Mrs. Irani was the most humble,
unassuming and self-effacing person Gustad had ever met in his lifetime.
Her motive in life was only to be of
service to all living creatures of God. Whether they walked on all fours or two
or flew freely in the skies. Not one to be cowed down by having to travel long
distances by public transport to reach her destination, she never wanted to
trade her happiness of being with the animals and birds she loved to care for
so dearly. Not surprisingly, all of them reciprocated her affection towards
them, as soon as she would arrive at the Thane SPCA.
Gustad had just dropped his fare at a
place called Kapurbawdi junction, when he first met her near the ‘share auto
stand’. The auto rickshaws were on strike demanding an increase in fares, and
it was still a long distance to Kolshet road where the SPCA Thane is located.
“ Please drop her to the SPCA , but
find three more passengers for Kolshet road. Charge them Rs. 7 each, or else
she will not sit in your cab”. Gustad recognized the voice of God immediately
and a smile crossed his lips as he said “ Yes my Lord, consider it done “.
“ Once you reach there request her to
allow you to visit the place “ were the next instructions.
As they entered, two Labradors came
rushing to meet them. One of them rose on her hind legs to greet Mrs. Irani. “
These are Bijli and Jalebi, been with us for 6 years now. Jalebi was abandoned for
being too exuberant and friendly while Bijli had turned blind due to diabetes.
Our vets have cured her sight but the owners don’t want them back anymore, and
they also love it here so i guess we are stuck with them for life,” offered
Mrs. Irani.
Next she stopped at another enclosure
which had two donkeys. One had a prosthetic leg and was a recent inmate. The
older one was feeding from a bowl and raised his head as if to greet her. She
petted both on their heads .
“Now I need to step into the Operation
Theatre and check out with the vets about the other children, you know what I
mean”. For Gustad time seemed to have stopped as he moved around on his own to
see the other injured and abandoned animals and birds. There were rabbits,
tortoises, a baby bat, a baby squirrel and even a baby monkey. The staff and
even the security guards served as his guides as he navigated from one pit stop
to another. What impressed him most was the standard of hygiene maintained
here. He could not spot a fly or maggot or even a foul smell.
Just then he saw a young man enter the
gate with a small tortoise in his hand and a cloth bag carrying an injured
puppy. This man knew his way around and went straight to the Operation Theatre
with the animals he had brought. They were given glucose water as they were
dehydrated due to the heat and hunger.
Gustad introduced himself and the
young man said “ What a co- incidence, even my name is Gustad. This tortoise
was moving along the Eastern Express highway , I am sure he would have been run
over by a passing vehicle , and this puppy has a back injury. So how did you
manage to find us, Gustad ?”
“ I just dropped Mrs. Irani in my cab
and I fell in love with this place. There is so much compassion flowing here
and warmth”.
“True” said the young man, “and Mrs.
Irani is a god sent. Five years back she was travelling in an ambulance having
rescued two strays from the street. She suffered a Brain Aneurysm ,(Being diagnosed with a brain aneurysm is scary. It's like
having a ticking time bomb in your head. An aneurysm has few symptoms until it
has grown large or ruptured. You can go your entire life with an aneurysm and
never notice anything, or it can burst and kill you.) and passed out in
the ambulance. She was rushed to the hospital , and in the ICU, when she came
to her senses she actually scolded the sisters and doctors to switch off the
monitors ( as in her stupor, they appeared to her as TV sets ). She was completely
disoriented for almost three weeks, and suffered from partial amnesia. She could
not recognize any of our faces or names. Yet she remembered all the names of
these animals being treated here. You can call her the guardian angel of this
place.”
As Gustad drove onto the main road to
return home he was flagged down by two ladies who were speaking very
animatedly. “ Ghatkopar chalo! “ were the terse instructions to Gustad .
The conversation between these two
ladies had Gustad unwittingly having to listen .
“ See, after all I got them to ban
lingerie clad mannequins from the streets and shop windows, so that men do not
commit “ wrong acts”. All the 227 of us running the Municipality cutting across
party lines have approved the ban. I will extend it across Maharashtra first,
then Gujarat, then all across India and then the rest of the world. You see for
yourself, now there will be zero rapes and molestation cases on the streets of
the world. I have asked my secretary to call the United Nation of Amreica, for
an appointment with their Prime Ministerji sometime in October, and asked him
to tell them that I insist on speaking ONLY in Marathi, so they have time to
learn the language. In the meantime I will strip all the lingerie from these
mannequins and burn them at Jijamata Udyan. “
Gustad smiled to himself and thought,
“our representatives are NOT required to be great thinkers, or writers or even
readers for that matter.”
“ All they need is a warped sense of
humor , a serious lack of common sense and KNOW exactly when to say the wrong
thing !!!”
The reluctant writer.
