Day at the zoo

We had been to the zoo this past weekend and it was the first time at zoo for Akshara. She was excited to see the animals from her picture book. But the part that bothered her was that none of the animals said ‘hi’ as they usually do in all her cartoons! She waived at every animal and even fed some of them holding the animal feed in her hand at the animal feeding time. By late noon we were done visiting each of the animal enclosure in the zoo and decided to head home. Akshara waved good bye to the animals!

I wondered how the animals in the enclosure felt. We humans go into their homes(jungle) uninvited and put them at the zoos. We expect them to greet us or even do a trick for us while we are at the zoo. But if they ever come to our homes, we treat most of them as pests and hunt or run them out.

The excitement showed as she held close her animal toys;

For the trip to the zoo had been her first choice.

The lions and zebras were all long friends from the picture book;

And it was now time for a real close look.

The elephants were big and the giraffes were tall

But neither said hi as they did in the cartoon call.

She cheered at the lions and the zebras and the chimps

And tapped on the aquarium glass to call the sharks and the shrimps.

We were soon done and it was time to leave;

With the sun pushing the little shade the animals had moved to relieve.

She waived bye but they cared less for the uninvited guest

Just as we treat them when in our homes, as pest.

~Narendra V Joshi