Reader TTS

The weekend arrived, as did the MotherShip. On spotting my miniature owl collection (while pointedly ignoring my miniature hippo collection), she smiles with approval, “Ah, owls are lucky.

They are supposed to be Goddess Lakshmi’s vehicles.” BETWEEN OWLS AND ELEPHANTS After saying a quick prayer for saving me from a lecture on ‘wasting money on silly things,’ I assure her that

my collection of the wise bird had nothing to do with the goddess of wealth and everything to do with my insomnia. She looks on, annoyed.  To make matters worse, I point out that there are

two elephants and zero owls in the picture with the goddess of moolah. She points to my laptop. Quick search on Google Images proves she is right. As am I. There were elephants in some

pictures and owls in others. WHAT ABOUT HIPPOS? As usual, mom manages to teach me something new without even trying. Curious, I ask her if any of our gods favoured the hippo, she snaps,”What

kind of silly question is that?” I argue, “If owls stand for wealth (the Chinese would insist it’s cats), then hippos should signify strength.” Some bhagwan should have chosen this sturdy

animal; a missed opportunity”, I declare. Mom decides she has done enough teaching for the day and turns her attention to Aastha channel. GOD KA GUSSA Left to my own devices, I go into

flashback: Teenage me at my south Indian friend’s house relishing some dosas on a hot day during the summer vacations. A mouse pops his head out from under the couch in front of me. I

shriek, put my feet on the chair and toss a shoe in the general direction of the rat. My friend’s mom comes flying out of the kitchen and catches my shoe mid-air.  My jaw, drops somewhere

close to where the rat was, and I ask, “Mrs Iyer, are you related to Rajinikanth?” She ignores my question,  “We pray to Lord Ganesha in the house, so we don’t hurt rodents. Remember that.”

  Then she drops a factoid, “Depictions of Ganesha show his vahana variously as a mouse, elephant, tortoise, ram, or peacock. So be kind to these animals if you want the Lord to bless you.”

Given that I depend almost completely on prayers rather than my brain cells for good marks in school, I decide to never harm an animal again. Pata nahin kaun sa bhagwan naraaz ho jaaye. SAVE

OUR ANIMALS Then it hits me. Maybe that was the whole idea of the animals in pictures next to our gods. We must revere the animals, too. A point, we’ve all missed entirely. As, a nation, we

have decided that cow is holy and needs to be saved. What about other animals? If that’s what it takes to save them, let’s declare all of them holy.  Or affiliated to some God. Last week, a

colleague, just back from a safari at the Kanha Forest Reserve tells me, “Poachers poisoned the water and a tigress and two cubs died.” My heart broke. Why isn’t Sherawali Mata doing

something to protect the tigers? Why didn’t she unleash hell on the poachers and then carry their severed heads in her hands in her Durga avatar? Well, I live in hope.