October 25, 2000

Spirit of Giving

While India celebrates the twin festivals of Dussera and Diwali, a pall of gloom hangs over the burgeoning number of tiger and leopard deaths in recent months. The delicate balance of the environment we inhabit has precluded that animals, however rare or nearing extinction, have a lesser right to life on our earth.
Without our animals and their natural habitat, the forest, we are presiding over a disaster of untold magnitude that will cost us dear as it will be irreversible.

Watching the National Geographic and Discovery channels as a regular, I marvel at the grace of lions, panthers, tigers, leopards and other wild cats their proud carriage and grace, their fierce loyalty and gentle mothering all have the ability to bring tears to my eyes. Yet, nearly everyday, the newspapers are the harbinger of yet another gory skinning by poachers.

Ancient Chinese medicine had many uses for the tigers' anatomy, which even the advent of Viagra has not made a dent into, as the tiger's bone is meant to enhance male virility like no blue tablet can ever dare to claim. Our elephants face similar extinction for their tusks. It is still not too late to try and preserve our ancient heritage, culled into folklore through the stories of our nation's animals and birds.

Protection of the Indian tiger, leopard and elephant has become a gargantuan task, as poor funding and poorer manpower resources and inadequate infrastructure are ensuring an unfair advantage to the trigger-happy poachers. The very santuaries that are meant to protect and preserve the vast depletion of our tiger population are now becoming the source of supply, as the number of dead animals swell at times with tacit support from the keepers themselves.

If our animals in the wild are threatened, the animals we have in captivity in the handful of zoos across the nation, tell an even more painful story neglected, ill, starving animals that seem to be rotting and moulting in front of our very own eyes. The gloom and stench of the zoos in India make a very sad statement that the dwindling numbers of visitors confirm.

Any zoo in the western hemisphere is a joy to visit as children learn to imbibe and enjoy their day at the zoo. The Singapore Zoo can be visited day and night and has rare examples of flora and fauna plus its usual fate of wild cats, elephants, turtles, mammals et al. If we can emulate these new age zoos, we will have somewhere to take our children, even if only to keep them on a reality check that though near extinct tigers and elephants still exist and will do so if we address the problem of wild animals and their diminishing habitat. On a war-footing.

On a recent visit to London, I had a pleasure to be invited by Lord and Lady Swaraj Paul to special enclosure of the London Zoo built by the family in memory of Ambica, the daughter they lost some years ago patrons are not uncommon in the well-managed London Zoo. It is not difficult to raise capital from corporates, and individuals who can perhaps adopt individual animals, or indeed like the Pauls an entire section of the zoo, thus perpetuating a legacy of giving with an understanding of the ecological balance of life.

I would love to see a TV telethon, where instead of dolling out one or ten crores you highlight the plight of the poor, the needy, even perhaps a zoo desperate for a cash injection and have phone lines that one can pledge money to, big or small, like every drop of water it will go to make an ocean of giving to a worthy cause. To give is far more noble than to receive.

Instead of inculcating greed and an escalating material want, through programmes like KBC and SDKK why not teach our people the age-old tradition of giving to the less fortunate. If I see a beggar that has a limb missing I stop and give him some alms. How much more impact would an image of dire need have when beamed straight into my bedroom, I know I will call in to a telethon and pledge a token of help and so will all my friends. To balance the programmes based on the lure of filthy lucre, we must have programmes than instill values of care, concern and inculcate a true sense of giving. I can hear the hot lines jangling, only when we give can we be truly blessed.

This Diwali, let us try to burn less crackers, buy less and try and give, as tradition demands, something to the less fortunate. Let us be driven by the need to give rather than take. Let us inculcate in our young a sense of purity by adhering to the principals of dharma, by bringing a little light to the darkness of the less fortunate.

 

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