A Squirrel’s Death

With the advent of modern life, emotions and love for fellow beings are fading out with professional attitude becoming the welcome order of the day. People have slowly but steadily lost all love and regard for other beings. In these circumstances, love for small animals is least expected from selfish human beings. Expressing his sentiments about animal love, My friend Soumyajit Ghose narrates his painful experiences about a Squirrel, who despite being highly agile, died while crossing the road.

Death or demise of any person, animal or living being evokes gloomy feelings and thoroughly calls for a small show of regard for the being that is no more existent in the world. Somehow this small regard for the death of other beings is fading from the human populace with the influx of modern lifestyle that leaves no time for one’s own self. It is our new ways of lifestyle that has transformed us into overtly insensitive and selfish beings.

Our insensitiveness can be attributed to the fact that we no longer have regards for our fellow beings death owing to our so called schedules that leaves no space for excuses. Man has already put this disregard into practice with deaths becoming a common sight. Being a journalist and witnessing deaths everyday had evolved such a feeling in me also. However, I was ignorant of the disastrous extent to which this practice has gripped our fellow beings.

It happened that I was returning from office at about 9.15 in the night. I usually take a small ride on the city bus before descending at my stop. I have to cross both the up and down roads on the square in order to reach my place located on the other side of the road. The stop has wide roads and requires me to watch the lights before I move across. I crossed the first half and reached out for the second part as I waited for the lights to turn red. As I was crossing the second half of the road, I was watching my steps - a regular habit of mine - when suddenly I came across a Squirrel who seemed to have become a victim of the modern traffic.

Being busy in my thoughts, I raised my foot so as to trample the small animal when suddenly my eyes caught sight of the Squirrel and I just leaped out of the way. I moved on quickly to the other side of the road with the light just remaining red for some seconds. After I had reached the other side of the road safely, I began to look back at the small animal that seemed to have caught my attention. It was not moving and I had to move on.

Feeling hungry at this point of time and worried about the fact that food is scarcely available after 9.30 P.M at my place, I started to move hurriedly in the direction of my place. Despite all this thoughts troubling me, I could not get over the intense feeling of returning back and picking up the small animal to safety. My feeling intensified with the positive reflections that the Squirrel might only be injured and alive… After a brief walk, I halted and gave a second thought. My intrinsic quality to help someone took over my thoughts and before I realized, I was moving back towards the same road. While I was walking, I imagined the animal to be injured and alive and started reflecting over the prospects of me quickly crossing the roads while picking up the animal considering the traffic.

As I moved towards the edge of the road, I could clearly view the Squirrel on the road and my heart pounded hard over each passing vehicle. They somehow missed the small animal. When I reached at the edge of the road, I saw that the traffic lights were green and the vehicles were moving speedily across the road. I was keeping an eye over the Squirrel which showed no signs of movement. As the lights slowly approached red, the vehicles drove fast to avoid being stuck by the traffic signal. I was beginning to become increasingly doubtful over my belief that the small animal was still injured and alive. I moved a little closer and watched it when suddenly, a bus speedily drove by….over its remains. I lost all my hopes as I watched the other vehicles stop over the red light.

The animal did not move a bit and more so I was now scared to view it. I was stuck at the spot out of sheer shock of not being able to pull it to safety. My heart, dejected at the thought of not being able to help the animal, was feeling gloomy. I was absolutely down when I suddenly viewed a two wheeler stop by the carcass of the Squirrel. The rider looked at it and being unmoved by the sight waited for the lights to turn green. I started to seriously hope that the two-wheeler did not crush the carcass of the Squirrel as it lay in the line of its tyres. The lights turned green, the vehicles moved, the two-wheeler also moved but without missing the carcass of the animal. The two-wheeler crushed the carcass like a sponge as the Squirrel’s head lifted up owing to the pressure of the tyres and fell as the two-wheeler moved ahead. The carcass was crushed twice by the two tyres of the two-wheeler.

While I watched the whole thing, I could do nothing. I was trembling with pain and utter ‘disregard’ for the person who despite viewing the carcass, left no chance of trampling it.

My views about man’s intrinsic quality to be emotional and sensitive were battered like anything. I could not believe that man can be so insensitive to the carcass of a small animal, a carcass that lied dead on the middle on the road. May be if human beings can be insensitive to its own fellow beings, this is only a small animal.

I have never viewed the death of a Squirrel in such a manner as the animals are said to be very agile and athletic in their behaviour. May be their agility was beaten by the speed of the vehicles with perfect schedules that run faster than the Squirrel’s effort to cross the road.

As I was returning back, I had a quick overlook of my second thoughts about the sight of the animal lying on the road. I thought that if the Squirrel was breathing its last, I could at least carry it to a safe place and let it die peacefully without further pain. My thoughts just vanished with the view of the rider trampling the carcass of the Squirrel. I reflected that may be one day man is fated to die a similar death with his corpse being crushed on and on repeatedly by time schedules of nature.