Did you read about Barbara Luetzeler, a psychologist for chicken ? No, I don’t mean the weak-hearted…. I mean the ones which go into Britain’s famous tikka masala…
The Week says, this Bonn based shrink deals with problems ranging from gender issues to neurosis in chicken….
Gender issues ? Do you think female chicken in Germany are under-privileged ? Or are they a traumatized lot because in popular lingo, they are called chicks ? or do the male chicken pinch their bottoms as they scurry along their cages ?
I could go on and on….. On the neurosis bit also….
Listen to this : she has treated about 2000 chickens with autobahn neurosis. All of them would move their heads from side to side for no apparent reason. She accurately diagnosed that they were disturbed by loud noises from the nearby motorway. The chickens overcame the stress and the problem disappeared when their owner moved their enclosure to a quieter spot.
I know what she means… I have seen similar behaviour with people I know in Bombay. Otherwise polite, mild-mannered people, at the stroke of 8.27 a.m. would suddenly start jumping around and shouting in hoarse Marathi and shoving and elbowing their spouses and children….. this strange behaviour would be repeated every 15 minutes or so… this remained a mystery to all concerned till the prominent psychologist in their area discovered what she called local neurosis. Local as in, not specific to an area, but local trains….
These docile creatures live next to Dadar station and this trauma has so deeply affected their psyche that they have started imagining themselves as commuters even within the safe confines of their own homes….
She is called a train therapist and I am told she has a roaring business in Bombay these days….