Bye Bye ATHENA - Till We Meet Again

The Regal ATHENA 

Athena as her namesake, was indeed stately and has all the characteristics of the Greek Goddess, a beautiful warrior Goddess.

It was about three months after Krystal passed on, Greeja and I felt the lost even greater when we came back to a home not being greeted by the ever happy Krystal wagging its tail, and jumping in joy excitedly seeing us. We thought it was about time we moved on, wanting to fill that void. It was rather coincidental, when one of Greeja's friend mentioned that there was a puppy for adoption in Klang. We contacted the person and she sent us the photo of that puppy. Instantly we took liking to him, and decided to make a trip to Klang to pick him up. Though initially it was just Greeja and I making the trip to Klang, we were accompanied by Roshen, Dhivyaa and Kavin in the end.

So we went, saw the puppy, got excited and was just about to leave with him when the lady (who runs the animal shelter) mentioned in passing that the puppy's sister will be lonely now. This got everyone a little emotional. She added on saying that no one wants her because she has a darker shade compared to the rest. I am not sure whether the statement was meant to make us feel guilty, but everyone felt that they had to see that puppy too. The lady brought her out, and it was Kavin who picked the puppy up and said she is beautiful, shall we adopt her too. Well it was not him alone, but everyone felt the same way, including Greeja and me, and that's how Athena came into our lives. A video was sent to Raviena in New Zealand, and she too thought it was a good idea to have them both together.

From day one, they were a boisterous pair, shoes were not spared, and the front door saw the brunt of their teething.

It was Athena and Arya. Athena depicting the symbol of Wisdom and Arya meaning the Noble One. Whether it was coincidental, as they were growing up, Athena exhibited the signs of being the alpha, and expected Arya to follow orders.

"Can't You Behave Yourself", Athena Reprimanding Arya

She was not only protective over everyone at home but also showed her affection too. She will be the first to greet us when we come home, wagging her tail and jumping on us. As she was rather a large dog, the tendency to push us off balance was very frequent. They say that human's best friend is a dog, and nothing can be far off from that, when I saw the bonding between Roshen and Athena. They have their affectionate moments both before he leaves to work and after he returns. They appear to almost whispering to each other exchanging some kind of deep emotions. To the point sometime last year an incident shook all of us, when whilst they (Roshen and Athena) were having their moment, Arya butted in, and in an instant reaction, Athena bit Roshen's lips. That was a gory site, and Roshen was immediately rushed to the hospital and eventually had to be tended to by a plastic surgeon to minimise the scar on his lip. I don't know whether Athena felt remorseful but until Roshen came back from the hospital she was awfully quiet and distant. Three days later he came back, Athena saw him, and they had their moment again, and after that everything was fine.

The Lady After Her Bath

Even when my Mom and Dad or my sister’s family visits us from Johor, they are at their best behavior. They also know our neighbors well. But anyone else, they would go furious with blood curdling barks. The worst is if anyone comes to the gate (postman,courier etc) or even seeing other dogs passing, they would jump on the gate and would kick a big fuss.

The Rascals Having Their Afternoon Siesta

On the 19th of November, Athena, started to exhibit some unusual behavior. She was not eating and wobbled when she walked. We took her to our regular clinic at Subang Jaya, but was referred to the Veterinary Hospital at Jalan Gasing. They did all the necessary tests, including an MRI, and we discovered to our horror, that she was suffering from meningitis on her brain stem. According to the Vet, this was rather unusual for a young dog (she was 3 years old), but she also mentioned that in the last 2 months, there were four other dogs with similar symptoms and in all except one, it was fatal. We were solely hoping for that 25% chance for Athena. By the second day she wasn't able to move much, except when we visited her and called her name, she responded with slight movement of her legs and made a yelp kind of sound. The meningitis had affected her throat muscles too, hence she couldn't bark nor was able to eat. She was on drips all the way, and was administered with high a dose of broad spectrum antibiotics. Last Thursday when Roshen visited her and spoke to her, she gathered all her strength push herself and lied her head on his lap. That sought of gave us, including the doctor some hope, but that night itself her conditioned worsened.

The Kangaroo Pose

We know she was suffering, such an active dog, suddenly being in a state of immobility, is too much a pain for her to endure both physically and mentally.

