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| Thursday, 12 December 2002 |
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Beautiful brown eyes It was the most pathetic pair of brown eyes I had ever seen in my life. She stood there on the railway platform looking up at me, this beseeching four legged creature. I wondered where she had learnt to beg so convincingly. Her head tilted just at the right angle. The ears bent back to show total humility and subservience and those eyes looked into you , tugging at the heartstrings of your hardened self and melting any ounce of resistance you had left. This was a canine who had mastered the art of begging and as I stared at her with respect and admiration I again wondered where she had learnt to become such a professional. I didn't have to look far. The dog had teachers all around her . The man with the limp gave enough of a lurch in his walking to make you feel ashamed of your own two very strong legs. The mother with the scrawny baby made you feel ashamed of the sturdy youngsters you had been raising at home. The dog sure had learned gurus around and I guess had picked up the rudiments of the art from just observing them on the platform. She laid a paw upon my leg and me a hardcore animal lover returned her affectionate gesture by patting her head. I just pulled back my hand in time! It was the eyes that gave her away. From sad brown eyes they turned to two pools of sheer anger. She had no need or time for love and petting, she wanted food. And if you couldn't give her that she had no need for you.She walked away towards another group of people down the platform and I saw them being given the same treatment. She had no need for me anymore. How often I have seen this same behaviour in the two legged variety too. I remember once stopping the car at a signal. The man who came with a cloth in his hand and started washing the windshield appeared lean and hungry. I rolled down the glass and looked at him. I heard a groan and my heart went out to him. I beckoned him to me and told him to hop in and I would get him a job. Suddenly groan and moan turned to a dose of the choicest expletives I had ever heard. I drove away before he tried to throw something at me for wasting his time. He didn't need a job. He had one in which he was earning quite a handsome amount! You see them all over. Professional beggars who have perfected begging to a fine art. They run with babes in arms, with bandaged legs and twisted hands. They swarm around the cars at every signal. They enter trains and reserved compartments and with pathetic looks and pitiable sounds they make you open your wallets and part easily with money you have earned with time and effort. I looked down the railway platform and saw my canine friend. Her paw was raised as she laid her wet nose on another gullible passenger. I saw her suddenly start and look at me. Did I see her expression change or hear a faint growl? She was a professional alright, just like her two legged friends and she held only loathing and dislike for the likes of people like me....! |
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