With my due apology to my human friends, I candidly assert that I have always found animals as better than human-beings. I am not a psychologist, nor am I an expert on animal behaviour. However as my life experiences suggest, the animals are true to their self, their natural instincts and their behaviour patterns. They are never violent without a genuine reason, they do not betray their benefactors, they are not ungrateful(which I consider a great virtue in any creature) and above all, if they love someone, they carry on with the relationship thus coming into existence with utmost sincerity. It's we, the human-beings only, who backstab, betray, show ungratefulness, harm others for own vested interest, kill for flimsy reasons and above all, shamelessly justify our wrongdoings without even the slightest repentance or any concern for the victims.
I arrived at Hyderabad by shifting from Delhi in October 2009. My little son felt loneliness for quite some time until he befriended with two children of a neighbouring Christian family. Now these two children - Francis and Franklin are among the best friends of my son - Saurav. He came across a dog which used to live near the house(residential quarter in the colony of BHEL) of Francis and Franklin. My son liked that dog very much and christened it as Raamu. Initially, despite being fond of Raamu, my son remained a big scared of going very close to it lest it should bite him but with the passage of time, that fear in him waned out.
But this blog is not about the relationship of my son with Raamu. This is about the strange bond unknowingly developed between Raamu and myself. While playing with my son, I also happened to come across Raamu and it took me a long time to understand that Raamu was very fond of me. Gradually only I have discovered this fact that Raamu not only identifies me very well but also approaches me without any understandable reason. When I give food to it, sometimes it eats, sometimes leaves. That means it does not come to me for the purpose of food. It comes to me purely out of its fondness for me. It likes standing beside me, sitting near to me, sniffing me, rubbing its mouth against my trousers and barking lento by looking at me(as if trying to communicate something to me in its own language). Now-a-days the situation has reached to this extent that Raamu identifies my scooter from a long distance and comes to my house alongwith me while running side-by-side the scooter.
Love or affection is bound to be reciprocal especially when the person concerned is a sensitive one like me. The day I realized Raamu's love and fondness for me, my heart reciprocated its sentiments without delay. Now I am as fond of it as it is fond of me. The day Raamu does not visit me or is not visible elsewhere, I start feeling restless and get concerned for it. Now my wife and daughter have also understood Raamu's fondness for me and got habituated to its daily visit to our house.The behaviour pattern of my unique friend, Raamu and this unique friendship of itself and myself has again underscored one eternal truth that you cannot correctly pinpoint the reasons for someone's love(or fondness) for someone else, may it be a human-being or an animal or even a plant. Hence, what's there in hatred folks? Let's love and let love. Let the mystery of love remain a mystery only. We do not need to know its reason. After all, the fragrance matters, not its source or the reason for its coming into existence.
