The Miracle of Birth

One of the greatest miracles of this universe is arguably the birth of a new creature. A few weeks back, as I walked into the Dream A Dream office, I was excited told that a dog had given birth to 4 puppies in our office compound. Curious more than excited, I went to watch as the mom proudly protected her little ones. The tiny little wonders squeezed deep inside mom's warm body had not yet opened their eyes to this magnificent world. The mom, very scared looked on at us hopefully. Thus, began my journey of celebrating this miracle of birth everyday.

I watched with wonder as the mom would instinctively know what to do, as the pups instinctively knew where to find their mother's milk and fed on her to their stomach's content. They could hardly move but somehow found the strength to move where food was. The mom, quietly and knowingly, fed them while losing all her strength for lack of nutrition. We slowly learnt to feed her to help her rebuild her strength.

Everyday became the day of celebration and joy in our office as we watched with wonder how life was coming alive and the miracle was truly overwhelming. I would spend hours through the day watching the pups move, grow, learn and while building a special bond with the little wonders, I built a stronger bond with the mother. She learnt to trust us, she learnt to communicate with me. She would point at the bowl every morning as I arrived and let me know she is hungry. As we fed her, she would give us a look of gratitude and leth our hearts. She learnt to trust us enough to leave her kids for a few fleeting moments in the day knowing, we will take care. She recognized us through our smells and let us come close to the puppies.

Everyday, in the last few weeks, we have watched with awe as the puppies have grown. We have waited with restless anticipation as they learnt to crawl, walk, stand and again with feverish excitement as they opened their eyes into this beautiful world. We have fought over their names, about who is the cutest and about who is the fattest. We have held back tears as we have watched them grow and sometimes spent nights worrying about them as the rains have lashed the city. We have created a warm space for them, built a roof (a temporary table) over their heads and picked our favourites.

We have watched as the puppies have learnt to explore the world, albeit just a few steps; learnt to bite each other, learnt to play with one another and learnt to fight for their food and yet share their food with each other. We have watched as they pushed to snuggle into each other, learnt to sleep together and celebrate each other. Everyday, we watch them grow and embrace this world with love, excitement and wonder.

Everyday, as I have watched this miracle, it has taught me to slow down and celebrate life; It has taught me to care and be in love again; it has taught me to feel tremendously grateful that the mother chose us and gave us the gift of empathy.

Life is indeed a celebration in its millions of small wonders and I feel tremendously grateful that life's little wonders chose to help me become more humane everyday.