Rigved

Rigved is being fed by Banda right now. He started talking about something to do with parents beating up children so that they can improve. Naturally Banda told him that its not necessary to beat children to make them improve. Then he kept mentioning ´what about mad children who don´t behave till they are beaten?´ Then it turns out that he meant, beating is also a language just like speaking nicely to explain something. He got this thought because of a story we read some days ago.

There was a donkey on whose back the owner kept an idol. People on the streets started offering their obeisance´s to the idol but the donkey thought they were praying to him. So he started braying loudly and generally misbehaving. The owner had to beat him for that Thus, Rigved concluded that beating is also a language!

Today the both of us went for a morning walk. Once in a blue moon we do this. We went to some of our favorite spots like the circle of really old stone bungalows near the house and then to the lane where we lived earlier(Damodar Nivas). It was really nostalgic to see our flats on the ground and second floor of the building. We were carrying biscuits for the dogs in this lane. Obviously when you feed street dogs, the people passing by (who live in that lane) look at you angrily because this action of coming all the way to their lane and feeding the street dogs makes the dogs stay in that street longer!

Street dogs can be a nuisance in India. Maybe that is the case even outside, but then if we are talking about a developed country then maybe the streets dog there might be better behaved.

Anyway, the dogs seemed happy with us as we fed them. They began following us. I was wondering if they´ll come with us all the way. I expressed this concern to Rigved. Rig said, “Don´t worry, they wont follow us beyond this lane.” To my surprise this turned out true!

Later today we went to see a huge flock of flamingos that had migrated to Mumbai for the winter. It was a breath taking site as thousands of this majestic bird swarmed near a dock in Sewri. They had settled down a bit away from the onlookers. They looked like a huge foreign army that looked quite formidable from distance.. There were some other birds who were much closer to the shore and probably thought that people have gathered for them! Rigved enjoyed every bit of it.