Bozoical Declarations

Each week,Bozo, Mumbai's only-dog-with-his-own-blog  has so much  interesting stuff to tell !  He may not give speeches at the drop of a hat, or vociferously protest   like some folks we all know, but he has been an observer of our society, the family set up, and the environment, and now that he doesn't gallivant around so much with his friends, he has time to deeply reflect.

His mentor and life chronicler , Magiceye, clicked him recently  in such a pose, as he was relaxing on the floor, not just thinking about lunch and garden walks, but some other stuff as well.

Read on ...

Nature or nurture?

And sometimes,
when I am by myself
in the quiet house
I reflect on it.

Abandoned at birth
I ran helplessly with a pack
due to sheer peer pressure,
till a little girl
gathered me up
and took me home.

And there,
I learned little things...

Just like
you didnt play
very loud music,
that disturbed,
you didnt keep wilfully barking
simply because you were
upset , protesting
or telling off another dog...

You  didnt jump on
little children
you met for the first time
because they got
initially frightened...

And you didnt
strain at the leash
as you went for a walk
simply because you wanted to chase
a butterfly.....

You didnt pick a fight
with the neighborhood dog
simply because he growled
a challenge....

Of course
i made mistakes,
but I learned from them.

I think
about how
nature gave us this country,
and how we've failed
to really nurture
the simple citizen,
by our infighting,
runnning after votes and money,
lying to get power,
and destroying
those who think differently.

Nature created me,
but
this wonderful family
nurtured me,
and taught me
to think
and live differently.

I have thought long
and
I have thought deep,
and must say
that if ever,
Nature and Nurture
fought an election,
Nurture would win by a landslide....

Nature, Nurture, and Ladyfingers

There is a wonderful FB Community called Assamese Cuisine and Recipes, where someone posted a photo of pink Ladyfingers or Okra as it is called outside India. My blogger friend Sangeeta Khanna  who is a botanist gardener commented on it along with her friend Nirupama , and I learned a lot about this variety.

Got me thinking about Nature and Nurture. We so called cerebral-cortex enabled folks keep inserting an OR between them. When actually we should be inserting an AND.

And learning from Nature.....

(photo by Marlee Basumatary)

Little broadbeans,
growing amidst
and learning
to find their way
to a sliver of sunlight
amidst
tall sugarcanes,
pick up a bit of sweetness
and even
a purplish blush.

Ladyfingers Okra,
cheeks all pinkish red
in the high altitudes
nippy air
of Assam,,
having possibly
grown up
amidst the beets
under the tutelage of
the dowager pumpkins.
and they revert
to their old color
in warmer climes....

Some roses too,
amidst
colorful colleagues,
picking up
a fine tinge of each,
avoiding extra thorns, 
but keeping
their own scent intact...

Unlike us,
smart bipeds,
they,
the cerebral-cortexless ones,
know
intrinsically,
how
to pick up the good,
and avoid
the doubtful and bad.

Something
for us to learn,
as we  constantly
seek distinctions between
bloods,
without realizing
that for
young ones to soak up
the good,
they must see
some good,
in the easy big bad
world around them.


And
We argue and discuss
so much
about Nature and Nurture,
without undertsanding
that
they are never separate,
and that
Nature always Nurtures


If we only looked.
And learned.