Nandankanan

It is a nice zoo in Bhubaneswar and it took me less than 45 minutes to reach there from my guest house when I decided to visit the place to wish three white tiger cubs there, this Sunday afternoon. I did find the cubs and did wish them a belated happy birthday (late by two days). By the way, one of the cubs is called Prachi. 😛

How big is the zoo? About three and a half kilometers square. It has plenty of tigers, both white and yellow (though after a while it gets boring to keep seeing similar tigers again and again).

I loved the giant chimp who was sun-bathing on top of the roof of a small hut like structure inside his enclosure. He was one of the few animals who looked happy. Everyone else, the tigers, the sloth bear, the leopards, the sambhas, the elephants, the owl, looked sad. As a kid, I used to enjoy seeing animals in the Patna zoo. Patna zoo is as big as this one. But this Sunday, it just didn’t feel alright.

A tiger is supposed to hunt. That’s how his life has been designed to be. You can’t keep him in captivation, feed him, help him reproduce and keep him alive till he dies. That’s sad. Yes, I understand some of them are endangered species. Left to themselves in jungles, some of them might not even survive for long. But, is the life lived in a zoo, in captivation, a life anyway? I don’t know. It just didn’t feel alright.

I especially remember looking straight into the eyes of an owl sitting motionless, but staring back from inside its glass cage. The case was small. Doesn’t that bird deserve to fly? Did God create it to sit inside a glass case and stare outside at human beings? Can anyone derive pleasure from watching such creatures in captivation? I could not. The owl’s eyes still haunt me.

The colorful parrots, the huge macaws, the cute love -birds and the likes were the rare bunch of folks who didn’t seem to mind the cage much. They were busy with their partners, kissing and loving each other. For a moment I felt jealous of the love-birds. Love. It lets you be happy even when caged. Magical power.

I wish that we, the human beings could show some love to all these animals and set them free. Let the love spread. Love you guys, everyone of you, who keeps in touch with me through this shitty medium. 🙂