Wednesday, June 1, 2016

Primate instincts

Jab jaanwar koi insaan ko maare,
Kehte hain duniya mein wehshee usse saare,
Ek jaanwar ki jaan aaj insaano ne lee hai,
Chup kyun hai sansaar?

These lyrics from Haathi Mere Saathi (1971) resonate with what recently happened in an American zoo. A 17-year-old gorilla got killed because a 3-year-old boy's parents weren't careful enough. This kid falls into the pond and the gorilla shows up near him. It appeared like the big guy was being protective but then politeness doesn't come easily to the wild. Long story short, the gorilla was shot dead and that too in a world that hasn't ran out of tranquilizers yet. In an ideal setting, nobody would have died and the little boy would have been 'saved' too. It's much easier to wish in an ideal world anyway. It's the easiest to think of gorilla's well-being when the boy who slipped into the pond doesn't belong to you. 

1 comment:

bb said...

nice perspective and pretty accurate.