DOGS' LIFE

All of a sudden I heard ‘bhav bhav’ in tender voice of barking of a pup while I was taking my much valued Sunday afternoon nap. It gave me not less than a shock, how on earth there is chance of getting such voice in my fifteen floor flat. Soon I realized the source of the voice, my tiny daughter in third standard had made this miracle happen by way of her candid act of philanthropy. She’d given shelter to the stray pup drenched in rain water in her own room placed in the shoe box under her bed. It was a little terribly wounded & weak pup on the verge of dieing. We took it to vet yet, it was too late & it died leaving a big void in the mind of my tender daughter.

On her insistence & bowing to her prime weapon of cry to the top of her lungs we decided to buy a pup at last. ‘But after your promise that you’ll take its care’ to which the kid agreed with huge smile; I could see the happiness in her big eyes. Girls are like that, they turn your home to heaven. ‘Fifteen thousand only’, my denture was about to pop out to pet store mans’ casual dialogue. I gulped saliva & again asked to make it ascertain as the figure was just hard nut to swallow. ‘Fifteen thousand you said for this dog?’, ‘minimum’, perhaps incessant barking of the dogs of various age & type must have taught him to speak less & observe patience. May be perhaps my daughter who had accompanied me had made him damn sure that the customer won’t go off the hook. And also perhaps he knows & understands, ‘seeing is believing’ he opened his laptop from the hidden shelf inside the counter. ‘By god, the fellow got laptop too’ I murmured, which I was planning to buy for a long time now. He opened it & switched it on & browsed for his desire folder like an expert, he was already giving me complex. His computer had a number of video clipping of vast number of dogs around the world while they are eating, running, licking, barking etc. ‘Dad, I want this’ my daughter first opened her mouth after going to the shop till then she was intently observing. That is Pug, it will cost forty five thousand & with paper it will be sixty five’. I’d made myself shockproof then. ‘What is paper?’ like a dumb man I opened my mouth. He looked at me as if he was looking at that Pug only. ‘You get the certificate of assurance of its pedigree’. I felt I was wondering in fairytale, dogs just dogs are certified of their pedigree. ‘There are Pugs, German Shepherds, Rottweiler, Dobermans, Blood Hounds, Wolf Hounds, Afghan Hounds, Terriers, Basenji, Borzois, Whippets, Bull Dogs, Dalmatians, Chow Chows, Boxers, Pomeranians, Pekingese,…. I took soda, after having a pup Pug.

My kid was just more than happy with her new play. Wife had tough task in keeping her home clean & keeping the pup inside the home. Next morning only I’d to take half day leave to visit the pet shop. ‘The pup is not eating anything’, I put my grievance, I had a serious concern that, and it shouldn’t happen that the forty five thousand assets is worthless if not fed properly plus the emotions of my little bundle of happiness. ‘What did you offered it to eat?’ by now I was used to the pet store mans’ nature, he was typically like his products, “leave it, it’ll run & catch it, it will bite”. ‘Just milk & roti’ I’d surrendered to him long before. ‘Look you should give him special food available, that will give him balanced diet & help him build his hair coat, hair shine, prevent hair fall, strengthen his bone structure,…’.

I end up in buying dog food, the special stainless steel bowl so that the pup won’t tumble the food, belt, chain is harsh to pups so leather leash, dog soap for regular wash, dog shampoo for intermediate wash, dog lotion to help it prevent from ticks & mites, dog toothpaste, dog toothbrush, play bone for dog to save other objects getting chewed, chew sticks if it gets bored with the artificially flavored bone, dog ball to play etc. etc. And reached home will two bags full of dog accessories with face down, as wife was standing in the door itself. She’d her long pending demand of having sari shown in some kitchen politics afternoon TV serials.

On his third day stay in his new home the little dog bitten our neighbors’ son, again half day leave to get him to clinic to inject anti-rabies injection after due firefighting rituals at home. While I took a prudent stand & got all the kids in our building vaccinated with anti-rabies including myself & my wife. Pug was vaccinated too at the vet & found that its vaccination cost was more than ours. ‘Kid is a kid whether it is ours of dogs, it will make the place dirty till it gets old enough to understand’ again pet store man. I then took the responsibility of getting half hour early from the bed which I never did so far & take the pup for a round in the nearby garden & one in the evening of course.

‘That is natural, all dogs shed hair in certain season’ the pet store man spoke in his usual causal manner as if nothing has happened. But for us at home it was a great thing, my kid had breathing problem & our pediatrician had strictly forbidden her from any exposure to dust, dirt, pollen, animal hairs etc. etc.

Her mother took her to her grandfathers’ place while I tried to sale off the Pug. I was sure, when she’ll return most probably she will have forgotten her little friend. ‘We don’t repurchase or replace the pups’; he refused to buy the pup at any cost. Lastly I gave it to him free which he took as if doing great favor to me. Later I heard the fellow sold it for fifty five thousands, with no word of thanks to me.

Pug had burnt my fingers & made a hole to my pocket, I still hesitate to count.

By

Vijay Yelmelwar