Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Keep prices low for dog’s sake


My landlord’s dog Maggie, whom I have already introduced to you in an article earlier , is few of those who have learnt to cope with the on going worldwide trend of food crunch and rising inflation. The quantity of milk in her bowl has been reduced drastically to 100ml from the earlier 500ml a day.

The dog found it hard to come in to terms with the recession. But ultimately it seems that the worldwide chaos over the food scarcity was enough to convince her.

During a regular outing with her master last night she confronted a stray dog. Observing them minutely they looked like sharing the enigma of increasing prices of essential commodities. The other dog has recently given birth to seven puppies but ironically she had less concerns. Maggie might have asked her the mantra behind this. And the response was not difficult to imagine.

“Well, there was nobody to help me but I could sustain myself. I find no reason why they wouldn’t make it either. Anyways, who cares if some of them surrender to the anguish? We can’t influence the governance. No body can even estimate of our population, let aside the accuracy. We have nothing to do with the retail outlets or wholesale markets because we have been making our livelihood from the garbage. The terms like undernourishment and obesity are meant for the domesticated ones like you. We are out of the stigma of health and wealth.”

Back in the room Maggie looked a little disturbed as if she was a little skeptical of her future. Her eyes were on the TV screen as BBC reports the turbulence in Haity, Senagal, Zimbawe and Bangladesh due to the shortage of food supply. At the end of the report the shift in status could be seen in her eyes. She would be happy because her position is better than her master’s as she doesn’t need to fight for the bread.

So, whatever the Reserve Bank of India declares in its annual monetary policy it is of a little significance for those millions of stray dogs in the streets of India. But the ones like Maggie are looking forward to this report.
Good luck Mr. Reddy!

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