THERE LAY THE CITY

There Lay The City
Ms. Pixy was in a rage. How could they do such a thing? She had sought an audience with the chief. After all the state had enshrined the principle of rights of species and their protection and conservation in the constitution of the state. Then how could a local chieftain order the mauling and hunting that was held in the name of sport?
She met the chief in his official quarters. The chief was very attentive to the points raised by the activist. He assured her that he would order an enquiry and take all steps necessary to safeguard, protect and preserve the endangered species. He was convinced on the need to make concerted efforts to increase general awareness towards these issues. Ms. Pixy was very happy to enlist the support of the chief in her work. She on her part gave a detailed power point presentation, highlighting the programs, she had launched in recent times to ensure the safety of the threatened species.
The chief however jocularly referred to some over enthusiastic academics who were going about spreading falsehoods regarding the past and claiming that the species in question had ever been ruling the city and that we, the best among the species, the canines lived in service to these wretched humans. The chief conveyed his total disapproval of such theories which would if allowed to go unchecked create confusion in the population and lead to instability. The chief advised Ms. Pixy to keep her work miles away from these so-called wise ones.
The facts enumerated by the chief in support of his assertions were based on truth and not falsehood.
The chief referred to the life in the city and compared it with the situation in the fringe where entire population consisted of these wild humans. With a broad smile on his face and a wink in his eye he told Ms. Pixy to launch some kind of an awareness campaign in those areas about cleanliness, civic sense and social etiquettes. “Look at those areas, and see those clogged drains, see the filth and dirt on the streets, the cesspools of dirt’ ‘the chief started on his favorite subject. ‘Tell me, Ms. Pixy, how can we stop these humans from creating so much of filth around themslves? The chief wanted to get some response to his queries. Sensing that the chief was in a mood to prolong the meeting, Ms. Pixy cleared her throat and looking tenderly towards the chief said’ ‘what I believe is that these animals need our compassion and understanding, they are very vulnerable. They are not as strong as we are, they aren’t even as intelligent as we are, therefore they create all the mess around their lives, chief.’
The meeting ended after a long discussion. Ms. Pixy straightaway drove to the last corner of the city. This area was marked by congestion, noise, overflowing drains, quarrels and brawls, shrieking children, wailing women and shouting men. There was a total chaos on the streets, in total contrast to the main city, the city administered by Ms. Pixy’s kind.
The city was neat and clean. It did not have any garbage dumps; it did not have potholes on roads. It did not have dark alleys and blind streets. It was not in a mess, whereas the portion of the city under their occupation represented a hell. Seeing Ms. Pixy in their locality the entire folk collected around her. She seemed to be quite popular in the area. Everybody wanted to talk to her and bring to her notice his or her grievance, the issues of subsidy on water, on power, on ration, and above all income generating jobs for every person in the family. Ms. Pixy listened to them with patience and assured them that she will take up all these issues with the chief.
The notables among the populace were eager to profess their loyalty and faith to the party in power in the city and place all their trust in the most capable and honest leadership. They were quick to announce that they were all very nice and law abiding citizens and were always against those who challenged the leadership in the city. The elders wanted the Government to come up with an economic package and increase subsidy.
Ms. Pixy assured them of sympathetic consideration of all issues brought to her notice. The congregation garlanded Ms. Pixy and took her round the locality in a huge procession. They raised slogans in support of the chief who ruled their city. The city, that belonged to them not in very distant past.