A Dog killed The Cat

I live with my family in Sydney, but my work is based at Queanbeyan, about three-hour drive from my Home.  Hence, I have rented a granny-flat (one bedroom flat – detached from the main house) for my stay in Queanbeyan.  On the average I spend about three nights a week at my flat.  The Land Lords are Tracey and John, a young couple, probably in their forties. 

The day I moved in, and while unloading my stuff from the car, a black cat with three legs got into the flat meowing loudly.  Its handicap did not seem to limit its movements.  It went into the bath room, the living room and the bed room, as if it was the land lord, showing me the flat.  Once I finished unloading, I shooed it out of the flat.  Later in the afternoon, I met John, who said in a firm but friendly tone that I should not entertain the cat in my flat.  That was okay with me – I do not consider myself a pet-lover.  Whenever, I went to my flat during the past 15 months, the cat would get up, limp around and meows to welcome me.  Once when my Land Lords were on a holiday, I fed the cat for a day.  My attachment to the cat was nothing more.

Yesterday, when I walked back to the flat after work around 4:30 pm, and as I neared the flat, I saw my neighbor waving at me.  Well, that’s what I thought, but in fact she was signalling a pick-up to stop.  The pick-up went passed me and stopped in front of the main house.  The pick-up was from the City Council, and its passengers were two Rangers, a man and a woman.  They got off the pick-up, and started a conversation with my neighbor, who pointed a dog to them.  I am not an expert on dog breeds, but I think it is a kind of a Terrier.  There was a leash, but it appeared to have severed from an anchor.  The dog was calm but looked menacing.  One of the Rangers got hold of the leash.  Just in front of the dog was the cat – dead.  I could see the flesh of the cat, and redness around the dog’s mouth and jaws.  I could easily figure out what had happened.  I started to wonder whether the cat became an easy victim, because of its handicap.  Else, it could have probably run away and climbed a tree.

My neighbor was visibly upset, approached me and said that the cat gave a good fight.  Not sure it meant that she saw the cat fighting for its life, or she was deducing from the state its body was in.  I have never spoken to her before, and was not sure what I should say in return.  Our conversation ended there. 

The Rangers spoke softly, showing respect to the deceased, and their faces were glum.   They got busy, photographing the dog and the cat.  They also ran a metal detector over the cat and the dog, and found that the dog had a chip installed in its body, but the cat did not.  Their pick-up had two pens and a stairway, stuck underneath.  One of the Rangers opened a pen, drew the stairway, guided the dog into the pen, and secured it.  The other took a plastic bag, wrapped the cat, and put it in the second pen.  The Rangers left their contact details for my Land Lords in the mail box, and asked me to convey the bad news to my Land Lords.  Later, when I conveyed the bad news to John, he kept on repeating that he was upset.  I patted his back, and left him to break the bad news to Tracey.

I was sad that the cat was mauled to death.  The incident reminded me of the day when I watched a pigeon dying in Delhi (http://prathapar.blogspot.com.au/2013/01/death-of-pigeon.html).  Just like the shoe polisher who looked after the dying pigeon in Delhi, the Rangers and my neighbor acted humanely and took care of the dead cat, and the disturbed dog.  

The way people react to death is the same, irrespective of where the person lives - in a developing country or in a developed country.  People are just the same – there’s Godliness within every one of us.

US Elections: Why do I care?

My first impression of USA was a photo of Nehru (Indian PM) walking with the US President JFK.  It was in the sixties.  The photo appeared in a Tamil weekly published in India.  I was not even a Teen then, but was an avid reader of Tamil weeklies form India.  Most of them were full of praise to Nehru; he was a National Hero, deservedly revered.  He was also known to be kind to kids, and was called an Uncle by them.  I too was a kid at that time, and I was probably happy to have a fictional uncle like Nehru.  In the photo was my fictional uncle, with a charismatic leader of the country, which won the Second World War.  I have heard of anecdotes of life in Jaffna during the war from my grandparents.  That’s how I connected JFK and Nehru, and both became and remain my favorite leaders even now.  The next impression was when Neil Armstrong landed on the moon.  We sat around a LARGE analogue radio in Jaffna and listened to the live commentary.  

Later, I became critical of the Americans.  I could not understand why they were fighting in Vietnam and opposed Bangladesh Liberation war.

Yet, the coverage USA received in Sri Lankan newspapers were sufficient to keep my interest in US politics.  In particular, I was fascinated to read about CREEP (the Committee to Re Elect the President – Nixon), and their role in Watergate Scandal, impeachment of Nixon, and election of Jimmy Carter.  As Carter was facing re-election in 1980, I went to USA for my higher studies.  My first night in a Washington DC hotel, I watched Ted Kennedy’s speech at the Democratic Party Convention.  From then till now, I am sort of obsessed with US Presidential Politics.  Should I be?  After all, USA is one of the six countries I have lived in, and for only about 12% of my life.  

My fascination with US Politics is not just personal.  I believe what happens in USA will affect me and my children for many years to come.

It is the USA, which guarantees global peace, to some extent at its own expense.  It has been 70 years since the Second World War ended, and it is largely through the efforts of the Americans, we have not had a war of such magnitude.  Yes, there are at least twenty ongoing wars today, but none are at global scale, and casualties are not in millions.  Even in these wars, US play a role to mediate peace and minimize casualties.  Military alliances with USA are providing a sense of security on a day to day basis to Billions around the world including Australians like me.

America’s investment in health has contributed to advancement in treatments for diseases such as cancer; containment of deadly epidemics like Ebola and Zika; and reduction in child mortality by more than 50% since 1990s.  It is the scarcity of labour in US farms, which led to mechanization and automation of broad-acre Agriculture, and feed the world today.  When all developed nations are cutting down on research in Agriculture and Health, Americans continue to fund research, finding ways to produce more and better quality of food, and a healthier world.  They continue to build capacity of agriculturalists and medical professionals in Asia and Africa, where food supplies are insecure, water supplies are unreliable and health institutions are inaccessible.

  

It is the USA, which had been the home of innovation.  American technology has always been a part of my life.  I am grateful to Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Edison, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and many alike.  I also believe it is the USA, which has shown the world that major societal changes can come within a short period of time.  When Asians struggle to beat the caste system, and the Europeans struggle to beat remnants of imperialism, the Americans have got rid of slavery, and preserved civil rights, all within two centuries.  Despite being the bastion of Capitalism, it is in America where many social programs are successfully infused to improve day to day life of the downtrodden.

Why were all these feats possible?  Because, it has the third largest land mass and the third largest population in the world.  The population came from all parts of the world, only in hope to do better than they were in their respective homelands.  The combination of the wealth (in the form of land), and the aspiring population led to the phenomenal success, which is America today. 

For non-Americans, they have shown the way to build a secure (military, health, and food security) world, and assisted them along the way.  It is the leaders Americans elect, help rest of the world feel secure.  What a difference President Obama has made to the world, which he inherited from GWB?  I like to see the benefits continue, not just for me, but for my children.  That’s why I remain interested in US politics.