My ebook: Journeys with the caterpillar

My ebook
"
Journeys with the caterpillar: Travelling through the islands of Flores
and Sumba, Indonesia
" is available at
this link


Wednesday, June 15, 2005

The great indian broiler chicken

I find the great Indian broiler chicken the most interesting animal of all. For no other living being does living conditions depend to such an extent on its perspective.

Let us consider the evironment of this great bird. Usually they are herded compactly in a netted cage with multiple floors. The meat seller jugulates the chicken on a board located near one end of this cage. For a chicken who can see this board, life is a living hell. He constantly watches his fellow cagemates being dragged out and slaughtered. For the chicken at the other end who can't see this chopping board because of the crowded conditions, life is a for a long time just one thing - hope.

Imagine the psychological differences between the chicken at both ends. For the one who can see the board, each passerby is carrying a letter of death which could be carrying its name. Each grain it feeds on will only add to its weight making it a good buy for a party.
The chicken at the other end however thinks that whenever a chicken goes out of the cage (it can feel because the crowding lessens a bit), it is set free. It sees the shiny happy people outside the cage and eats happily hoping that someday it too shall be free. Of course I am assuming that chicken cant talk the way men do and even if they can, the ones who can see the truth and know, have their heads too heated up to talk cogently.
Sooner or later, both the chicken meet the same end under the butchers knife.

So what does it mean? Is it better to know and be sad or is it better to be happy a little longer by being ignorant? I dont have an answer. The great Indian broiler doesnt communicate that well to help me know? And do i need to know?

PS: This article might give a feel that I am a veggie veggie. I am absolutely not. I believe uprooting a beet root from the soil is as cruel as jugulating a chicken. As Tarrou had said in Camus' "the Plague" all our actions lead to a death sentence.

1 comment:

Ganesh APP said...

Hey Shivaji, nice post. Looking at it closly I find a lot of relation between the Broiler Chicken and the Religious Indians.