COVID19 DAY 15 (8.4.2020)

THE SMILING ELEPHANT

The Novel Corona Virus is not an accident or a conspiracy sprung to destroy countries. It is typical of human nature to look for a scapegoat when trouble looms over our head. As indiscriminate charges fly about, the death and destruction caused by the virus only mounts, adding to our miseries. Our food habits too have changed considerably as now most of our non-vegetarian demands are met with the help of large-scale animal farming. It is believed that it is here that the transmission of the virus from the wild to humans have occurred through the intermediary of the animals that are grown specially for the table in farms.

The last few scenes of the 2011 film ‘Contagion’ are significant. They show how exactly the virus travelled from the wild to the human. The starting point was the bat that was eating a banana at a plantation and accidentally dropped a bit that was consumed by a pig that was being grown for the table. That is how it was transmitted to a human. However, the last scene is particularly disturbing as it shows the destruction of palm trees where bats live to get rid of the source of dangerous viruses. Bats would not have entered into our food cycle but for the destruction of their habitats and food sources. The message is that nature will have to be destroyed to ensure our protection from, among other things, pathogens.

But this may not be necessary if we learn to respect and live with nature which is as essential for our survival as vaccines that protect us from pathogens. In our race for industrial development and search for minerals we destroy forests, the habitat of a large part of nature (including ourselves). This has not been the human approach through history, specially in India. Here nature was looked upon as a harmonious whole consisting of animals, plants, man and even so-called inanimate objects. That is why even animals were endowed with emotions just like man as is depicted in the ‘Smiling Elephant’ as it appears in a drawing at Amber Palace, near Jaipur. The picture of this drawing was taken by Benoy K. Behl in 2001. “The smile on the face of the elephant and the twinkle in his eye are remarkable!” says Behl. 

'The Smiling Elephant' at Amber Palace, Jaipur. (photo by Benoy k. Behl

“This is a most difficult time that the world is passing through. However, we do have a choice to use it to look at ourselves, rethink our lives, take care of all that is around us and to reshape a better future for this planet.  We will have achieved something positive and learnt something very important even in the midst of our crisis. We are very fortunate to have a heritage of a great philosophy, which has always taught us universal love and the interconnection of all creation, including us, animals, the trees and rivers,” Behl adds.