On a hot summer afternoon, I was driving past a relatively empty road near Dubai Creek when I suddenly spotted a pigeon sitting in the middle of the road a few meters ahead, in the same lane in which I was driving. As I slowed down the car, I noticed that the pigeon made a feeble attempt to fly, but could not lift itself beyond a few inches from ground and again got grounded. So, I realized that there was a problem ... either it was too weak to fly, or its wing was injured or whatsoever. The fact was that it could not move from its place on the road in that hot afternoon.
I managed to quickly change my lane and get back into it later, after crossing the Pigeon. I stopped at the traffic signal ahead and could clearly see the pigeon in my rearview mirror, still sitting there helplessly. Soon, I could see some more vehicles coming from the way I had come, and I noticed that those people were also noticing the pigeon and changing the lane. But then, after 4 or 5 vehicles succeeded in avoiding the Pigeon, one car just came too close… and ran over the pigeon. In a moment, the pigeon lay there dead. Some of its loose feathers started flying around with the wind.
In the meantime, the traffic signal turned green and I moved on. But all the while I was lost in thoughts. Thoughts, about whether the driver has done a ‘Paapa’ or a ‘Punya’…!
It was very much clear that the Pigeon was struggling to fly, but it could not. It was also feeling the heat on the road. It was also scared about the oncoming traffic. But it had very limited options. It would have eventually died anyway, unless some blessed soul came driving there, who got down from his car and took the pigeon to his home or a veterinary doctor. That was very unlikely. So, in that sense, was this sudden death a blessing for the Pigeon? Did the driver not save the Pigeon from some of its worst suffering moments in one second?
Another point… did the driver see the pigeon and then ran over it or it did not notice at all? Whether his deed of running over a crippled Pigeon changes from a Paapa to Punya or Punya to Paapa, in these two options viz. whether he did it accidentally or intentionally?
I had no answer. All I know is that I had seen one soul depart its physical body in agonizing circumstances. But the questions will always linger on whether the driver of that fateful car actually helped the Pigeon or harmed it…!
