The hierarchy of life.
baap | 22 August 2004, 1:46amThe hierarchy of life
Life as we know it resulted as a series of anomalies that took place with the least possible probability. Just about 4 and a half billion years ago, something happened that till this date (i.e after 4.5 billion years), we humans assuming ourselves to be the species "gifted" with intelligence, still don't understand. I have trouble when i see Scientists, biologists etc. proudly saying that Humans are the most intelligent creatures. Apart from the things that are said from the million repeats of the documentaries on Discovery Channel or Nat. Geo, that we have done this we have done that, there is GOD, there isnt GOD...blah blah blah. I have come to the conclusion that Human Intelligence was as anomalous to the natural evolution of the planet as LIFE was. So it is logical to assume that we should take our present intelligence for granted in a similar way we take LIFE for granted.
Today I saw a Piglet KILLED in front of my eyes, the little thing was scurrying about on the open highway driven only by an innocent instinct to explore. The same instinct Christopher Columbus used to find frikkin America or s'thing like that! No, it wasn't crushed under the wheels of some careless bastard driving his new vehicle and admiring how his/her car/bike was revving. But this pig-let came off the road and hid under a bandi walla, a guy selling egg-bondas! The guy got so furious seeing a piglet under his bundi, that he kicked the piglet, which resulted in a slow and painful death.
I see alot of gross shit on TV and on the Internet, and probably some of the things ive seen dont come nearly as close to that sight of a piglet being kicked by some "human" just because his god damn religion taught him to be intolerable to certain species of animals, based on some mythical story that in all probability DID NOT HAPPEN at all, but was a frikkin circus-shit-ass publicity stint to promote the religion and make it more conducive for propogation. Anyway, i justify my seeing this gross shit on the Net by saying that itll give me mental toughness to face up to real world scenarios, so that if something remotely horrific happened related to my life, i could react in a more sentient manner.
But i did not, ive taken myself beyond that point, of rendering myself mentally tough. I took the concept of LIFE for granted for that moment of time, a crime unimaginable to commit by a LIVING being! This all might sound vague, but the fact of the matter is, IT WAS VAGUE. I saw this piglet dying right in front of my eyes, and I froze. I wasn't shocked, but for a second, i admit: "I CARED A DAMN"! I literally could visualize that cartoon type scenario where u have an angel on side and the devil on the other taking forms of yourslef in a white garb and a naked red-skinned goat like human, respectively, and i was this Insignificant entity that stood and did NOTHING! That creature riggled away again under the bandi, and the guy who kicked it, was probably going through the same series of thoughts i was going through only on a more, either miniscule or exagerrated magnitude based on the fact that he was involved in its death.
What if, i thought :
What if that goddammed piglet possessed enough fucking intelligence to get the hell outta there, and go and soak in some gutter
What if, this guy was protecting his business by assuming that we, as his customers were being disturbed by the presence of that creature, and hence in attempt to shoo it away killed it
What if I HAD DONE SOMETHING, this was a godammn piglet, out of the gutters, which was very much capable of indirectly inducing diseases to me by me protecting it.
Until now i have no answer to the above questions, and i dont think ill ever have them. For some reason, this incident which according to the REAL norms of Human society, should be considered inadmissable, is bothering the hell outta me. It's creeping me out. I had 3 other people with me, could i have taken their help? Would they back off? If these questions were answered in that instant of time, i guess I would have gained something short of a Nirvana or something. But i didn't, i did not do anything, instead i weighed my options and came out with a series of abuses to the bandi wallah. Would that have helped in any way at all? I don't think so. The only compensation i feel is just to the demise of that piglet is that RIGHT NOW at this particular moment of time, that godforsaken bandiwalla is lamenting the same way i am right now.
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1. By JOhnny | 22 Aug 2004, 2:46am
The universe is just a collection of atoms and empty spaces, everything else is just an OPINION. :)
2. By baap | 22 Aug 2004, 3:14am
that comment my friend...was probably the most fitting anyone will ever make!...Basically dint understand a shit what u were saying, but hell...who cares...this blog deserves...such kinda comments!..atleast fr the piglet!
3. By Portuguese Man-Of-War | 22 Aug 2004, 12:30pm
One day in a temple I saw a worm on my Jeans, and with a careless flick of my fingers, brushed it off. It fell a little distance away, and then I could see that it would probably get crushed by all the people walking. My mind was considering whether it would appear silly in front of all the others if I went out and tried to get it off the path, and before I could take a decision, it was killed under some feet.
One of my life's big problems is that several good things appear un-classy or stupid or silly if you have to do them in a crowd. For example, sometimes I think an ant has come under my bike, and stop my bike to investigate, so that if it's half-dead I'll at least kill it completely. Then, people around me would see me looking at the ground for something, and I think I'd look stupid.
In the case of that worm, I felt pretty miserable, since I felt if I had been faster instead of pondering over if I'd look silly, I could have saved it. As the only compensation that I could think of, I did the Hanuman Chalisa 108 times (this was a Hanuman temple, and someone once told me that if you do the Hanuman Chalisa 108 times and ask for something, it happens - but it's back-breaking, and takes at least 2 hours), and asked the Lord to grant peace to its soul.
I think if you want to be just to every creature, you have to be open to looking stupid. Sometimes the conscience can be a killer.