The Burial

Today I dug two graves,

One for a Funambulus palmarum

Another for a Rattus ranjiniae;

In plainspeak

A Palm Squirrel and a Kerala Rat.

Retracing my thought-steps -

I was amused, still am,

To learn of a species, the Kerala Rat

and chuckled at the thought of the teeming

millions of it subspecies, the Rattus hominicus malayalensis,

In plainspeak, me and my fellow malayalees!

Both were the victims, prey to the great

Hunters at home, Sancho and Sally.

As Sancho proudly brought in the fat rat

and dropped it at my feet, wagging his tail

and panting and grinning and looking up at me

for approval and that special pat on his forehead

I learned that Sally had killed the baby squirrel -

she had chewed it up proper

But she slunk away at my sight

Instinctively knowing that I disapproved.

In the morning as I dug the graves

Sancho strolled over and supervised

Sally kept a respectful distance.

Throwing soil over the pits

I wonder why we love squirrels and hate the rats

Both rodents, sharing a common lineage, so to say.

I looked at the carcasses, not much different they were

Except for the bushy tail and three-striped coat that the squirrel had.

Looking at it, I remembered how badly I wanted to keep a pet squirrel long ago

And fibbing about it, my fantasy squirrel, the one I carried to school in my pocket

the one who ate and slept with me and then for a tragic twist, how he got caught by a crow.

I remembered those whom I had saved and then let go, I remembered the feel of the soft fur.

Turning aside, gazing at the pitiable fat rat, now Late,

Looking at its bristling rough coat and whiplike tail

Looking so loathsome, I took a moment to think

of the dozens of its kin I have killed, poisoned, smacked on the head.

I wonder why I love the squirrel and

Hate the rat.

Something more than the looks, the bushy tail

Something more than the timidity, the playfulness

that you see in the squirrel and not in the rat.

Look at him/her, smart, bold,slinking away in the darkness

Tipping pots and pans over, stealing, biting the bananas

Ruining the stock of grains, the leftover food

And the trail of feces contemptuously left.

Looking at the squirrel and the rat, both dead

I felt uncomfortable

Thinking how similar is the feeling that I have

For the many Homo sapiens sapiens I know.

*********** Balachandran V, Trivandrum, 24.02.2013