Man & animal conflict

By Manish Anand

Few years ago, giving the Civil Services Examinations, I along with many others were foxed by a short answer question on man and animal conflict. All did the guess works which turned out to be off the mark by quite a margin. In the evening, restless minds searched for the right answer and it turned out to be the Orissa farmers in conflict with elephants raiding their rice fields, as men had destroyed their natural habitat, thus forcing them to go into unknown territory in search of food. Our answers were just rubbish.

Reflecting on the issue, it seems that the phrasing of the question was just incorrect. Why call it man and animal conflict when man is just an animal; no better in any ways and rather far worse.

Few days back at a market place, one man was facing a group of people out to lynch him. His fault was that out of anger, as his vehicle was caught in the parking lot, he probably let his angst go on the window glass of the blocking car and which brought a dozen of people out to lynch him. Nerved at the size of the opposing party, he relished all the abuses and pushes and shoves offered to him. His plea to call the police to settle the issue had no takers. After an hour long ordeal, he was sent away.

But the show was not over, as one of his foe delivered another chaste abuse to him when he came back to the market after sometimes. Fed up with enough abuses, he barged into his foes' office and started abusing all, with even women getting no reprieve.

Take the fight into enemy's camp, you will either emerge victorious or will die with pride. And so he did. His foes had to do the explanings, with the issue looking too trivial for such a grand show. The man walked away having humbled his foes, with even onlookers remarking "bande me dam hai" even if he had committed any mistake. All the whiles, few dogs kept dozzing off and showed no interest at all in the show. Some had mocking smiles on their funny mouth.

In the HT City, which I rarely read, I found a piece which informed that lots of men come to Delhi from Mumbai and also go to Thailand for sex hunting, where they easily catch hold of college and other young girls in pubs and on dance floors for a one night stand. Nothing startling though, it also contradicts the phrasing of the question.

In a party in a five-star hotel, which I had a rare chance to attend, the liquor had made the base animal instincts of the people too explicit to take refuse in the man's dignity. Few were falling on a girl, who had committed the mistake of sitting a bit away from her friends, and were imploring her for dance, though their eyes were demanding much more. Liquor should not be blamed as it makes you just what you are. Though under heavy influence of liquor myself, I could not stop my critical faculties from obesrving people and their behaviour and keeping their records as well. I can not write more on this because of obvious reasons.

Dogs are really intelligent. They know that the UPSC had wrongly phrased the question. They mock at the man with all humility. It's no man, animal conflict, as it's all animals here.