One that I care for

When I mentioned this black horse, (I contacted everyone, colleagues, neighbours, acquaintances) & this 'black horse's shoe' trade, the first response will invariably be "Ya? Get me one too!" !!!!! Including my Dad.

With the prompt efforts of PFA activist Mr Saurabh Tiwari, the man who was selling 'black horse's shoe' got arrested. Don't want to name him. Don't know what got him - ignorance, indifference or cruelty? He really did not KNOW that he's maiming the animal?

Right now, the cruel trade is off. The horse is in 'police custody'.

As my friend pointed out, there are families which have old horses, bought earlier. They served in their hereditary occupation. Now they are too poor to maintain the animals, old taangaa-waalaas, with their trade going out of business.

& the horses remaining unglamorous, or somewhat wounded, (this horse's left hind leg is damaged), there is no resale value.

A horse can't simply be left stray. Seeing the black colour, this must have occurred to this man a very lucrative means of income... is it justified to put him in lock-up or drag him to court?

I do not know. But what is the alternative? What logic, what request would have compelled him to give up this practice & send the horse to a shelter? & if it was in his family, he should have known better.

However, locking up the owner, or even whatever is the provisioned punishment, hardly is any solution.

More important is to rehabilitate the animal. It can't be expected to survive as a stray in city traffic. He'll probably be sent to a Gaushaalaa. A horse is a lot of expense. Horse shelters even in developed countries require heavy charities.

Every animal needs to raise money for its own preservation ... that's the new survival of the popular-est ... only those reserve forests which attract considerable number of tourists will ultimately be able to subsist, that's so obvious. Applies to domesticated animals too.

Why do you see so many stray cows, in a country whose majority faith holds the cow sacred?

More upsetting is the case of the buyers...

Whether the seller knows or not, whether he cares or not, he can only supply where there’s a demand.

One might be superstitious. One will definitely want to improve their fortune. But how are they blind to the animal's plight? It's not a 'black horse's shoe' displayed in some shop, they are seeing how it's being fixed on & pulled off. How are they aloof to it's suffering?

Black Horse

1st couple of times I saw them, I just thought 'What a shiny, beautiful horse'. Then I started wondering why there's nothing ON it - no saddle, no decorations, what kind of wedding mare is that?
The man accompanying it, is eternally attending to its hooves, curious instruments like screw driver & pliers in hand...
I stopped one of the days near them & asked him.
You are right.
The man is selling "BLACK HORSE'S SHOE"
All day long, he fixes a shoe on it's hoof, & pliers it out again, all in front of a customer, it's genuine black horse's shoe, after all!
The horseshoe is not removed everyday, like a man's shoes, have U seen a horseshoe?
It is fitted. Changed maybe 3 or 4 times in the lifetime... have U forgotten 'Black Beauty'?
The horseshoe protects the hooves when the horse runs on hard terrain.
But this voiceless animal ... not only is it unprotected, also, by now, its hooves are now so hole-riddled & brittle, it's just months away from being lame.
A lame horse!
Will they even be kind enough to shoot it?
In our hypocritic society, where, we hold cows sacrosanct, & yet, thousands of cows, someone's cows, roam unherded, & in the city traffic, & sustain on garbage, & the 'someone' retrieves them when it's milking time...
So, this torture will continue.
Because, screwed onto & dragged out of a defenseless animal's body, this talisman will bring Good Luck to your family!

Species of tailors

Tailors have something against me.

Ever since I was old enough to want to wear a particular look, I have been unable to wear it. That. The look that I wanted.

I'm not of very large dimensions, & the embroidered or embellished part of a dress material can make both front & back of my dress. But no.

Maybe it's against the code of Tailors to to make the backside of a dress from the cloth meant for the front!

Then there have been those who made me tops with quarter sleeves instead of three quarter & vice versa. The longer ones can be reduced, but the shorter? When I asked them to retrieve the rest of the cloth, the reply is 'thrown them' Surely you haven't thrown it out of the Universe as we know it? Get it from where You've thrown! 'thrown them'.

I bought a black stripes for a formal collared shirt, & left it with the Tailor! Sure, it came back, correct size too ... & guess what ? The stripes horizontal !!!

It won't even occur to me ...

Ladies' tailors can't cut collars, gentlemen's tailors never made a coat for 'a ladies'. Once a tailor returned me a dress with no buttons, hook, or zip! Like a polypack! How I was supposed to shrink myself into it, or wish it upon me, I did not venture to try it on. He very kindly put in a concealed fastening upon being pointed out.

Since tailors never return the surplus, & since there's often enough surplus for an entire dress for a slim girl, I decided to divide the cloth into two before placing it for tailoring.

My sister thought that I had made good mincemeat of the materials.

But I was yet to see more. Of the ways of the world! We put our pieces with different tailors. Her's returned it, though bit late, a satisfactory dress. She said 'she's managed even with your keemaa'. Mine. She cut the cloth. Front & back. & lost one of the pieces. She's still looking for it...

ANTHEM AT THE END

Today, I went to a meeting, where, the presiding officer decided to close with the National Anthem.
Feels different.
Feels remotely familiar.
Instinctive.
U don't even remember that U remember the words,
But U do remember.