Day 46 - A rainy morning

A drizzly dull morning it was.  But no complaints, as it meant the sun was away. 

Yesterday, my whatsapp was abuzz with the Supreme Court ruling on stray dogs of Delhi.  Move them off the streets in eight weeks, they ordered.  The dog lovers were affronted, many others secretly relieved.  There are definitely not enough shelters to house all the strays, so it will be interesting to see what Delhi does.  Will it lead to more shelters coming up double-quick, will the dogs just be moved outland into the rest of hinterland or will this spur the politicians into some sensible and long-term sustainable policy?  It was all strangely serendipitous with my Day 43 Streetie Lament.  

Rohini Singh on Twitter summed it up well.  " Arguing that dogs should remain on the streets often ignores who suffers most from dog attacks- children, the elderly, sanitation workers and the urban poor. Not the elites living in gated communities. (1/n).  Letting dogs roam free isn’t compassion. Life on the street is brutal with injuries, disease, abuse, and starvation. It’s cruel for humans and for the animals. (2/n). The Supreme Court wants urgent action but timelines to shelter all strays are unrealistic.  We simply don’t have enough shelters,  sterilisation and vaccination staff or enough trained handlers. (3/n) This isn’t about choosing between dogs and humans. It’s about rejecting false binaries.  We can protect both if we stop sentimentalising and start planning. (5/n)"

I wondered about this as I walked along the beach, umbrella in hand, watching the dogs all curled up on the beach sands.  The drizzle had kept the humans away for the most part and the sand looked clean and inviting.  

I walked onto the shoreline, the tide was receding and I could see the high tide line, the sand was black here, with something the sea was washing up.  The characteristic little sand cliff was forming near Valmiki Nagar.  In some months it is so steep, it is difficult to climb up or down, as the sand edge keeps crumbling.  

There were no shells, but I did see a new bunch of uniformed women cleaning the sands with a rake.  One of them told me they were employed by Ramky Enviro solutions to keep the sands clean.  It is good to see some more CSR involvement besides Rialto who has planted trees and kept our beach clean for decades.

The whole line of grown Sea Grape trees - Cocoloba uvifera - is Rialto effort.  Watered and cared for meticulously. I noticed one of the older trees had fruited.  You can see why they are called Sea grapes!

The same tree had some flower spikes.  It is so similar to the Jungle badam.  Interesting that the other trees were neither flowering nor fruiting.What weather signal did this single Cocoloba pick up?

The tree is also not a native - it is an American tree that does well in saline air.  It has different male and female flowers and needs the bees to pollinate.  As I returned home, I saw a bunch of young men making a  twig torch - to smoke the bees out they said - and gather the honey from an apartment block.  Maybe it was Cocoloba honey, I thought to myself.