when I was in Hyderabad..
in the middle of the festival of Barkri ‘Id..
a festival where the Muslims celebrate Ibrahim’s willingness to sacrifice Ishmael..
but he doesn’t..
Allah intervenes and a goat is slaughtered
instead.. in Hyderabad..
there were goats everywhere
… 100 000 of them.. lining the street..
seamlessly with people.. all over…
.. in/on laps just all over.. and it was
a beautiful visceral thing
humanity was seamless with the animal..
all aspects happened in front of your eyes..
the slaughter..
the herding..
the boy leading
the goat.. sharing
a seat on an overloaded truck.. there was a goat…
not like here.. where the animals that serve us
for food.. don’t really exist
they are far away …
we see
them as neatly wrapped up things on supermarket shelves…
safely away
from our children.. we grow up
detached..
safe..
and it is not safe…
we need to know our animals again…
we are part them.. we are not
some separate thing .. …
and we need to share space and intimacy with them again..
so we can learn how to feel..
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