Dog Killing Stories & Differences with NS

August 13, 2000

Dear Parents,

Namaskars and Sai Ram! By Swami’s Grace here all is fine. Pray that all is well with you also.

Can you believe I was robbed on the bus returning to the ashram, from my monthly shopping trip to Kakinada? This is the first time. It happened like this: I had bought four bags of stuff. Three were at my feet and another bag, open cloth-type with wooden handles, was on the isle. I was by the window seat.

The bus was full to overflowing, all lady villagers in that area. I kept seeing the open bag on the isle, with the Rs 650 tape recorder which I had bought a year ago, right on top. That was the one I was using for all the discourse translations, and I took it to buy a new wire for it. The bags with me were full to overflowing and I couldn’t squeeze in the recorder.

A couple of times, the villagers lady next to me, I felt her hand weave down brushing my leg, and it seemed to me into the other wooden-handle open bag at my feet! I kept shifting conspicuously but she just smiled, removed her hand and tried again after some time!

By Swami’s Grace, al my money was in a safe place in my choli. But after I reached the ashram and unpacked properly only the next day (as I had arrived so late at night), I found that the tape recorder had vanished as well as a half-kilo bag of roasted peanuts for snacking, that I'm pretty sure was right at the top of the bag at my feet, as I had bought it just at the bus station.

Now, I don’t know what to write about my life since I last wrote you. It’s pretty gory. Not anything to me personally but it’s been gore around me all right, especially the hearing sort. It will probably make your stomach churn also but I'm into the habit of writing my life so......

It is about all those troublesome Kaurava dogs. If only the ashram authorities had some common sense and efficiently! But alas, it pretty hard to find that in this country. Another thing is they simply can't take good advice unless it comes from some VERY high up, in a top position of power.

The murderous dogs, with Romeo as the leader (a big brown, evil-looking one – the girl Meera who always sat in her room doing Ram Name, gave him that name years ago). I mentioned how Romeo and his gang of four killed a sheep. You know that calf I mentioned that was mangled by them and got stitched up? Well, it didn’t last 24 hours. It died off. Only then did the ashram authorities get upset.

In the meantime, while they were talking, planning and making phone calls, the Kauravas killed off 4 or 5 cats in the down part of the ashram, clearing out the cat population entirely. They also fell on our cat Sruti, the reincarnation of Susheela, but can you believe? It’s not time for her to go. Its two legs were immobile for a few days and she didn’t speak for nearly a week, but the thing has survived, strong cat! We also gave medicines and ointments. Now she’s nearly normal.

Next, the Kauravas fell on Vijaya a few times but he escaped with minor abrasions, mostly because he runs away like a bullet train whenever the Kauravas come near. But poor Mangamma, if she’s attacked she just hovels shaking in one place and they corner and fall on her. Even though we are there to protect, they just won't give up even when beaten with big sticks.

Mangamma received a few deep wounds, the ugliest being a huge gash right under her neck. What a horrible sight! Maybe in the army and wars things like that are seen, but us civilians don’t see such gore often. It made us all sick but we had to see it daily, as Mangamma tromped around.

That gash must have been about 3 or 4 inches deep, and nearly two inches deep. UCK! Everyone was concerned and kept applying different medicines to heal it. Vinamra (whose father is a homeopathic doctor) mixed up a potion in coconut oil and homeo powders, and we poured it on the wound regularly. (Her wound has healed up now.)

Those dogs, they have the taste of blood and want it every day. Now even the ashram authorities had to agree that such dangerous and bloodthirsty dogs should go to dog heaven at the soonest.

My new suggestion that we should do the mean act in a humane way, by mixing potent poison in sweet balls of rice so in their lat moments a sweet taste could be on their tongue. But no one would listen to me. The Indian villages can be so barbaric! Several times more the big old head Raju Garu gave the death warrant and some workers and eager boy students headed off with big sticks. Do you think the intelligent dogs would still when a group rushes towards them yelling, “Get them! Kill! Capture!” all helter-skelter? The dogs run after them for hours, yelling war cries. Naturally not even one dog got in their grasp.

Now, a liquid poison happened to come into my hands and one night I tried to take the matter into my own hands in my own way. I mixed up nice sweet-balls and put drops of the knock-out smelling poison in the middle of each ball. This is liquid stuff that is used to spray wood I think, to combat insect attacks. Here they say that a drop is enough to do away with any life form.

I'm not so good at playing the murderer, even when such drastic situation demands it. The Indians are so loud and rustic, they mixed this medicine in milk rice once and ran after the dogs trying to give it to them but the clever and suspicious dogs didn’t go near it.

Anyway, I quietly put the poisoned balls around my house after locking up our dogs for the night. I had to admit that I was shaking pretty bad, doing this murderous act and imagining dead dogs lying around in the morning, all of my doing. Is this the same Divya, votary of ahimsa? But taking everything into account, it was the only way.

What happened was, the dogs came as usual in the middle of the night and from my window I saw them joyfully gobble up all the poison-balls. What happened? NOTHING! They only decided they wanted to stay here forever, eating sweet balls in plenty. They were hale and heart as usual and it took us a few days to discourage them from staying near my place 24 hours a day! False reports about the lethal poison.

Next, a tiny portion of rat poison powder came into my hands, after a lot of trouble. I also mixed this up one night again, with the shaking and sleepless night again. The smell, ugh! I though I would pass out with the heavy nauseating smell of the rat poison. I thought that something with such a smell would definitely take anything that consumes it, to the land of the formless. However, in the morning it was the same story - the dogs had eaten it all up and were hale and hearty and wanted more sweet balls. NOT MEANT TO BE!!

