Saturday, October 9, 2010

Natural instincts

I've heard about how tigers or lions hunt other animals down, how vultures wait for hours in the sky before scavenging on dead animals and so on... But what I saw today was something I never expected. 3 days back, Me and some of my teammates got some nice tandoori chicken from a restaurant and we were eating in my room. A small kitten came into my room. 7 of us couldn't control that kitten when it smelt chicken.

Just 15 minutes back, I was coming back from mess, after breakfast, and at our hostel entrance, I went to get some water from the water dispenser. There was this cat that laid low and was staring at something. I checked in that direction and it was a pigeon siting on the ground. I turned to take a glass and when I turned back, this cat held the pigeon by the neck, and the poor prey was helplessly flapping its wings. Before I could take two steps to go to the cat, it ran some 20 metres, with the pigeon in its mouth.

This cat I'm talking about is supposedly a domestic cat, used to our institute. Students feed these cats with milk/chicken/biscuits/whatever. But at the first opportunity, it was bang on target and the pigeon was dead. This supposedly harmless cat, that is so cute and fluffy, can kill a bird in a less than a second. Maybe its by nature that the cat has this amazing speed and agility.

What about us? Us= Human beings. Long long back, I'm talking centuries. Human beings hunted animals with bare hands/projectiles/bows. From what I learn from some history, human being was a very fierce hunter and was feared by a lot of animals. Now, how many of us still have that ability to chase and hunt? Forget hunting. How many can run a couple of miles without a break, at whatever pace. Or how many can even stand in the sun for a couple of hours without fainting?

Human beings have evolved since he stone age. Too many things were invented when the need was there. Does that still happen? A guy needs to go to school for 15 years, then college for 5 more years before he even knows what he is supposed to be trying to do. If a thousand guys get 'educated', 1 or at max 2 of them even think about doing some really useful work. Rest are just machines that obey orders and use a computer to do even the simplest things and a majority of people who use a bike or a cycle don't even know how to change their cycle tyre or tube. Evolution.... Huh??



A friend's comment...
"I wonder, what fraction of us humans can actually hang on a bar and carry our own weight for some 20 seconds, which will prove useful, may be not in an attacking situation, but in a defending situation such as while escaping from a fire caught building! We have been using our brain and tongue too much and ignored the overall development of our body. We are supposed to be equal to monkeys in doing acrobatics. Where is all the strength gone?? or is it that, we have been failing continuously to bring it out due to our lifestyle?! If it is true, isn't it obvious that an important change is required in it ?! If we want to cut short life, we can always go and kill ourselves, after living a healthy life. But what pride is there in succumbing to serious illnesses at young age, after leading an unhealthy life ?! "

2 comments:

  1. I have been reflecting about similar thought. I hope this would be a good place to let it out.
    I wonder, what fraction of us humans can actually hang on a bar and carry our own weight for some 20 seconds, which will prove useful, may be not in an attacking situation, but in a defending situation such as while escaping from a fire caught building! We have been using our brain and tongue too much and ignored the overall development of our body. We are supposed to be equal to monkeys in doing acrobatics. Where is all the strength gone?? or is it that, we have been failing continuously to bring it out due to our lifestyle?! If it is true, isn't it obvious that an important change is required in it ?! If we want to cut short life, we can always go and kill ourselves, after living a healthy life. But what pride is there in succumbing to serious illnesses at young age, after leading an unhealthy life ?!

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  2. I am a machine too that obeys orders of parents without having knowledge of what life is ? what development is ? what education is ? .... Thank you again !

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