Freedom

While Kali was putting her puppies to sleep, Malli ask, Amma what is the point of all this? When i grow up, i will also become a mother like you and Chubby will become like any other male dog, just eating, fighting and procreating. Is that all i can aspire to be?

Kali said no my dear, lot of people feel there is nothing much a dog does except to guard a territory and procreate. Also do remember their is nothing wrong with doing that too, as you learn to deal with diverse people in your journey,how to love unconditionally, accepting someone as whole(with good and bad), you learn to overcome your fears and also to make peace when the fight is not worth it.  Also for mothers, nurturing the young ones and making them ready to face the big bad world, is their biggest contribution to the world.

Malli felt what her mother said made sense and she seemed to have simplified things very much and made the entire existence pointless. Then she remembered what her mother had said. She asked her mother, is there any other role a dog can take? 

Amma said, some dogs who look for deeper meaning become Monk dogs, they take upon themselves to understand where world is going and what is happening in dog society. They keep roaming from one place to other, if they feel something need to be addressed, they reach out to the wider community.

Malli asked, Amma have you met a monk dog? Kali said, i knew one very closely, my uncle i.e. your grandfather was a monk dog. If not for him, in this region there would have been no Indian Pariah dogs left. Malli gave out a howl to express her admiration.
Amma, please tell me more about him and what he did.

My mother had 3 siblings, 1 elder sister, 1 younger brother and 1 elder brother. They used to live in Bangalore city. In those days, there was independent houses no multi-stories. The only guards were we dogs, hence people used to feed them. We also felt it was our duty to protect them. My mother's elder brother when he was 4 months old, told her mother that he wants to become a Monk as he wanted to explore and be able to live in any situation. My mother then took him out of the territory and left him under the guidance of a old monk dog who used to live in wild.

Post 4 years, when he came back to the place where he was born, he was shocked to see most independent houses were gone or were vacant. Lots of multi storied buildings had come up. Most multi storied buildings had human guards, who sadly slept at night. He felt, how stupid the humans are, they are not leveraging the strengths of all beings and thinking of co-existence.

He saw lot of people having foreign breeds as pets and they treated the Indian Pariah dogs as untouchables. He was saddened to see things this way. He saw the strays impoverished, leading to lot of more anger and intolerance among themselves. Earlier the territories of dogs were such that, each dog had sufficient space and food,  but now seeing the few people who fed them and the scarcity of food outside in the concrete jungle, there were lot of fights and territories had become smaller and smaller.  Also the crime in the dog community seemed to have spiked, something like a rape was unheard of earlier was now becoming common. As a result, to keep the population in control, lot of dogs were being neutered by humans.

He felt if this is the way things will go, Indian Pariah will be extinct soon. One thought that came to his mind was, may be its a good thing, as humans are making the entire earth non livable for all other beings. As he was sinking into helplessness, he remembered what one wise one he met on his expeditions had said, we all are interconnected, each being has a role to play. Even if one link is missing, there will be repercussions.

He also remembered the reason he decided to become a Monk, it was not to escape but to be of help to his clan in the time of need.

While he was lost in his thoughts, he got an idea. It was time for the Indian Pariah to re-learn the ancient wisdom it has lost.

The Monk dog started reaching out to the dogs and telling them about the calming signals dogs use to communicate, which when used right, will lead to no fights and will enable co-existence. Soon this gathered momentum and the words of wisdom spread throughout the country.

Soon all dogs started following calming signals. There were no territory wars, the dogs could understand what each side was trying to communicate. The humans around also noticed the change in the behavior of Indie dogs. No episode of gang wars between dogs were reported anywhere in India. The dog lovers who were active on social media, started writing about Indian Pariah and how its the best dog you can have as pet.

There was a shift in the mindset of people and people started adopting Indian Pariah now.
The Monk Dog felt happy seeing the change in society, he felt he can now peacefully go to the Himalayas and stay in an ashram.

Few years went away, all was fine. 

Once while the Monk Dog was in deep contemplation, he felt the need to check on his clan to see if everything was fine. The Monk Dog started his journey and came to his town. He could see that there were very few dogs on streets, most dogs seemed to be in homes as pets.

As he started surveying, he saw a Rajapalyam, he saw it having so much fat, it looked like a Labrador. The Monk Dog asked him, how come you put on so weight? The dog replied, i get good food at home, there is no reason for me exert myself.

The same story could be seen in each of the houses, most dogs were not alert, they were primarily lazy and were happy that food is served to them.

He also realized that all dogs seemed neutered, which meant post this generation, there won't be any Indian Pariah left in India. He wondered how foolish has the humans have acted, they just kept neutering without realizing when to stop. He gave out a sigh and thought this is what happens when a problem is not looked at holistically and all cause and effects thought through.  

