Woman of letters: If dreams were horses

Dear Shaktiman,

I never thought I'd be writing a letter to a horse, but believe me when I say that for many of us, you have ceased to be a horse and in fact, have become a symbol of the wretched times we live in.

To watch a beautiful creature, almost mythical in appearance, be subjected to such mindless violence is in itself traumatising, coupled with that the brazen, unapologetic stance of the BJP MLA Ganesh Joshi, the man caught on camera wielding a lathi in front of you with a chilling ferocity, has left the nation's stomach churning.

We do not know if it was his blows that landed on your left hind leg that caused the grievous fracture, or if it was caused because you fell out of fear and confusion; that is a matter for the police and the courts to decide.

What we do know, however, is that senseless violence appears to have reached its peak in recent times. Violence in words, violence in deeds, violence against minorities, against students, against women and children-and now against an innocent animal.

Everywhere one looks today, the horrific maw of violence gapes back at us and there appears to be no place to hide from its blood-curdling visage or its demonic eye.

That it resulted in a beautiful mare losing one of her legs to amputation has become one more act of shame, one more blot on our nation's soul.

In horror we watched how you tried to stand on your broken leg, how your writhed in pain, how the broken limb dangled in the air, when once it had afforded you strength and support.

They say that even as the protestors shouted and struck out, ran towards you and swung weapons in your face, you in fact had not charged at them, but had kept backing off.

Somehow in the clamor and confusion, you had fallen, your leg had caught in a railing and you sustained multiple fractures.

Of course it became breaking news.

A political blame game broke out between the BJP and the Congress: why had a horse been brought into such a situation? What was an MLA doing with a lathi? What retribution would be adequate enough for such a heinous crime? Was it a conspiracy to defame the BJP by the Congress?

On and on the arguments went, while the news bulletins, at first optimistic and later disheartening, kept us in touch with your condition.

From what looked like a situation where you were said to be recovering well, to one, which had become life-threatening and required the urgent amputation of your broken, infected leg, the media kept us updated about you.

But through all of this I found myself thinking, this was not just a horse that had got caught in a mob protest and had met with an accident.

This was a mirror held up to who we were and what we have become: people who mindlessly strike out with the full force of hatred, regardless of who or what lays in front of us.

We maimed and we wounded, we hurt and we crippled.

We were out of control and nothing and no one was safe in our path any more.

Earlier this week, they carried news of your successful amputation performed by a team of leading surgeons led by Pune-based Dr Khambatta (bless his soul). Photographs of your new prosthetic limb were flashed across the nation.
They say you will soon learn to walk and perhaps even run again.

But of course you will never regain your majestic gallop, nor fly against the wind as you once did, your spirit free and untrammeled.

Which is why I believe you are a symbol of a once strong and stately nation, now brought down to its knees.
So I pray that you at least run free in your dreams.

Yours sincerely etc.
malavikasmumbai@gmail.com

This columnist believes in the art of letter writing