The Dog and I

The Dog and I

I made his acquaintance in Delhi. He looked strong and healthy in his shiny black coat, a big, handsome animal. But few recognized this, because he was a stray dog, a creature India is abundantly endowed with.



He combated daily for survival, partaking of rotting food articles, spilling out of wayside garbage bins. He was the fiercest antagonist of his rivals and a dreaded animal for passers-by.



I caught his fancy on my way back home one late afternoon, when, to my discomfort, he began to follow me. Dog lover though I am, I was cognizant of his savage propensities and watched him warily from the corner of my eye. Strangely enough, however, his personality had undergone a complete transformation, for he didn't growl or bark and walked behind me like man’s best friend. I too behaved as casually as I could. He stopped, however, at the bottom of the staircase leading to my first floor apartment and watched me silently, till I disappeared inside its confines. He seemed aware of the boundaries of his territorial rights.



He repeated the act almost daily for the next few days. And I did not fail to notice his softly wagging tail, his tentative proposal that we socialize. Hunger clearly explained his behaviour. He was battle weary and hoped for me to bring him succour.



The next time he looked up longingly from the bottom of the stairs, I asked my wife if there was food to spare and brought it half way down the staircase and threw it towards him, aiming as accurately as I could. He ran and grabbed the victuals where they landed, overtly wagging his tail now, stealing grateful glances at me as he ate.



Over time, my wife and I slowly got used to the ritual as much as he, so much so that around lunchtime one day, he violated rules to climb up the staircase and wait in front of our living room door. The honour of the discovery was reserved for my wife. I was home and heard her say between giggles, ‘Look, who's come for lunch!’



He sat there, his eyes as infinitely trustful and innocent as a child's, his confidence in human friendship unshakeable. He got up on all fours as soon as he saw me and his excitement was evident from the vigour with which his tail wagged.



He earned his lunch and almost smiled as he bid us goodbye.



Our relationship continued and one day he went a step further. My wife was sitting on a couch reading a book and had failed to notice his arrival. But his self-assurance had grown and he walked straight into the living room, where he stood a few feet away from her and whined for the first time. Since she was looking away, he needed to rely on sound waves to catch her attention.



She was amused, but scared too. He was getting dangerously close. She described the incident to me when I returned back home and I too was not too pleased about the development. We discussed the matter and decided that we would need to find a way to take him to a vet for his anti-rabies vaccine. An elaborate plan was hatched about how to transport him in our car next morning.



As morning arrived and we readied ourselves for the adventure, the door bell rang. I went and answered the door and found the gentleman living next door at the landing.


‘Good morning,’ said he, ‘may I come in please?’


‘Sure, please do. Can I offer you a cup of coffee, we are still at the breakfast table.’


‘Why of course, coffee would be welcome on a chilly morning.’


We sat down at the dining table, exchanging pleasantries, as I wondered what had prompted the visit. He brought up the issue soon enough.


‘My wife is disturbed,’ he began, ‘by this dog you have been encouraging for some time. We have a young boy as you know. It's unsafe.’


The message was clear. The dog had to be banished. Nonetheless, I informed him about our plan to get him vaccinated, but my explanations did not cut any ice with him. Vaccine or no, this scary thing must go. Embarrassing silence followed and there was little to argue about.



How do you explain to a dog, however, that he was unwanted? A plan was ready for him though when he arrived around lunch time. We kept our living room door securely bolted from inside and watched him unseen from a vantage point. He waited outside without any trace of suspicion that his hunger was not about to be appeased.



But his friends did not show up. He kept staring at the door stupidly, leaving now and then, only to be back again at his post, imagining perhaps that his biological clock had developed a defect. After an hour or so, he finally went away, but conditioned reflex ensured that he returned the next day and the one following the next. His trips continued for several days and then one day he didn’t show up anymore.


Within a month, I noticed that he was back at the garbage bin snarling and howling at his adversaries as he battled for his share of its putrid contents. I do not know if he noticed me anymore. Even if he did, he never asked me for an explanation.


Unlike human beings, dogs do not seem to bear you a grudge when you back out of a friendship.


Ojaantrik

Dear I lites,

Thanks to kamalji i am here.i hope u like my blog.Thanks.OJ

Dear Ojaantrik
Welcome to IL!
I must congratulate you for making your entry with a bang. 'The Dog and I' is a superlative piece of writing and very sensitive too. I too have a small stray dog following and I have found them to be more loyal than the hybrid ones. While the highly pampered domesticated ones have such mood swings which would put Cleopatra to shame, the street dogs that adopt themselves to us have no such aberrations.

The end of your tryst with the stray dog caused a lump in my throat and for no reason, I felt anger towards your neighbour.
Sri

Dear Cheeniya:

Thanks for your warm reception. I hope to communicate more with all of you.

ojaantrik

Dear Ojaantrik
Welcome to IL!
You have started of with a neat thread!! Way to go! Thanks to Kamalji ofcourse!

Oh the stray dogs.. they are part of the scenery of our great country me thinks..
And its true that would not hesitate to stray towards food giving hands!.. You have written the whole interchange with so much interest built up.. nice reading..
Your neighbour sounds very similar to my late MIL. If she as much spots a dog in a street we will be forbidden to enter that street and take a round about route to get to the place where we were headed to in the first place.
Any amount of reasoning by her son and her husband would fall on deaf ears. I did not count myself into that group tryin to reason with her since whatever I told anyways fell on deaf years.. so why bother?
We used to live in T.Nagar where all the lanes crisscrossed each other. So if want we can easily skip one road and take its parallel and then turn right or left.. you get the picture!
The interesting thing was after all these turn arounds and lefts and rights by the time we reached our destination the dog (or another) would be standing there much to my MIL's annoyance and chagrin..
Maybe all these turnarounds today would help me lose weight:) But I digress.. I personally think they are harmless but one never knows really! keep writing and welcome again:)

dear ojaantrik,

a hearty welcome to IL...ENJOYED YOUR POST...excellent way of expressing something quite simple...yes me too got irritated with your neighbour and felt very sad for the dumb creature...but that is life,i suppose...
If u are kamaljis friend we can look forward to some great posts..hahaha...and what does your used id mean...curious to know...

regards
MINDI

Dear Ojaantrik,

Welcome to IL...

That is a great blog... The love for the stray dog... Sorry, I allergic to dogs... so I stay away... But I dont have any hatred... As long as they go their way, I go my way...

You should be having a great heart to feed the hungry Dog... In todays world, people dont even understand other fellow human beings hunger...

Great... enjoyed the love shared...

Veda

Friends!

It's so good to hear from you. More than your comments, I am enjoying my new acquisition, i.e. your friendship. Let's remain this way for ever and ever.

I put up a new thread in this forum. It's called Adulterous Thoughts. It's a short story involving human beings and I think I tried to bring up a question that has often moved me.

What is Womanhood?

Look forward to hearing your views.

ojaantrik

Hello,

I enjoyed reading this piece as I am an ardent animal lover. It brought out so many shades of human personality and the struggle of the doggy to survive with no qualms.

Good write up.

Mindian, Vysan, Malspie

I am overwhelmed by your response to this story. I am very new to this site and it will take me a bit of time to get used to the things one can do. I shall visit your posts and start enjoying them very soon.

oj