I was always against the idea of
a pet dog. Whenever Femy(my wife) asked to adopt one, I would tell her that
keeping a pet means a great deal of responsibility and besides that we both
were working. One day we went to Mumbai with our friend Bhushan for shopping. I
was going to Lamington Road to purchase some computer supplies, and my
wife wanted to go to the Crawford Market for her own shopping. My friend suggested
that we should split and meet at The Gateway of India before 6 o’clock in the
evening. My wife went to Crawford Market and my friend and I went to Lamington
Road. At around 5 pm in the evening we met at the decided point. Femy was
waiting for me near Swami Vivekananda statue and she carried a green picnic
basket with her. Thinking that she must have purchased the basket from roadside
sale, I overlooked it. She was sitting below the statue facing toward the
Monument.
We were going back to Alibaug and
our boat was at 6 pm. Bhushan knew we will have to wait and so he bought some
McDonald Burgers and coke. We sat there and were eating the burgers, when
suddenly I heard a weeping sound of a puppy. I looked around but there was
no one only stary dogs lying around. So I ignored it and concentrated on my McChicken
Burger. It was delicious mouth watering treat for me, as I had skipped my Lunch
that day. (In Alibaug where I Stay, most of the merchants and small
traders like me travel to Mumbai every Friday or Saturday to get
supplies for their shops, they usually have one day to finish their entire work
and return by evening ferry. Such travelers
would skip their lunch to save time.)
The burger was hot and tasty and
I was so enjoying it with leisure, when again I heard the weeping sound, this
time I was sure that I heard it. And the sound came from the basket. Femy realize
what I have noticed and gave me a smile. She disclosed that there was a puppy
inside. Crawford Market and Manish Market are the one of those places in Mumbai
where you can buy anything and I mean anything available on this plant. A place
at Crawford Market is well known for sell animal from dogs to exquisite animal
like rare Caribbean Parrots or ball pythons.
I opened the top of the
basket and a white velvety animal jumped out on the pavement. We thought the
puppy would run away but the crowd and the foot falls of strange people at Gateway scared
her and she ran and took cover between my legs. She was a 50 day old Labrador
pup, white as pearl and her eyes were jet black. I took her in my hands and I
felt the warmth of her body, the delicate small paws and her pink coloured
tummy which was moving as she breathed. She was small, innocent and powerless
but within her eyes I saw an impish dog, which I know today.
I asked my wife, why you didn’t
tell me that you were going to buy a puppy and she said that if she would have
told me before then I would have not allowed her. We had no plan on how to take
the puppy to Alibaug. We were supposed to go back to Alibaug in 6 o’clock
ferry. But the problem was that, only Maldar Catamaran allowed dogs on board
and the last boat of Maldar was at 4.30 pm which we already had missed. It was
nearly 6 pm and our boat was on the dock. I and my friend had made
thousands of requests to the ticket checker at the gate to allow the puppy inside.
but the old fellow, wearing navy blue shirt and pants, white hair and Pan tainted
teeth kept saying " aree kutre boat madhe allow nahi karat" (we dont
allow dogs in the ferry) and started handling the other customer.
That boat was the last one of the
day, and we had no choice but to give tip the guy and allow us in. he agreed
and asked for 500 rupees, I was just about to give, when a man around in his
forties wearing white shirt over his big stomach, white pants and black
sandals, a golden watch and Ray Ban glasses with golden frame mounted on his forehead
came. The ticket seller saw the guy and said "thamba me saheban na vicharun yeto"( wait here i'll ask sir
first). That man was not the owner; he was some sort of manager, in Maharashtra
you will find such managers looking like politicians everywhere. White
colour is in fashion for such people, they will have white colour cars and
scooters, and some people would even have white cell phones. The man went close
to him and spoke near his ear; it was obvious of him to do that as there was
lot of commotion around, with his stiff heavy neck tilted backwards, he
listened to the ticket checker and shook his head in disapproval without
looking back. The man came back and said "sahib allow naahi kart, chala
atta nigha. Udya chi maldar pakda" (sir said no, now leave and catch
morning 6 o’clock Maldar). We were now stuck there with a puppy and the next
boat for Maldar was in Morning 6 am.