He realized he has to convey it to the humans the importance of balance and to consider  natural processes as sacred. Then he realized, he needed to first save the clan. He needed to find male and female dogs who can mate and for that, he had to first spread awareness among his clan, so that everyone is in the search mode.

When the time was midnight, he started singing a dog song, which was extremely melodious. All the sleeping dogs got up from their slumber to find out who was singing.The monk dog then sang about cycle of life and how everything is connected and how each being as a role to play.
At the end, he let out a question as a howl, will our species continue?
All the dogs got the point and replied to him saying, we will find out who can carry this responsibility.

The next day, when the dogs went out for walks, they were observant of other dogs and they started gathering data, name, gender, address, how old are you? are you neutered? 

The same day, at night the monk dog gave out a howl saying, lets share the data in the afternoon, so that we do not disturb the human beings at night.

In the afternoon, the data sharing started, for each of the 4 zones in the community, the data was collected and 4 dogs were given the responsibility to pass it down to the Monk Dog.

The Monk dog post receiving all the data realized, there is only 1 female dog called Ginger who has not been neutered and there are 2-3 male stray dogs that have not been neutered.

The Monk dog did a broadcast of his thoughts to all dogs at midnight via a song, which basically said, we need to plan an escape for Ginger. Once he finished his song, he heard few female dogs replying back saying, Ginger should have a right to choose a mate. The male dogs cannot determine who is the groom among themselves. The other female dogs gave out a howl to convey their support to the proposal. One of them said, in the current practice of the males deciding the suitor and the suitor coming to the female dog, the female dog has no choice, its not a marriage by consent at all.

The Monk heard  that and then said, lets amend our law from today, the female dogs have complete power to decide whom to marry and they can also decide to say No to all. They will have complete freedom to choose from now on.

All dogs started singing happily and then they heard a human shout "Shut Up". Then they realized, they have crossed a line. They let out a murmur to convey, lets sleep, we can celebrate tomorrow.

Ginger who had listened to all the conversations, realized the responsibility she had, however she was also bothered about the thought of escaping as she knew how much her human parents worried for her when she was gone for even few hours.

The next day, when the maid Bhagyamma came, Ginger greeted her as usual. For Ginger, Bhagyamma was someone she loved the most. When Bhagyamma came, Ginger will just follow her and not worry about anything. However, today she had a plan. When the main door was opened for Bhagyamma, she greeted her and then rushed out from the tiny opening. Bhagyamma was shocked and she let out a cry "Ginger has ran away". On hearing that Ginger's human mother ran to the door and rushed out, however to her surprise, she could not see Ginger anywhere near.

Ginger met the Monk dog, the monk dog blessed her and then gave a howl to ask the candidates for the marriage to come, so that Ginger can decide, who is the right suitor for her.

Ginger gave some calming signals to see how the dogs responded, based on that she felt there was only one among the dogs who really practiced the calming signals(their core values). Ginger looked up and based on the Sun's position realized it will be noon soon. Its been 4 hours since she has been out.  She told the Monk, she has to go home and take her human parents approval before she proceeds further. The Monk dog said, what if they do not want you to mate and force you to come inside.  Ginger said, i trust them.

Ginger along with her groom came home and stood outside the gate.  Her human grandmother who was sitting in a chair and reading newspaper and was admiring the greenery outside, noticed Ginger standing outside. She called out to her daughter, Ginger has come back.

When Ginger's human mother came to the door, she realized Ginger was not alone, there was another dog with her, who was standing behind her.  When she opened the door, Ginger came running and started licking, post licking for sometime, she started going out near the other dog and then coming back. Ginger's mother, called out to the other dog and patted. She could sense, the male dog was a good dog. While she was patting the other dog, Ginger kept licking her mother. Ginger mother realized what she was trying to tell. She gave both of them food and left the door open.  Ginger left with her partner.

The grandmother asked, why are you not tempting her to come back. She said, nothing can tempt her today and also we do not have a right to change the nature course. If she feels like, she can come.

Post few days, Ginger came back with her partner.  Ginger's mother, was thrilled to see them. She opened the door and welcomed them, the partner dog, did not enter, as if telling, his journey with Ginger was only till this time and he has to move on.

Post few months, Ginger gave a litter of 4 puppies. It became talk of the town, the children in the neighborhood would come to have a look at the puppies. 

Soon the news of of litter spread wide. Lot of people came to have a look and realized that children are children, irrespective of species. They are a bundle of joy for the parents and world around. What right do we have as humans to make decisions for other species?