Cookie
NO cliché is truer than the one that goes: A dog is a man’s best friend. It holds water. And with very good reason.
Every now and then, when people snigger between the shadows at those who obsess over canines, their common refrain being “I bet they don’t treat human beings this well,” I want to tell them that dog lovers don’t merely like dogs. We admire those qualities we desire in ourselves and in other human beings.
Loyalty. Unconditional love. Unconditional friendship. How many times have we put our faith and trust in another human being and been betrayed? How many times have we helped another human beings, and they’ve plain forgotten? We can’t help it. We are wired to be turncoats at some point or the other, on purpose or unknowingly. But once you trust a canine, be rest assured you can trust him or her, forever. Which brings me to a little incident that occurred outside my office, yesterday.
It was a regular day at work, and I was all set to go home and watch an episode of Dexter, when my colleague’s elderly driver popped out of the woodwork, while I was giving Daffy a bite. “Madame, I was waiting two hours for you. A dog got run over and is hiding under a car, he refuses to come out,” he said in Hindi. Though the doggie (see pic) – who we shall call cookie – wasn’t bleeding he was definitely in an excruciating amount pain, and was hiding under a car, whose owner we could not locate. He would not be lured by chicken pieces. But to my amazement the neighbouring chaiwala, crouched down and pulled the dog out. A hurt dog will bite because he feels great fear. But this one did not bite and seemed to trust this man.
He was laid on the pavement, and was shuddering with pain. Bloodshot eyes, and deep breathing, but no sound. Apparently, the screeching and yelping were over and done with at noon when a callous human ran him over. Now it was 8 pm. Now he was resigned to his pain. Soon we had an audience, some with genuine interest and a desire to help/ be supportive, and some random curious janta. One cab driver, who came off sounding like an authority on life and its complexities, declared that soon this dog would breathe his last.
But the chaiwala stroked the dog and sprinkled some water on his eyes and inside his mouth. It was evident that he knew the dog well and viceversa. We called up Friendicoes (NGO for animal welfare), and they said they would send an ambulance to pick him up, and they did by 9 pm, as a flat happened on the way (such is Murphy’s law). Typically, the first thing the Friendicoes helpers do is to tie up the mouth of the dog because hurt dogs tend to bite (out of fear). But when these guys arrived, the chaiwala volunteered to carry the dog and place him in the van. They heaved a sigh of relief and this is always the tricky part.
Once in the ambulance, the dog tried sitting up but couldn’t eventually. The ambulance sped off. Tomorrow I shall visit the blither and check on his progress, and when he is healed he will be released back into this locality. But hats off to the driver who waited two hours. Hats off to the chaiwala who was so loving and lost some customers to help a wounded animal. And hats off to the dog who trusted him.
Update: Sadly, he did not make it and passed away on two nights later due to an internal injury. But he was such a brave pup. the chaiwala was sad. very sad.
written with alot of passion