A Message From Noorie - Barsha Bista
Hi humans, I’m Noorie. I don’t exactly know how old i’m. I didn’t even have a name when i was little. I used to live in the streets with my mom and my other six siblings. We had no home, we were dirty and full of ticks and fleas and we used to wander all the time around different gallis with our mom. We used to eat whatever thrown pieces of leftover or stale food we could find by digging up the garbage. Except for sometimes, when some kind people would offer us biscuits or something nice to eat. Most of the times, our mom couldn’t take good care of us so she’d just let us be by ourselves but she always stuck around to watch over us.
One day, a tragic event took place in our life. We were playing in an open public playground when some kids came. They kicked and chased us away. Our mom was shouting(barking) at them telling them to leave us alone. We rolled up at one corner and saw them grabbing our mom by her legs and neck. She was in rage and was trying hard to get away but she failed since they were four of them and we were too little and scared to do anything to save her. So we just curled up together and watched. They had brought firecrackers with them since it was festive season of Tihar. One of them lit a small bundle of fire crackers, two of them grabbed my mom tightly and the other one had her mouth wide open. The guy put the lit firecracker inside mom’s mouth and ran away quickly and watched the scene from afar. I heard a loud burst and watched my mom bleeding from her mouth, struggling in pain. We all approached her after the cruel kids left, she was lying unconsciously on the ground with her face brutally deformed. We witnessed our mom die shortly after. We stayed close to her body for awhile not knowing what to do next. We’d lost our mom, our only home. We didn’t know where to go without her.
We wandered around the same area together for awhile. Even the noise that all the fireworks made, would frighten us to death. I remember how we always had to hide behind our mom when the kids used to light lots of fire crackers and recklessly throw them at us to scare us because it was fun to them. I saw them doing the same horrendous thing what they did to my mom, to other stray dogs and cats as well.
One time during Holi, when my siblings and i were just playing alongside the street, i remember some people covered in holi colours themselves, splashing us with all the red, yellow and blue colours and hitting us with water balloons. Our skin felt so itchy, our eyes were burning, we could barely see. We had rashes on our body. The reaction was too painful to endure and we suffered for days.
We’ve always hated these festivals for all these reasons. I always wondered if same was the case with the pet dogs who lived in big homes eating good food and receiving good care.
One day, i got apart from my pack and luckily, a kind human found me and took me with her. Later, i realised she’d adopted me from the streets and brought me in her house to live . Now, i had a roof to live under, this human would feed me good food that i didn’t even know existed before. Everyone at home, took good care of me. They named me ‘Noorie’. I felt cozier at night as i had a comfortable bed to sleep on now. Most importantly, i didn’t have to go through the horrors of being covered up in allergic Holi colours, being chased away with scary fireworks or being bitten up harshly.
Life truly is much better and happier for pet dogs. I, myself have started loving all the festivals ever since i’ve come to live with these people. They do not put colours on me or use any firecrackers during Tihar. Instead, i get to eat delicious food, play and enjoy during these festivals. They even have this particular day called ‘Kukur Tihar’ on which they worship me, thank me for my faithfulness and tie a flower made garland around my neck. I feel very special and for this reason also, i’ve started loving even Tihar now.
Apart from telling you all about this ‘happy ending story’ of my life, another main reason for writing this is to convey a message to all the humans out there on celebrating their festivals in a responsible and animal-friendly ways. Despite the good life i’m living now, i still have the memories of my past life, of all the terrible events that had happened to me, my mom and my siblings on the streets. My brothers and sisters could still be out there living the same life and i really worry about them, even more during festival times. We, dogs can be the most faithful companions to you but humans should also fulfill their duties as a responsible social being and care for animals around them. Therefore, i request you all to celebrate the festive seasons in the most animal-friendly ways possible so that my siblings and thousand others like them on the streets can be safe.
”Humans have the ethical obligations to care for animals around them. ”
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