People's Democracy

Animal Dreams

G Mamta

I AM a grown up young girl with sufficient knowledge to understand the world. I may have just crossed my teens and might be tiny but the world has sufficiently made me grow to dissect through the looks and the crooks. Hardly have I studied, but my worldly knowledge might be more than what is taught in most of your books. I may not appear to be cultured for many of you but I am neither a vulture under the garb of ‘modern culture’. Hardened by many a daily battle and daily chores, I slept one of those deep sleeps that makes you dream… A dream you want to live.

In my dream I am not a child. Being a child is scary. You may enjoy childhood but I don’t. In fact when I was a child I always wanted to grow big…bigger than all of you. I was not in hurry to ‘enjoy’ life but just wanted to escape childhood. If some of you big people think that I am crazy, wait a minute before you exclaim “Ah! Good old childhood, if only those days do come back.” I do not read your papers but I overheard from a TV show that “Two out of every three children were physically abused…Over 50 percent children were being subjected to one or the other form of physical abuse…Out of those children physically abused in family situations, 88.6 percent were physically abused by parents…50.2 percent children worked seven days a week…53.22 percent children reported having faced one or more forms of sexual abuse…50 percent abuses are inflicted by the persons known to the child or are in a position of trust and responsibility…Every second child reported facing emotional abuse…Equal percentage of both girls and boys reported facing emotional abuse…In 83 percent of the cases parents were the abusers…48.4 percent of girls wished they were boys”. One Nithari might have scared you, but see there appears to be danger round every corner. That is why even in my dreams too, I do not want to return to childhood.

In my dreams I am not even a girl. This does not mean to say that I do not like my womanhood. But why do you not allow me to enjoy the life of my dreams even in my dreams. You may not know the risks of being a woman in our land. It seems in our country crime against women is so rampant that “a crime is committed against women every 3 minutes, one molestation case every 15 minutes, one rape case every 29 minutes, one sexual harassment case every 53 minutes, one dowry death case every 77 minutes, one case of cruelty by husband and relatives every 9 minutes” is registered. I myself suffered from many such incidents. At least let me not dream about that in my dreams. In my dreams, I do not want to be a boy even. For that matter I do not want to be a human being at all.

In my dreams I am an animal. I am a cat, a dog and also an elephant. Are you surprised? I heard that our finance minister is so considerate that he wants the cats and dogs to eat good food that can now be imported with tax concessions. Will the government take the responsibility of feeding the malnourished and starving people in our country? No. There are many people to adopt a homeless dog and take care for it. Can you say the same for the homeless children? There are people who are concerned about the deaths of dogs and are ready to protest. The media has plenty of space to cover these protests. All these concerns might have made me think that the life of a dog or a cat is better than that of a human being in this society. So in my dreams I am a cat and a dog. I would dream of being human being if all these people showed the same concern – if not more – for the people who are dying of hunger and destitution.

I also dreamt of being an elephant because I have heard that the Courts are so caring for them. It seems they are to be given 250 kgs of food, 500 litres of water, with 250 litres more to be kept ready for exigencies and should be made to work for only 12 hours that too only in pleasant weather. They should be provided a shade to rest and the caretaker should not drink. If only somebody can guarantee such a life for me also!

I work for more than 12 hours pushing my vegetable cart around the streets and am hardly in a position to eat twice a day. My work does not know scorching heat or pouring rains. I do not expect the government or courts to show concern towards me, but at least I thought they would leave me to my own fate. But that is not to be. Many areas in the city are declared as hawker free zones and we are not allowed there to sell our goods. Not to speak of the harassment of the police and other government officials. Above all these, there is a talk that a big multi-national company is trying to displace us from our business. They want to sell their goods in the pushcarts that we use. It seems that they will appoint educated unemployed for this purpose and drive away all of us from the business. Neither the government nor the courts are against these moves, moreover a section of them it appears is for this kind of ‘development’.

So at least in my dreams let me not think of the impending dangers to my livelihood. Is it wrong for me to dream of being an animal which has all the State support?

A barking policeman (not a dog) threatening to seize all my wares made me come out of my world of dreams. I hope all my dreams turn real and that none should even dream of my real life. Thinking this, made me doze and then there was another dream. All the animals have come again and howled at me for thinking that theirs was an easy life. They said that in their ‘jungle raj’ rights are won only through fights and that there was no other easy way out. They also told how unitedly they work for achieving their goal, biding for their time.

Startled I woke up and thought how right they are! Even in our ‘raj’ rights can be won only through struggles and unless all of us realise this in time we cannot live even this life. Instead of hoping for the courts and government to come to my rescue I decided that it is time for me to act. Now instead of dreaming I am trying to unite my people to force the government to enact and implement policies for our welfare and the courts to think about us.