A Dog's Death!

I am reminded of a Punjabi play I saw many years ago…… called “Longowal da kutta”. It’s a story of a dog on the India Pakistan border at Longowal, Punjab. The dog, being an animal, found its innocent freedom in crossing the border and making friends with the Pakistani soldiers at the army outpost because they would feed him meat. He would come across to the Indian army outpost and they would feed him milk. Being a dog, he would go to both camps not knowing that they were on different sides of a country border and different religions, and enemies. Both the camp soldiers came to love the dog dearly and made him a part of the camp fellowship, not knowing that the dog belonged to both places. One day, the Indian commander found the dog walking on the hillock that separated the two countries and going over to the ‘enemy’ camp. The dog was labelled a traitor immediately. On the same trip, the Pakistani Commander of the camp also discovered that the dog was two-timing him. It so happened that simultaneously they opened fire on the dog that they loved so much and who had become so dear to them and ….. of course, the dog died in the encounter. The Pakistani commander says…… “bechara kutta, shaheed ho gaya” and the Indian commander says…..”bewakoof bewafaa….. kutte di maut maraya”

Who is right or wrong in all this……is it Islam that glorifies death by violent means as “shahadat”? Is it the dog that was only being true to his hunger instinct? Is it Indians who glorify patriotism and denounce any act that is not patriotic? Or is it human nature to indulge in violent acts and then rationalise it in the name of religion or patriotism?

One of the core anchors of identity formation is identification with ideology and religion…….we are birds of one feather. In belonging to some religion, region, caste, gender (etc.) we necessarily exclude those that do not belong to the same “group”. And the stage is set for “us and them” games which escalate into conflicts that take human nature to violent extremes.

Darwin says that the strongest instinct of the animal kingdom is Self Preservation. Any observer of human nature knows that beyond Self Preservation is another instinct that is still stronger…. And that is Self Image Preservation. So in the process of defining our identity as belonging, and engaging with preserving these labels we have given ourselves, we find it rational enough to perpetrate violence on the ‘other’. We will drive ourselves to fidayeen suicide in order to preserve our Self Image and defy all Darwinian notions.

There is an inherent self destructiveness in all this.

Man’s search for meaning of “Who am I?” leads him to define himself with labels of region, religion, race, caste, gender (etc). The universe, however, is unlimited. And each human being a microcosm of the universe is also limitless. Defining also means ignoring the “moreness” that is possible. But the definition of the Self and the quest for “Who am I?” prevents him from touching this universe within.

Lekin……sab maya hai!