The true story is it seems, that rat poison is frequently used by disheartened people, mostly love-struck teenagers, who want to leave the world fast. You know the restrictions in Indian society. People tell me about the frequent suicides in the villages. Say they want to marry someone who is not their caste, social status or correct age, the elders refuse to give permission and force them to marry other correct people that they don’t like. So they gulp down the rat poison either before or after the wedding.

So the situation is, the ones who sell rat poison will never give it to anyone but the elderly, respected, official type of peeps. Not only that, they took away all power in the poison so, I'm told, even the rats only succumb after large does and several days! Now, I find it too hard to do away with innocent rats who are only living their life and not hurting anyone, no matter how irritating to me; but bloodthirsty Kaurava dogs are a different story.

Anyway, I could not obtain other more potent potions so I had to give up. Of course I tried, hearing about other stuff put on crops that killed bugs and were the new suicidal rage, but no one would sell it to me, thinking I might also leave the world with it!

Then I tried the ashram authorities and our official ashram supplier in a nearby town. In their utterly Indian way they just smiled and said, “Ah yes, of course we’ll send it to you!” and behind my back they’d say, “How can we give it to her, a young girl who may commit suicide? NEVER.” Can’t they just tell the truth to my face? No, no! This is India, remember! Even if you have absolutely no intention of doing something, you have to agree sweetly that surely you’ll do it (not will do it, but DEFINITELY, SURELY will do it). They NEVER sell poison to ladies of any age, and young boys also, no matter who!

ALL GOD’S WILL. So, after the ashram office made dozens of phone calls and sent people in person several times, the lackadaisical Indians finally sent the Yama Dhootas, the Messengers of Death, to do their dirty deed. They came – young, short and dark black looking exactly like the reproductions of paintings of Yama’s helpers. They carried - three of them that came - short, fat sticks and a noose of wire.

They went about capturing any dog they could lay their hands on, mostly only innocent ones who never hurt anyone in their life. But does intelligence have a say around here? Boy is Sai right when saying there is no common sense here!!!

You know Meera’s dog Ram, he’s so gentle and lives by the ashram front gate - Vijaya and him were pals as pups. Everyone tells me he wouldn’t hurt a fly. He was so big and handsome and gentle. I'm told that he was the first one to be done away with by Yama’s Dhootas, in their cruel, barbaric, savage, brutal and heartless way.

They spent hours and hours running after dogs, and I could only watch them helplessly (after locking Vijay and Mangamma on the computer room veranda!). I didn’t see any killing, but their vibration was enough to knock anyone out. What hateful and murderous vibration! When they came upside searching for dogs, I felt an awful shivering sensation, seeing their cruel and hate-filled eyes. ALL IS GOD’S CREATION, is all we can say. It seems they would get the wire noose around the dog’s neck and pull hard, beating it to death in the process.

It seems they could kill off five dogs - I think they got three of the Gang of Four but guess who escaped? That’s right, Romeo himself, the Gang leader who is wandering free. Another black lady dog in the Gang, a really troublesome one, slipped out of the noose and jumped a wall and made for the next village. I haven’t seen her since then.

It was their fate and no one can say that I didn’t try my best otherwise. Now Romeo is hungry for blood and comes, all totally alone, two or three times a day to us. Luckily there are people like the water boy David to shoo him away, and at night our dogs are kept safely locked up.

It seems that Yama’s Dhootas say they’ll return in a week to get the leftover dogs, but you know India. Can't say when they’ll return, if ever.

By the way, the tarring of my roof. Of course, no one ever returned and the tar supplies remain outside my house. The veranda is splattered with tar which won't come out and the rats are running free, causing big noise on my roof. I’ll have to take this as long as the karma remains. No one seems to remember that the very FIRST reason for putting in the tar roof is the rats. On the good side, I cannot help mentioning that the three or four places that leaked in heavy rains, are no longer there. So I'm in a dry house at least, even if rat-immersed.

Here it is REALLY hot! Ever since the first rains when summer officially ended and monsoon season began in early June, everyone has been talking about it being the SECOND SUMMER. We sweat every day, just like in summer! It is a new experience for me. Even when we have days of overcast skies. Still we sweat.

There have been strainful situations with the New Secretary Anjaneyulu. Turning to Jnaneswari every time he’d say, “You don’t know about computers and I know it all. From now on Divya should not tell you anything about computers, but should tell everything directly to me.”

He knows very well that he refuses whatever I suggest, to show his power, and I avoid telling him anything. Then poor Jnaneswari innocently answers every time, “Truly, I know nothing at all about computers. You do what he says, Divya!”

It is funny to see us talking to each other, which is only when forced to in the presence of Jnaneswari. He gets this I-am-the-Almighty-and-last-word look on his face, looks off to the side but not at me directly, and goes on how we know nothing. I have my lips pierced closed tightly, so I don’t burst out with unrespectable words that will only further upset him. Then when I manage to get in a word edgewise, which is nearly impossible, he closes his eyes, puts a smirk as if to say, ‘you-know-nothing-oh-weak-female’ and continues to shake his head back and forth, ‘no-no-no’.

Guess what? Just as I was going to print this letter, three of the Kaurava dogs came to attack our dogs. I was surprised to say the least, to see not only Gang Leader Romeo but also the black dog and a white dog from the gang, limping terribly. I couldn’t believe my eyes!

I went to inquire and guess what I found out? It seems that the Yama Dhootas strangled and beat up the dogs and threw them in the bushes, not even burying them. Then they collected their fee, Rs 30 per dog, and left. Even our foolish ashram people would not touch nor bury them.

So what happened?: the dogs were shocked not dead. I don't know how many of the five captured dogs survived. The Gang white dog is one of these survivors. He got up after some time and it seems he went to the small girl’s hostel to get the bounds on his legs cut.

So there you have my life lately! Back to translating Sai discourses! Loka Samastha Sukhino Bhavantu!

Love,

Divya