Survival of the Fittest

Just outside my house, I was watching a herd of pigs; a hog with a dozen of new-born piglets. The piglets were scampering around her in excitement as she strolled the by lane in our neighbourhood. Some dared to run a few extra adventurous feet away. A pack of domestic hounds watched the excitement from a distance and one of them suddenly began to charge. The hound caught one of the young ones in its jaws and ran past the hog. What I saw upset me and I charged at the dog with a twig in hand. 

All the pigs began to grunt continuously and run in the mess. The helpless piglet hung bleeding a bit from its side as the dog’s teeth penetrated its skin. I felt pity for the little one and shouted in an attempt to scare the dog. My yelling startled the dog who dropped its prey. The little pig waited no longer and ran into the neighbour’s yard in search of its mother. The event reminded me of wise words; “It’s the survival of the fittest”. But divine providence allowed me to be witness and make sure that the meek inherit the earth.

We live on the slopes of a hillock and hence the road in front of my house is sloping downwards towards the main road of the village. We have a few neighbours on one side of the road and an overgrown orchard on the other side of the road. However, since a lot of people have urbanized their life, their village houses are locked and closed and their open yards are over grown with weeds and monsoon greenery. Well, the next day after the piglet was attacked and saved, I rode my scooter out to the baker’s place. On my return home, as I rode my scooter up the slope, I noticed the hog mother of the piglet strolling down the slope. The hog was surprisingly alone. I gathered that the owners of the pigs decided to enclose the piglets within their yard itself to avoid any more untoward events, but let the mother hog out to graze on the monsoon greenery and weeds. As I approached the pig, it deviated from the road into my neighbours open and overgrown compound. I stopped my scooter to watch where it was going. To my utter surprise, the hog suddenly charged at something within the overgrown grass and it was snorting violently in anger. I watched as the culprit dog that had nabbed the piglet yelp and yelp in fear as it struggled to get up and get away from the angry pig. I could only laugh and shake a finger at the traumatised fleeing dog. The mother pig avenged the attack on its young one and the dog was forced to try the piglet’s shoes. Karma served justice on a platter. Yes, the meek will be given Justice.