We knew that the dog cannot be
kept in the basket for long, she would soon start crying and we were scared to
take her out of the basket because of the crowd and the well-known Mumbai
chaos. She was small and meek, but also full excitement. She starts jumping and
running here and there in excitement once she gets to know her surrounding,
this is one of her many qualities which
we later came to know. After all a 50 day old puppy out on the streets of
Mumbai with whizzing cars and barking stray dogs is not a good idea.
Bhushan suggested that we should
take the puppy home that night and avoid the plan to stay in Mumbai. I agreed
with him because I had some work to do the next morning. But taking the puppy
in State transport bus was also prohibited. We had no choice but to hire a
vehicle all the way to Alibaug. It would take 3 hours by car to reach Alibaug.
We found a cab at Regal Theater and the cab driver was from UP. He had never
been to alibaug before but agreed to take us if we guide him the road. We hired in the car and began our journey to
Alibaug. Inside I took the puppy in my hand, and she was very naughty. She
licked by hand, tried to bite my thumb and fingers and sniffed around trying as
if looking for something, finally when she got tired, she went to sleep. The
pup was sleeping in my hand like a real human baby. Like all other infants, she
managed to fall into deep sleep in the commotion of Mumbai city.
Our first destination was the CNG refill
station near Sion , We were all tired sitting in a same position inside the
cab. The queue for taxi and the autowallas was separate for the other vehicles.
Ours was the longest queue, so the driver suggested us to get down giving our
leg some relief. I took the pup in my hand and got out of the vehicle, a women
from other side of the lane got down
from a vehicle, saw me carrying the pup and rushed towards us and said “awww,
she is so cute, what’s her name” I told that we have not named her yet, we just
bought her today. She took the dog in her hands and kissed her and hugged her
and played with her. Taking my permission she took the dog with her to show it
to her dad who was inside the car. That moment made me feel proud, I was like
‘Yeah, that’s my dog.’ Our turn came and we refilled the tank and resumed the
journey.
After 1 hour of driving we reached Karnala, a
long lonely road with Dhabas (roadside restaurants) and Jungle. It was already
past the diner time but we were hungry so decided to eat at one such Dhaba. We
took the pup along, as these roadside restaurants had outside sitting
arrangements; we were allowed to do so. When we placed the orders, an elderly
couple who had just finished their diner were preparing to leave, but stopped
to adore the puppy. The man was a veteran dog breeder; he gave me some tips on
how to keep a check on dog’s heath by examining the feces. The puppy was
reminding him of his own dog, a 12 years old Labrador who recently passed away.
When the food arrived it became difficult for
us to handle her, so I kept her back in the cab inside the basket. We ate our
diner, chicken and veg pulao and went back to the car. We saw people gathered
around the cab looking at it. We rushed to see what went wrong, but our fear
was gone when we saw the puppy sitting on the driver’s seat with her feet
placed on the steering wheel. She was barking at everyone who ever looked at
her or even at the cab. When she saw us she started shaking her body with joy,
Femy gave her a puppy chew stick to calm her down. The journey began, and our
next destination was Alibaug.
We reached alibaug at 1 o’clock in the night.
The person who sold us the dog recommended us not to feed her till we reach
home, the journey was long and the cab had crossed Ghats and valleys on the
way, even a grown up can feel nausea. So we thought its best not to feed her
till we reach Alibaug. The first thing I
did when reached home was that I gave her a bowl full of dog food which Femy had
bought at the same dog store where she bought the puppy. She finished it within
seconds and started barking at the empty bowl, so I gave her some more and she
did the same. I remember that night I must have refilled her bowl 3 or 4 times.
Now it was sleeping time, we tied the leash of
the puppy to one legs of the bed and made her a comfortable place to sleep on
the ground. But later in the night, she started weeping and barking, Femy pat
the dog to keep her calm but it was of no use. So I pulled her up and made her
sleep next to me and to our surprise he slept quietly without making any fuss. Later
in the night, she got up and was trying to go somewhere. I pulled her back on
the bed and rubbed the fur around her collar to make her comfortable. She sat
for a while but again got up started to sniff and walk around. As it was my
first dog, I didn’t know what she was doing. Then she squats down and next
thing was that my bed was warm. I was so tired and sleepy that I hugged her and
we slept peacefully that night. And next morning I thanked god that she only
peed last night. And from that day till now she always sleeps with me on my
bed, but pees outside
 |
| My wife with Eva. |
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