I feel sorry for the magnificent animal that is the bull. I was at a banking mela organised by the local administration in Alwar. A bull wandered in and walked about harmlessly. Almost every stall keeper hit him. Bystanders hit him. Security guards attacked him. His only reaction was to try and dodg...
In the last two weeks, my team at People for Animals has been examining all the religious sites on the Net to see what kind of nonsense is being put on in the name of Hinduism. Ever since I learnt about the Hathajodi “magic Talisman”, which is just the penis of the giant monitor lizard, being so...
Scindia Girl’s School in Gwalior abutted a thick forest area. I studied there for two years. The only term in my entire school life that I got a low grade was when I discovered a tiny mandir in the forest and someone told me that, instead of doing my homework, if I prayed and went round the mandir...
Maneka Sanjay Gandhi, Minister, Women & Child Welfare, GoI A superstition is anybelief or practice that is irrational, arising from ignorance, a misunderstanding of science or causality, a way of behaving that is based on fear of the unknown and faith in magic or luck.It is not based on rea...
I’ve just finished reading ‘Ten Million Aliens’ by Simon Barnes, a collection of articles that looks at animals in a new way. According to Barnes 80% of the living animals on earth are nematode worms. There are 28,000 species, of which 16,000 are parasites.They range from 2.5 mm to meters long...
Plants and animals are so interdependent that many plants change themselves, even where they grow, in order to accommodate insects. For instance, the bee orchid of the Mediterranean has adapted its colour, shape and texture to make itself look like a female bee. It also releases scents (pheromones) ...
I like lizards. I think their eyes are beautiful. I find it is possible to engage with them, however briefly. My granddaughter likes them too. But I know lots of people who will not enter a room which has lizards. Recently I received a letter from a child “Why do lizards enter my room and how can ...
On May 23 the Government of India issued rules regulating the cattle market.Kerala went ballistic and, without anyone having read or understood the rules, issued threats against the government of India. Members of the Congress party went so far as to slaughter a baby cow in public and distribute the...
Veganism finally has meat eating on the run in the United Kingdom. Not only are the ad campaigns, all over metro stations, really big and powerful showing what happens in slaughterhouses, but people are actually listening to them and making a switch. So much so that The Independent newspaper had sta...
Mimicry, by changing form, shape and colour on the spot, is unique to animals. Imagine if you went into a Chinese, or African, neighbourhood and had to defend yourself by looking Chinese or African. Or if you had to change your colour to black or white or polka dotted? Or become shorter, fatter, cha...