On Friday the Vet told us the bitter truth, that none of us wanted to accept. She said, we had to let her go, otherwise she will endure this suffering till the end which was certain. It was a very difficult moment especially for Greeja. Like Roshen, Greeja's bond with Athena was special too. Every morning and evening Greeja spends quality time interacting with them. I always tell her "looks like Athena and Arya gets more of your attention than me," that should speak volumes of their bonding.

But we had to make the call, I did not want to push it, and wanted Greeja to take her time to cerebrate and decide the next course of action. That day, for some reason, Greeja brought milk for Athena, both of us fed her. Though she was lying on her side all the time, she seemed happy. But it was obvious too that she was fast deteorating. We left the hospital feeling wretched, informing the Vet that we will update her later that day.

Saturday morning, Athena was brought to the Vet's consulting room, where all of us took turns to feed milk to Athena and said our goodbye's.

Then the difficult moment came, Roshen, Kavin, Dhivyaa, Raviena (on video call), Yuhain (on video call), Greeja and I, witnessed the passing away of ATHENA, whilst Arunachala Shiva hymn was playing in the background.

We took ATHENA's mortal remains and gave her a meaningful burial.

Thus ended the life of ATHENA who choose us to be part of our family. A regal dog till the end, loved as a member of the family and died leaving good memories to cherish.

AUM TAT SAT

AUM SHANTI SHANTI SHANTI ATHENA

Ravi Varmman145429112021@3.0567° N, 101.5851° E

JAI BHIM the REALITIES

 Jai Bhim The Movie

Photo courtesy of The News Minute (Screen Grab from Amazon Prime Video)

Jai Bhim, beyond its gripping entertainment value, it also speaks about the inveterate state of affair in the criminal justice system. This is not an affair that is peculiar to a particular country, but appears to be endemic even in the most developed countries.

The irony of it all is that these perpetrators of these dastardly acts do have family, friends and lead a pretty normal life, like everyone else. Many are devout religionalist, fasting on Kandha Shasti, fasting during the month of lent, or even fasting during the Ramadhan month. But when they take on the role of position and power, suddenly they become a complete different human being altogether, as though either they are possessed or suffering from schizophrenic disorder. I am puzzled, whether is it the nature of their work (dealing with criminals and undesirables) turning them into psychotic state, or they already possess a manic disposition.

I can still recollect the words of Paulo Freire, "Dehumanization, although a concrete historical fact, is not a given destiny but the result of an unjust order that engenders violence in the oppressors, which in turn dehumanizes the oppressed."

Just because the weak has always been oppressed, it does not mean that it has to continue. We have come a long way from slavery to the pursuit of creating a just society, hence people like Justice Chandru (the protagonist in the real story) are the very pinnacle who have made significant strides in that direction. Surya's effort in bringing this story to mainstream attention is very much laudable.

The movie definitely has political undertones, which in a way reflects the movie makers perceived ideagogue, but it is expected. Though I do not think Surya himself has any political ambitions, but he surely has his own sociopolitical values, and I believe that seems to sync with the current TN government's.

Championing equality is one thing but pitting one community against another (SI "Gurumurthy" Vs Rajakannu, in the movie Jai Bhim), if it was intentional, then, it will have consequences to Surya the actor. But that is something that the actor would have thought about and I am sure he will deal with, if it becomes an issue.

I firmly believe that every individual have the right to prescribe to their own values, and it should be respected, even if it differs from our own. However, I would put a caveat here, “that as long as the prescription and practice of that value does not harm another human being”.

Go watch Jai Bhim, with an open mind, beyond good screenplay, acting, and cinematography, it speaks volume of the reality of oppression. As Frederick Douglass says, “where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails, and where any one class is made to feel that society is an organized conspiracy to oppress, rob and degrade them, neither persons nor property will be safe”.

Until we collectively renounce fallacious and anarchic assumption on human diversities, we are actually shifting the focus away from the real inequity and discrimination, which in turn will do injustice to the pursuit of human progress.

 

Note: You can catch Jai Bhim on Amazon Prime

Ravi Varmman 1210141120213.0567° N, 101.5851° E