Jotted on a balmy Friday morning prior to Ides of March.

Recently I was reading a book written by Janine Bergmeir, a schoolteacher in the University of Tubingen in Germany. She writes that the importance of animals in human lives differs greatly from one person to another, especially from one culture to the other. Animals of all kinds have always been omnipresent for mankind – for the purposes of domestication, as workers, as companions, as tools or as resources in the form of food for consumption. As long as humanity existed, animals have always played an important role and society could not have advanced to the point it has today.

Jenine Bergmeir with Surfboard

Nevertheless, there are different perceptions of animals and how they are treated. A popular instance is the case of dogs. In some cultures, like the US or the UK, they are loved and considered a great pet to have with the family and at home. In Islam, dogs may be perceived as dirty or dangerous. In China, milk-fed puppies are considered a delicacy.

In Hinduism, every single living being possesses a soul, from the animals down to the insects and tiny organisms. In our belief system, like human beings, animals are also beings and subject to the cycle of birth and death and the laws of nature. Hinduism is a compassionate religion and treats all living beings with great respect. This could be one explanation why animals occupy an important place in Hinduism.

These thoughts sprang to mind when I visited Tooth Mountain Farms yesterday. I saw a grown adult male dog that has been named “Lockdown” at the Farm site. Apparently, the pup was found by the staff of the resort abandoned and lost outside its gate. It was badly injured having suffered a ‘hit-and-run’ and was yelping in pain. The TMF staff brought it in, nursed it to full recovery and it is now an official team member of the farm, cosying up to the multitudes of guests who walk in to experience the restaurant’s hospitality or spend a night at the artistic cottages.

Shiv, one of the owners with Badal the horse, as lockdown and carbon look on.

Recently, I was told that another puppy was abandoned by visitors in the dark of the night, as they took off in their car. The poor dog too received care and attention from the resort owners, and is found happily prancing about it in the vast territory. Because of its pitch black colour, it has been aptly christened as “Carbon”! The property owners are often found spending quality time with the animals in the farm.

Kodos to the owners and staff of Tooth Mountain Farms – they should be proud to display one more facet of the deep connection with humanity that they espouse as they conduct operations at the chic resort, a not-too-distant drive down from Mumbai.