ONE DOG NIGHT

I was about eighteen when I had to go to Delhi on the way to Kurukshetra. It was my first train journey to the north of the country. I left Kollam in the afternoon and arrived at Madras the next morning. I booked my ticket to Delhi and boarded the next train. I was travelling in a first class cabin. There was only one other passenger in the cabin. She was a middle aged white woman. She had a small dog with her. I asked her where she was from and she told me she was from Australia. I thought she was a tourist but she said she worked in India. Later on, I would come to know that she was a doctor working in a missionary hospital in Nagpur.

The train started moving. At one stop, she asked me to keep an eye on the dog and left the cabin. The dog ran out of the cabin and was near the door by the time I got hold of it. I brought it back to the cabin and put it on the leash which was attached to her bag. When she returned she released the dog from the leash. I think she preferred it to be free.

After dinner that night we went to sleep. In the middle of the night I woke up to find the dog sleeping next to me. It was her dog. It should be sleeping next to her. I looked at her and realized that there was no place for the dog to sleep next to her. She was a large person. I was thin and there was a lot of space next to me. There was nothing I could do. I went back to sleep.

JUMA MASJID

Juma Masjid, Kadapakkada, Kollam

WHO and COVID 19

I have been watching the news regularly on TV. It is surprising that the WHO can make misleading statements one after the other. They are funded by the Nations all over the world and are expected to provide guidance and solutions on health issues.

First they said there is no evidence that the virus is transmitted from human to human. It started in China and was spreading. The fact that it was spreading indicates that there was human to human transmission. Like most people at that time, I did not think much about it because it was happening far away in China. There is no free press in China and we cannot expect to get reliable information from there.

The second misleading statement from WHO was that there should be no travel restrictions. If every country had imposed travel restrictions early on, the situation would be much better today.

The WHO also said that the common people should not be wearing masks. They said masks are for health workers.

Now, the WHO insists that testing for the virus is the most important step in controlling its spread. They want mass testing. For a country like India with a population of more than 1.3 billion people it is impossible. We do not have the resources to do that. At present only those with symptoms are tested. Those that test positive have to be tested again and again. When they are cured, they are discharged only after two negative test results. So a person who tests positive will require about four more tests.

The WHO also seems to think that those who test negative are in the clear. There is no guarantee that a person who tests negative today will not turn positive tomorrow.

HOT CUP OF TEA

I was travelling on a train in North India during a winter night many years ago. There was another passenger in the compartment. He was wearing a sweater and a muffler. He also wrapped himself with a thick blanket. He seemed comfortable. I was wearing a sleeveless sweater. The cold made me shiver throughout the night. I think the metal body of the train made it colder. I did not expect this.

When we reached Bhopal the next morning, I was still shivering and my teeth started to chatter. I bought myself a hot cup of tea. Drinking it stopped my shivering and I felt so much better. That must be the cup of tea that I appreciated the most.

MARYLAND CHAMBERS

Maryland Chambers, Kadapakkada, Kollam

BEING VEGETARIAN

I am not a vegetarian. I grew up eating all kinds of meat regularly so it is not easy to change my food habits now. But as I grow older I am trying to reduce my intake of meat and increase my consumption of vegetables. Vegetables are easier to digest than meat.

Many vegetarians say it is cruel to kill animals and eat them. I have to agree. Most people who eat meat do not kill the animal. They do not know what the animal goes through while being killed. They buy fresh meat or frozen meat. When I was living in Africa I used to go to the city to buy frozen chicken on the weekends. In my town, fresh mutton and beef was available but chicken was only sold live. I had to buy it and then kill it. I usually had no problem killing it since it was a small animal but one day when I took a knife to slit the throat of a chicken it started fluttering and cackling. I felt it had realised that it was going to be killed. It was disturbing.

While in Africa, I once saw a man killing a goat. He tied the four legs of the goat together so that it would not start kicking. He held the goat by the throat and the goat was totally unaware of what was happening. It seemed happy or maybe tickled. The man had a very sharp knife and he quickly slit the throat of the goat. He must have had a lot of experience killing goats.

It is not easy for everyone to avoid meat. I have lived on a small island in the Maldives surrounded by the sea for many years. The land was not fertile and agriculture was difficult. Most of the fruits and vegetables were imported and they were expensive. The islanders had to rely mainly on fish for food. Being surrounded by the sea, fish was available abundantly. Many islanders were fishermen. It is almost impossible for such people to become vegetarians. Some vegetarians come to the island but they find it difficult to cope. Fresh vegetables are expensive and not regularly available.

SATHEESH FLOWER SHOP

Satheesh Flower Shop, Asramam, Kollam