7/26/2019 Donkeys of Bharuch

1/2

DONKEYS OF BHARUCH

When I came to India for the first time, I already knew that I was going to see things I had

never seen before or even imagined. However, I would have never thought that I was

going to stay for so long in this mystic and amazing country that, still today, surprises mewith its different foreign experiences on every single and simple day.

Motorized tricycles swarm around every place. There are more of them in this small town

of Bharuch than yellow cabs in New York City.

Laundry-women at the side of the river pound vigorously the clothes they wash. And

they pound these clothes so vigorously as if instead of rags, they were pounding their own

present life but with the hard stick of destiny.

Small carts, drawn by enormous but skinny, white oxen with long slender horns that point

to the sky, carry on them a lonely barrel that only God knows what they are truly

transporting.

Pieces of paper and plastic of the various shapes and sizes adorn squares, streets and

sidewalks with all the colours of the rainbow. In Argentina, we would call these ornaments

merely trash.

The strength of small trucks with only two axles but able to pick up and carry in their decks

as many as twenty-five people These people travel and embraceeach other very hard in

order to avoid feeling the sudden and strong hug provided by the asphalt of the road

under them.

When the water is transformed into air, and the air into water, the monsoon days make us

understand how changeable this weather can be.

Trucks painted with fanciful designs, which somehow remind me of the old buses that

rumbled over the cobblestone streets of Rosario.

Women wearing beautiful saris and embellished with bracelets in their wrists and ankles,

with piercings and gold earrings carry on their heads baskets full of dirt and debris.

As it is well known, there are cows, Brahma bulls, water buffalos, goats, sheep, squirrels

and peacocks that freely roam around the streets, not to mention the countless dogs and

cats. But there is an animal in particular that really astonished me: the donkey of Bharuch.

On my way to work, I travel along an avenue that continues after the highway. Traffic

there is overwhelming, especially because of the endless flow of trucks. At the side of this

avenue, there is a considerable space, often covered with grass, herbs and some shrubs;

and in the middle, there is a median strip, of no more than two feet wide, usually without

any kind of vegetation.

Behold! Donkeys, without tethers or shepherds to tend them, are standing right there in

the middle of the avenue! They are standing with only one pair of legs on the median strip

because their four legs do not fit in there. They like to be in small groups, from two to four

at most, and almost always a foal is included.

7/26/2019 Donkeys of Bharuch

2/2

What is more, I've seen them running very fast! Something really out of the ordinary for

donkeys! They ran from one side of the road to the other; and then, they suddenly stop in

the middle of the avenue as if they were living statues and do not move at all, no matter

what is happening around them.

Donkeys making the choice of being in the middle of the traffic, challenging the reckless

driving of the inhabitants in these lands; this is something I cannot understand although I

try to do it very hard, and these images together with my thoughts have made my head

spin over and over again and my brain twist itself trying to find an answer...

Why do they choose the honks, fumes, cement, noise and danger? Wouldnt it be more

pleasant for them to tamely graze by the side of the road?

Adrenaline? This was the first answer that came to my mind

Maybe feeling the roar of the engines and the air blasts to their right and to their left, or

foreseeing their own death approaching slowly while being stamped on a bumper at fifty

miles per hour These thoughts may respond to this different kind of adrenaline But, I

really do not know

While thinking about an answer to my question, it suddenly came to my mind what

somebody told me about how people used to use donkeys for. Not long ago, they were

rented out as pack animals and their owners displayed them in the middle of the avenues

for potential customers to see them for renting them.

Then, I thought that this kind of suicidal behaviour could have come from their ancestors

blood heredity, even though today it lacks of any sense. However, this behaviour could

also respond to habits acquired when they were small and then, they just systematically

repeated and repeat these habits as a creed. Finally, this same behaviour may be

transferred to and inherited by their foals, and their foals foals. Why havent they

changed their behaviour yet? Could it be that they are just there, motionless, waiting for

their own extinction in order to catch up with their ancestors as soon as possible?

And here's the issue that has been devouring my neurons and a new question comes to

my mind... What is the kind of behaviour that persists in human beings still today and can

be compared to that of Bharuch donkeys?

Go deep inside your mind and I betyou will find this answer, because we are no more

than Bharuch donkeys slapping our own destiny with our thoughtless destructive attitudes

and actions resembling the suicidal behaviour of these same donkeys

Daniel Correa