Cruelty or just Poverty?

I'm always reading articles in the newspapers these days or hearing people talk about animal cruelty, hunting, illegal poaching - about how horribly heartless and brutal these poachers are. Just today I read an article about leopard poaching. It spoke about how these poor villagers, living in a remote place also sell leopard skins in a tea stall, which is of course, absolutely appalling. The article also said some other interesting things that don’t strike us usually. It said that poaching won't stop, unless it becomes unprofitable, and that's when the demand goes down. Now that creates a bit of a dilemma, doesn’t it?

However, we ought to take a few other perspectives on the issue into consideration, before branding these poor and helpless villagers as cruel, heartless murderers. It’s a little odd to think that these people, who have to struggle to make ends meet every single day and provide for their family, also go around killing leopards and tigers for their own entertainment, isn’t it? Also, the people killing cattle or pigs or chicken aren't doing it just for some sadistic pleasure, are they? They're doing it because they want to survive in this big bad world, just like we do. They need to earn money for a livelihood, to give their wife and children a decent meal for dinner, because they want their children to be happy and literate and doing something meaningful with their lives, and not living the painful life of misery and struggle like they are; and if selling leopard skins is going to help them earn some money, then why not? They're poor, illiterates - on the brink of poverty, desperately trying to make ends meet. They don't know that it is in every sense, the wrong thing to do. It's not these poor people that we ought to blame. It's us - people living in the urban areas with all our everyday luxuries. Animal skins are in demand - because we use it, because we use leather or fur coats. Because it is in demand, the poachers do what they do. In spite of this, it's almost always the poor that get arrested; it's always the people living in rural areas getting accused of these crimes. Yes, what they're doing is wrong, but not for the wrong reasons. However, I’m not saying for one moment that there aren't other cases of animal cruelty out there that are absolutely outrageous!

I'm just saying that we can't just blindly accuse these people of animal cruelty without blinking an eye. If that's all that we're going to do, then we should also be the ones giving them better jobs to keep their homes running.

The Hunger Games!

JUST ONE SPARK

So I finally decided to give in to the unending hype going around and give ‘The Hunger Games’ series a try, just to see what all the hoo-ha was about. I hadn’t really expected much of it really, but I was eventually proven quite wrong. This latest fandom was surprisingly worth all the hype it’s been creating! In fact I don’t think I’ve read a book that’s had me this engrossed me and glued to my seat, and left me almost in tears in quite a while. The whole series is incredibly intense; it overwhelms you with emotion and leaves you anxious to know how the story proceeds. The most important thing for me in books, apart from an interesting storyline, would be the depth of the characters created. Katniss, the main female protagonist in the story exudes an aura of immense courage and determination, unlike Bella in the twilight series, who had about as much personality as a dead rat and was hollow to the point of being unbearable annoying. No, Katniss isn’t the stereotypical flawless heroine – she’s moody, stubborn, hot tempered, makes wrong decisions and may not be a very amiable person; but she’s also gutsy, ballsy, independent, strong and inspiring in her own unique way. Most importantly, she’s incredibly realistic and a brilliantly written character with a lot of spunk. She breaks the gender stereotype so blatantly, that it leaves you pleasantly surprised. You may hate her or love at different points in the books, but you can’t help being left awestruck by everything she says or does and by the sheer strength she has. She’s the key to the whole series and without her, the hunger games would never be the success it is. Peeta, of course is brilliant. He’s one of those characters you can’t help but love! His beliefs and principles are always so inspiring… He gives the story a positive feel. He’s like this shining, flawless prince; but in spite of all that he’s still quite believable and realistic. Whenever I think of Peeta and Katniss’ relationship in the book, I think of the Eagles song ‘love will keep us alive’! So apt! I personally think Suzanne Collins created Peeta as a symbol, telling us that there’s always going to be a few really genuinely good people who care and love with true intentions, amongst a bunch of ridiculously selfish and indifferent people like us! I was just very disappointed with the ending. It really wasn’t necessary to kill off everyone but the 3 protagonists! It made it a little too melodramatic. But overall the books were great, very gripping, and extremely original. It really makes us think and introspect, the entire concept of kids being thrown into battlefields and told to fight to death seems absolutely incredulous at first, but as the story proceeds we see the deeper reasons behind everything. The post apocalypse scenario, the cruel government, the people suffering seems all too familiar to just dismiss as fiction. We can draw so many parallels in our world, with the population explosion and the corruption, people dying on the streets of starvation, the horrible economic imbalance. There’s something so eerily real about the series. One can’t help but wonder. What if we ever reach a state like that, just not so dramatic? What if our present scenario with the growing discontent among the poor leads to a war just like that one? Because I feel that with one spark, this country just might come ablaze. And that would be so ludicrously dangerous, because the poor comprises of probably 80% of the population. What if? There’s something to think about.