he thought the Ostrich being the heaviest could shoulder the weight of his idiom. 

This anglicised idiom, depicting the Ostrich burying its head in sand, has an ancient Roman root. Naturalist Pliny, wrote about Ostriches burying their heads in bushes. The myth and the associated idiom, settled in the English language by the 17th century. For some inexplicable reasons, the ‘bush’ got replaced with ‘sand’.  A stupendous feat for this Roman Ostrich to travel nearly 1800 kilometers, to bury its head afresh in the English sand. Left to itself, the Ostrich would have come to England sooner, running at 40 to 70 kmph speed on its long legs! 

Or, did it come all the way by sea and landed on a beach and ashamed of this foolish act, decided to bury its head in the sand that was readily available under its legs? To further vindicate Pliny and help the Ostrich, ChintaMany came up with this explanation for the English version of the idiom! 

ChintaMany wondered, “what made the species of Ostrich to put up with this head in the bush or sand routine?” The answer rang like a bell – out of respect and reverence for Pliny the Elder? 

He had an appeal to make. “Don't single out the Ostrich. The rooster and family have three idioms to their credit. The ducks trail with two idioms. It is a tie between the hapless dead dodo and the nameless flightless bird with a single idiom each.” 

The caged parrot does have a few idioms, verb, phrases or whatever to its credit. "Sick as a parrot” to express extreme disappointment about something. The verb "To parrot” describes the action of repeating exactly what someone else has said, often without understanding the meaning. "Parrot fashion" to describe the art of repeating verbatim, mechanically like a parrot mimicking sound. The metaphor "Parrot on someone's shoulder” describes a person who constantly remind like a nagging conscience. 

All of above can be construed as an “encomium to a parrot” to salute its ability to mimic sounds and words.  A caged parrot does it all, probably directed at the fortune teller, in a live performance! 

At the end, ChintaMany had a brilliant idea for a Nobel Prize in medicine - the scientific research on “breathing and living with head buried in the sand, repeatedly and even on daily basis”. He sardonically thought this could be the honour-citation for the much-maligned Ostriches!