There was a time when we humans were right in the middle of the food chain, with not just sabre toothed big cats and jumbo lizards, but even pack hunting wolves and dogs situated above us. Something changed and we built fires and tools and invented gods that helped us cooperate in large numbers, and we ascended. Our first friends were dogs. They tentatively peeked from the thicket when we sat around our fires and chucked away bones devoid of most flesh or marrow but still full of nutrition and flavour. Dogs started following us and soon we realized that they were unlike other animals in that they were useful as well as fun – just like a few humans. They guarded us, played with us, helped us hunt and helped us war. And they didn’t ask for much in return – some scraps of food and a little love. I imagine that food was scarce in those days of hunting and gathering, but love was aplenty. Maybe that’s why they stuck around. Today the food is aplenty, but I wonder if our love has become scarce.
Sarthak Yellow Rooms aim to help children from very marginalized backgrounds grow into well rounded, happy and fulfilled human beings. An essential aspect of a well rounded human being, for us, is how she sees and interacts with nature and other beings in her environment. Does she grow up to see nature and animals as resources to be exploited, or as equal members of our ecosystem that need to be cared for responsibly?
Every Yellow Rooms has something called the ‘Animal Management Committee’. The name may be a misnomer because children don’t learn to ‘manage’ animals, but to be kind to them. They keep water for cows, dogs and the occasional stray donkeys, they build bird feeders and keep food for birds, they plant trees and, every once in a while, they build shelters for puppies to sleep in during winters and rains.
Our children learn to give unconditional love…well, mostly unconditional – because they do get to play with puppies. They learn to not just look, but see. They learn to appreciate the miracle of life. The animals get care and their lives in our concrete jungles become a tad easier.
But I tend to wonder – who does this love giving help more, the animals or the children?
