February 12. “Button—I read these two rival news items in different newspapers on the same day:

The visual is of a sad little puppy sitting beside its dead mother who was killed because of rapid development at Uran in Navi Mumbai. The puppy refused to budge even after her mother passed away and is now being taken care of by a member of Friends of Nature. On the other hand, there was another bit of news where the Orissa government, which had successfully tested Agni III, has protested against the testing of missiles between November to May because the site is the nesting ground of Olive Ridley turtles. The mating season is about to start and launching any missile during this period would have an adverse impact on the endangered species. Now that’s what I call real concern and love for other lives. On the other hand, in Mumbai, mass nesting colonies of this turtle has declined from 155 nests in 2008-09 to barely 55 this time round. The headline of this story read—Where have all the turtles gone? This brings to mind a very favorite song of mine sung by Pete Seeger called—Where have all the flowers gone, long time coming?”

“One thing is for sure—that we still have the good amongst the rotten.”

“There’s another adult dog who we feed once a day. I came to know that he’s the pet who served someone from some consulate a few years back and was thrown out onto the streets when this family returned to their hometown. This particular dog (Should we name him Survivor? My elder daughter suggested we call him Shabby) still roams the streets waiting for his master to return and take him home. He was snowy white some time back but now the hair has thinned and, what remains, has turned a muddy brown.”

“Why do you tell me these sad tales?”

“But life’s like that—it’s not all fun and games and a bed of roses, you know.”