The Paradox of the Ox: A Childhood Window into Karma & Cruelty

 

I was with a friend the other day & he talked about how ox carts have disappeared from the Indian roads, about his fond memories. To me, however, they had to be something painful of the past. These memories stirred up an ethical issue, one that my soul still grapples to resolve today.

It was one of those steep roads right outside our home. The sight was etched forever in my child brain: oxen pushing heavily laden carts up that hill day after day. Weary, in agony & panting, many of them collapsed onto the roadside.

What then followed displayed human nature's two extremes

Sacred reverence:

Many drivers treated the ox as a sacred emblem of Lord Shiva. They would patiently descend from the cart, offer water to the tired creature & wait for it to regain its strength.

Brutal impatience:

Others, desperate & short on time, treated them like inanimate objects. I've witnessed men hit the collapsing oxen with sharp rocks & most excruciatingly, with memories of which still pain me severely, I've seen men take fresh green chilies, split them open & shove them into the animal's hindquarters to force it to move just a few yards further.

That casual conversation last week made those childhood memories flood back. It raised an inevitable question, a deeply unsettling one for the mind:

Which is a more merciful fate?

To be in an endless cycle of torture with a stomach half-empty for years or to be nourished but sent to the slaughterhouse in youth?

Back then, suffering this eternal routine with a half-empty belly kept the animal alive, alive & away from the butcher's knife.

Today, in this age of technological transport, ox carts have been rendered useless. Lacking a purpose in labor, these animals are often overfed, grown fat & slaughtered at a tender age.

Which is kinder, to die old of pain with an empty stomach or to live in comfort but only for one's youth?

Being sentient humans, carry the burden & benefit of analyzing both options, a task denied to oxen.

Ultimately, all these memories teach me something fundamental:

The trials & tribulations we experience during childhood fashion the entire belief system, emotions & character we possess as adults.

This article is by the Author Jeevan Gopalan: 

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