Ode to a Donkey

We were in Class IX and the teacher gave us a project on ‘Excellence’. The best would be selected to be displayed in the school assembly hall. On the appointed date, the students of my section submitted their chart papers with their expressions on the subject painted in crayons and water colours. I had thought over the subject and had drawn a brave soldier in army fatigue with multiple medals on the lapel and put a heading, ‘Excellence in Gallantry’. Similarly, there were some others in the class who were good in painting, like Shakun and Indrajit, and seeing their charts made me feel slightly low. Surprisingly, the class teacher selected Harjiv’s drawing to represent the class,that got us all in a fit of laughter…he had painted a donkey and the subject read, ‘Excellence in Foolishness’. The teacher clarified that he had selected it, not for the quality of painting, which was pretty ordinary, but for the novelty and creativity. Since childhood, we have been ridiculed as being a gadha or donkey whenever we made mistakes or failed in some task. So, the word gadha is permanently fixed in our minds as a fool and Harjiv’s painting has left an indelible impression of excellence in foolishness.

How about Bravery and Foolishness coming together to create Excellence?

In the good old days in the army, mules provided the last mile logistics to the far flung units. But for them, the troops would have perished in the remote outposts, some of which were snow covered round the year. Pedongi was one such mule who joined the Indian Army in 1962 as part of the Animal Transport Unit under the Indian Army Service Corps. Pedongi was assigned work with troops to transport ammunition and stores to forward units and also carry the sick and injured soldiers to the military hospitals. Pedongi served in the army for twenty nine long years and in the armed forces, where names are a privilege reserved for horses, the mule earned a name for herself, based on a town called Pedong in north Sikkim. During this long tenure, Pedongi faced many an airstrike and bullets and became highly respected for being a brave and intelligent mule.

Pedongi’s greatest feat was achieved during the Indo-Pak War of 1971 when she was captured by the enemy forces. However, Pedongi escaped her captors a fortnight later and brought back to the Indian camp boxes of Pakistani ammunition. The commander of the Animal Transport Battalion reported the matter to the seniors and recommended Pedongi for a citation of bravery. In 1987, Pedongi was named the mascot of 53 AT Company and in 1989 her picture was put on the greeting cards of the unit. Finally in 1992, Pedongi was taken to Delhi to be presented with a bravery citation and a blue velvet ceremonial rug. It is said that an officers’ mess has also been named after the brave mule.

Whether Pedongi was brave or not or just did what she was asked to is immaterial. Now that her feat has been recognized by the army, I can now take the liberty to add a few medals to the painting of my friend Harjiv, who sadly is no more, and change the subject to just ‘Excellence’!

Every day, as I stand before the mirror, I ask myself a question,” Mirror, mirror on the wall, who’s the most foolish of all?” The mirror cracked…possibly unable to tell me the truth. And so I did some introspection. If Harjiv’s painting was Excellent Donkey or eDonkey, the brave one was PeDongi and standing before me was the image of MeDonkey.

When the sun shines in the morning

And the night is on the run

I wake up with the birds chirping

And I am soon on the run

I run to get ready

I run to drive my car

I run to work

First to enter the altar

And almost last to leave

And in between

What does MeDonkey do?
Work work work work

Click click click the keyboard

Talk talk talk talk

Talkiti talk on the phone

Meet meet meetings

Meetings day and night

Meetings face to face

Meetings on the web

With all apps downloaded

Google Meet, WebEx, Zoom and more

MeDonkey is fully loaded

Ready to face anyone, anywhere

Ready to answer all questions

Ready to give reasons for failure

Ready to say sorry sorry sorry

Ready to say good good good

Show presentations

Show excel sheets and data galore

Never to stop

Never to halt

Some sips of water

Some morsels of food

Never to rest

Never to yawn

Never to remove the plastic smile.

MeDonkey is very useful

For he must carry to the world

He thinks he is important

And if he stops, the world will stop

Fool fool foolish

So typical of MeDonkey

So work work work

So click click click

So talk talk talk

Never to stop

Never to rest

MeDonkey is tired but never says so

Hits the bed and snores away

Ready to wake up before the sun shines

And run run run

Never to stop

Carrying the ammunition

For generals and brave soldiers to fire

To win the medals and glory.

But MeDonkey is happy

For Pappa n Mamma told me

Karm karo, phal ki aasha mat karo

So MeDonkey is happy

To work workwork

Never to stop

For I will someday somewhere

Get my citation or two

Don’t cry for me

For there are so many like me

Working tirelessly, carrying the load

My wife, his wife and the mothers at home

Who will not even get any medals

Never a citation to show

But they too will never stop

MeDonkey, TheyDonkey, UsDonkey

We carry the world

With Excellence, Bravery, Foolishness, untiringly.

SS