Some mischievous information on Mark Shand's compassion for animals

[Guest guest]

*Dogs were a different matter. Parbati hated them. These snarling scrawny

curs descended in packs behind the elephants which would abruply stop, whirl

round, and bellow in rage. Parbati brought out her deadly catapult and the

dogs were picked off one by one to slink away squealing in pain. * *

'Bloody things,' she said angrily, fitting another stone into her sling and

letting fly, 'are one reason people are killed by elephants. When elephants

try to pass through villages at night dogs come out and bark. Elephants get

angry and follow dog back home. Then they destroy house and people inside.

If I was prime minister, I would have them all eliminated. What good do they

do? Nothing. I agreed with her. *

**

* Mark Shand, 'Queen of the Elephants', page 110

and 111, Vintage Books, London 1996.*

**

*She(Tara) was walking with a pronounced limp, and it was Bhim who

discovered the cause of this lameness - an infection caused by a wicked

metal leg shackle with small spikes which pointed inwards that had been used

on her by Rajpath.*

**

* Mark Shand, 'Travels on My Elephant' ,

page 35, Penguin Books, 1992, London and Delhi.*

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

The River Dog

A journey down the Brahmaputra

MARK SHAND

 

( A short review )

 

Mr. Shand refers the quote of Mark Twain in the beginning of his

book, `The River Dog'.

 

" If you pick up a starving dog

and make him prosperous,

he will not bite you.

This is the principle difference

between a dog and a man. "

 

But once the journey down the river Brahmaputra begins, he forgets

that Mark Twain was not speaking of just the pet dogs, he was

referring to the entire community of the destitute dogs that we

perhaps encounter time and again.

I have tried to bring to the notice of some of us here who perhaps

may not have read the book, so that a rough calculation can be made

to his claim of being compassionate towards animals and animal

welfare.

 

Page: 23

" if worst came to the worst and I was dying of hunger, I could

always eat it. I`ve eaten dogs before and they`re not bad, if a

little tough. I`m sure it would understand, after all, they are

called man`s best friend. "

( This he says when he was making a decision of which companion

animal should be the best to take along in the journey down the

river.)

 

Page: 24

" they`re everywhere- millions of them. In fact, I`m looking at some

right now out of my window. You can have one of them. Bloody

scavengers ! "

 

( Mark`s buddy Aditya Patankar quoted as saying the above lines in

the book.)

 

Page: 26

" I hated those curs. They had nearly driven me mad on my elephant

journeys, yapping at the heels of the elephants. My greatest

pleasure had been picking them off with a catapult. "

 

( Please note his `GREATEST PLEASURE' )

 

Page: 61

" dog meat is a dish among certain Assamese gypsy tribes and, during

special occasions, dog stuffed with rice is a traditional delicacy.

I was, I realized, going to have to keep a careful eye on my dog. I

reckoned her would be regarded with relish- a bit of a speciality.

But if anybody was going to eat him, it was going to be me. "

 

( Wrong facts, Assamese do not eat do meat, it is the people of

neighbouring states such as Nagaland and Mizoram. Mr. Shand I hope

your fans and associate animal welfare groups are aware that you

derive pleasure out of relishing dog meat. How disgusting!! )

 

Page: 282 & 283

" I ripped open the boot of the car, grabbed the Lekis and rushed

round the back of a dark building to find a furious dog fight in

full flow – flying furs, snarling, flashing teeth. Bhaiti and Neeraj

were outnumbered. They were being attacked from all sides by a

street gangof mangy mongrels. Bhaiti had sunk his teeth into the

neck of one of them, while another hung on to his flank. Neeraj

grabbed the mongrel by his legs and flung it into the gutter. I

threw a Leki to Neeraj and waded in. It didn`t take long once the

curs felt the sting of tempered steel. Each time I struck, I thought

of the Superintendent of Police in Dhubri. It was good feeling..

 

( Bhaiti- is his companion dog. So Mr. Shand also feels good after

wielding tempered steel on destitute dogs.)

 

Well, any doubts as to whether `Elephant polo' with/ without

ankushes need a complete BAN !

My concern now is not only for the `captive jumbos' but also the

destitute dogs which may have tough times:

1. Fear from `tempered steel'

2. Fear from ` catapults'.

3. Fear from being served on the table.

 

I am sure, if a snake charmer or any street dweller or a Salman Khan

or a Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi would have dared something like this,

he would have by now been made to face the music from the ever

increasing animal rights advocates in India and must have been

attending the numerous court proceedings.

 

Why then do we turn a blind eye to some ?

 

I need answers please ????

 

Regards,

 

Azam Siddiqui

 

 

aapn , " "

wrote:

>

> *Dogs were a different matter. Parbati hated them. These snarling

scrawny

> curs descended in packs behind the elephants which would abruply

stop, whirl

> round, and bellow in rage. Parbati brought out her deadly catapult

and the

> dogs were picked off one by one to slink away squealing in pain. *

*

> 'Bloody things,' she said angrily, fitting another stone into her

sling and

> letting fly, 'are one reason people are killed by elephants. When

elephants

> try to pass through villages at night dogs come out and bark.

Elephants get

> angry and follow dog back home. Then they destroy house and people

inside.

> If I was prime minister, I would have them all eliminated. What

good do they

> do? Nothing. I agreed with her. *

> **

> * Mark Shand, 'Queen of the Elephants',

page 110

> and 111, Vintage Books, London 1996.*

> **

> *She(Tara) was walking with a pronounced limp, and it was Bhim who

> discovered the cause of this lameness - an infection caused by a

wicked

> metal leg shackle with small spikes which pointed inwards that had

been used

> on her by Rajpath.*

> **

> * Mark Shand, 'Travels on My

Elephant' ,

> page 35, Penguin Books, 1992, London and Delhi.*

>

>

>