Mongoose Musings

The mongoose was found sitting petrified in the car park of chez The Man from Madras Musings. A car was covering it from closer inspection. Hearing some commotion, MMM decided to come down from the lofty thoughts of MM and focus on the mundane. Many voices offered to help and after sifting through the evidence MMM got to know the following –

The mongoose had been seen going around the garden and even then appeared to be in some pain.

It had crawled under the car and after that had ceased to move though it was alive as could be seen from its frightened eyes.

If a mongoose was wandering around it meant a snake, or snakes, were not far away.

The question was, what was to be done with the mongoose.

There was a growing body of opinion (driver, cook, maid, watchman, neighbour’s, drivers, cooks, maids, watchmen, etc.) that the animal ought to be done to death, though why, MMM could not fathom. Someone said it would act as a deterrent to other animals. The answering chorus reinforced this, and a broad consensus was reached, unlike in the Houses of Parliament, that this was a locality where there were too many animals anyway – squirrels, parakeets, bats, frogs, toads, cats, dogs, crows, eagles, and now mongoose and possibly snakes. MMM’s maid led the chorus stating that living with such animals was an impossibility. Considering that she is a true representative of the cow belt, MMM was reasonably sure that back home her family led a life similar to the late Old MacDonald but here in Madras that is Chennai she had put on airs.

MMM declared that the matter was best handed over to Blue Cross. There was a stunned silence and thereafter some muffled grumbling about misplaced kindness, etc. but MMM had his way. The volunteers of that body arrived and took away the mongoose. They later called to say it seemed to be in some shock but was stable. When it recovered they wanted to know if it could be brought back to chez MMM. To this MMM agreed at once.

When this news broke there were protests galore. Having a mongoose resident in the garden would be a hazard as it could bite people said someone. MMM asked as to how many mongoose bites had the man seen and to this there was sullen silence. He then went on to explain that unlike us humans, mongooses do not recognise compound walls as boundaries and will wander around at will. So we would not be put to any trouble. The driver, whose ambition it has been to cut the sole tree in MMM’s garden as birds roost on it and commit nuisance on the car, then piped up. In that case he said, the entire neighbourhood would be at risk. To this MMM countered that that risk could not be more than dangers caused by bad driving.

The mongoose solved all matters anyway by dying the next day despite the best treatment. It had died due to internal causes. And so peace returned though much of the resident population would like to see all the animals exterminated.

MMM wonders as to what would happen if the animals got the same idea. The problem is loss of habitat and a cussed view that all specimens of animal life other than humans are a nuisance we can do without.

Electric Art in ­Chennai

To The Man from Madras Musings it will always remain EB though it has changed avatars, always leaving behind colossal losses. It called itself TANGEDCO for a while, no doubt to fool creditors of the EB and then now it has split into two – TNPGCL and TNEGCL – whatever they may be. But to MMM they will all be EB only. Anyway, that is not what MMM is writing about this time. His attention has been drawn to the rather handsome set of metal grilles that now enclose the electric transformers at various localities.

MMM was not sure who, TNPGCL or TNEGCL, was behind this rather creative idea. He thought it was Mutt (TNPGCL) and not Jeff (TNEGCL) for the latter is all about green energy and is scarcely likely to focus on brick-and-mortar stuff. It transpires that it is good old GCC that is responsible for this. No doubt all of this comes under the smart city initiative which is all about optics. Anyway, these shutters have been put up all over the city and enclose transformers. They are in very pleasing pastel colours and have intricate designs cut in them. Some are a shade more creative than others. The ones near historic buildings have the facades replicated on them. And so, in terms of creativity, full marks to GCC.

But when it comes to sheer suitability of such things, MMM has colossal doubts. The first of these concerns posters. The shutters have the standard warnings addressed to defacers of the surface but no political party seems to have noticed them and this includes the present dispensation at the State and city level. You would have thought at least they would have desisted from such defacement.

Next, how correct is it for the GCC, which should be championing footpaths, to appropriate large chunks of these and cordon them off? Agreed that the transformers were themselves occupying the same space, but with smaller designs now in vogue these could have been lifted on to platforms thereby allowing free access to the space below. But now, with these shutters in place, those who (or at least attempt to) walk on footpaths (where they exist) have to necessarily get off and jostle with the traffic. MMM has not experienced it but there are many who have complained that the metal sheets have small protrusions that tear clothes or scratch the skin as people walk by.

Lastly, if the Corporation thought it had solved the problem of littering around electrical installations, it is much mistaken. People have taken to placing their garbage all around these. And the spots that are free have become convenient urinals anyway. We the people get the administration we deserve.

Tailpiece

Moving on to light-hearted matters, The Man from Madras Musings is happy to share this photo with you. Dumping garbage in public spaces is dumb anyway.

– MMM