October 3, 2011

With a long plastic sack slung over his left shoulder and the left arm thrust deep inside the mouth of the sack to keep it open, this 12-year old rag picker made for the garbage bin on the pavement opposite our apartment. I watched him bend over the bin looking for something of value (to him).Then a small girl came and threw some garbage into the bin.

The first thing this boy laid his hands on the garbage the girl threw was a folded banana leaf. His eyes glowed with delight as he saw inside the folded leaf the leftovers of a rice meal and goodies. He promptly sat down on the edge of the pavement licking his lips. It was obvious that he hadn’t come across a square meal in a long time.

He spread out the precious banana leaf on a flat granite stone of the pavement and took in the first mouthful. His appetite now whetted and his face lighted up like a chandelier. Just then out of nowhere appeared a mongrel bitch and its two pups, drawn by the sight of the food. The bitch stood a couple of feet away from the boy, watching him, and the pups kept hurling themselves at the mother’s breast, but finding little sustenance as the mother herself had been without food.

Then the boy made up his mind. He left the banana leaf open on the flat stone and did not help himself to another morsel. He pushed the leaf towards the poor mongrel. The hungry animal understood the gesture as an invitation. The ravenous beast polished off the leaf clean with its long tongue.
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Then it took a tentative step towards the boy, nudged his knee and began to lick his knee and began to lick his face in gratitude. The boy put his hand round the animal, scratched its face and fondled its ears.”It’s all right, dear”, said the boy as though he was talking to another human being like him.”No need to thank me. We homeless wanderers must stick by one another….mustn’t we..?”
 
Then he stood up and shouldered his sack and picked up his feet. The bitch and the pups followed. I watched till they were out of sight, the poor animals still right behind, ready to follow him to the end of the earth. It was indeed a great gesture of support that showed that heart can sometimes win over hunger. In fact that small child with a big heart taught that day that on this earth true love still does exist.