life design
Just a flimsy brown
rope, eh?!
I was born and raised in Lahore, Pakistan. The capital of
the province of Punjab, Lahore is the second largest city in
the country. With a rich history dating back over a
millennium, Lahore is a main cultural center of Pakistan. It
is one of the most densely populated cities in the world,
with a population of 11 million! It is the cultural heart of
Pakistan hosting most of the arts, cuisine, festivals, filmmaking, music, gardening and intelligentsia of the country.
Known for its affiliation with poets and artists, it has the
largest number of educational institutions in Pakistan and
some of the finest gardens on the Asian sub-continent. !
"!
Lahore also has a wonderful Zoo (opened in 1872) that is
held to be the 4th oldest Zoo in the word, after the ones in
Vienna (Austria), London (England) and Alipore (India). One
of the many fond childhood memories I have is that of
visiting this zoo with my family every so often. I would
make it a point to always visit the section with the wild
felines; the lions, tigers, cheetahs, leopards, and also the
elephants. Especially the elephants, actually! !
"!
They had a special platform which the kids could climb up
to and step in to a saddle that was affixed to an elephants
back. You could ride an elephant like that, escorted by one
of the caretakers who would then walk the elephant
around (with 5-6 kids on its back) around a pre-set route.
Trust me, when you are 6 years old, this is like the coolest
thing in the world !!
!
The Elephant that was normally used for giving such rides
was named ‘Suzi.’ And so no Zoo trip could just ever end
before I rode Suzi, jumping up and down in the saddle,
padding its back! !
"!
22 | Dey Dos Magazine
One fine summer day then, when I finished the ride and
climbed back down the platform, I just followed the
caretaker as he walked Suzi back in to its enclosure. I saw
that he walked it in a big, shaded room. He then threw a
brown fiber rope around its back and tied it to a metal
handle affixed to one of the walls. My 6-year-old brain just
could not comprehend how such a flimsy rope could hold
a creature of such force. So to be sure I could have rides
later as well, I urgently screamed out towards the
caretaker: “Hurry, tie it with a chain or it will run away!” !
!
The reply I got is still verbatim in my head: !
"!
“Lad! It will not even think of breaking away
from this rope! We use to tie it with when it
was young, ever since its birth. This is how
we have it grow up. It has tried all it wanted to
break free from this many years ago. So a
chain or anything else can never hold it back,
but this rope very well can!” !
"!
Come to think of it, yes! Being as mighty as it is, an
elephant can easily snap chains off in a single jerk, or
better yet, just walk off with anything it may be tied to.
How then, is a feeble brown rope able to hold it? !
!
The elephant had made a commitment, from its babyhood
that it had adopted as continuing truth, without testing it. It
believed that the brown rope and the metal hold in the wall
were still stronger than it was, even as a fully grown strong
beast! This phenomenon is called making a Premature
Cognitive Commitment (PCC). !
"!