As a child I loved visiting the zoo. I was fascinated with the ginormous animals like the majestic elephant; elegant animals like the lion and tiger; to puny animals like the bunnies, hedgehogs, porcupines; birds like the ostrich, peacock; and crawlers like the reptiles too.
The zoo that I loved to visit was the Byculla Zoo in Mumbai where 17 exotic animals were supposed to be imported before the lockdown. After the visit to the zoo, I used to wonder why these beautiful wild animals were there, I don’t deny that they were there for educational purposes and for protection from poachers. But wouldn’t it be better if they were in their natural habitat, living alive and free?
But isn’t that happening to us is lately? We were wild, freely roaming and enjoying out life in our natural habitat. And great!!! There comes covid-19 like the poachers to hunt our immunity. From here everything went downhill with chaotic silence; everything shut, malls……shut, theaters…… shut, restaurants/cafés/hangout spots…… shut. Everything’s a standstill whether we like it or not. And here we are like those exotic animals in our house a.k.a. caged. And that’s when my mind ran to the moment at the zoo. The videos of animals roaming freely went viral; for instance, monkeys at a swimming pool to take a swim, enjoying the cool dip during the hot summer day while we humans are nowhere in sight. And seven months down the line, we are still like these animals coming to terms with what had happened. I am happy yet envious of these animals that are roaming freely but here we are caged like animals.
