Gurmeet Singh Bekrar
Whenever I come across a pathetic view of a stray Dog, squatting lonesome on the road, watching the world go by , looking aimlessly hither and thither, a corner of my heart moves me to tears within, with the thoughts whether he had his meals today ? May be his hungry eyes looking hopelessly for someone who may bring a slice of bread or a morsel of meat for him. The SOMEONE would hardly come. His wait is fictional.
I too have a pet dog named Max who whenever I open my gate upon returning from office, springs all over me animatedly with forelegs entwined all around my body and a waggling tail unfurled in the air. Then next moment Max hops over to Lawn and catches his deflated football in between his gnawing set of teeth and then suddenly sits down on his haunches with a beseeching glint in his eyes. Takes me a second to measure his intentions as his mute posture conveys his implore to play football with me..
Selfish as I am, ignoring his request, I prefer relaxing in my room to playing with him. I, as a matter of fact, have never been enamored by dogs. My son pushed her mom to bring a puppy who nonetheless bypassed my pleadings to stave off this lifelong liability.
The new born puppy as he was an half an year ago, cast a heavy price on my privacy as my better half shifted her nocturnal stay from our bedroom to kid’s. The little prince became cynosure of my family .Many times throughout the nights , he demanded to be fed and if not cared he swooned like a human baby to catch our intentions. My wife and daughter, ensured to attend to his crooning to pee and ordure at late night intervals, whereas I made myself divinely cushioned on the fluffy environs of “manje-bistar.”
Max grew up like a guava tree within 6 months to full average height of a dog. Time for his outings and thus began my ordeal of taking him out of home every day morning. Day in and day out he roams about my interiors and exteriors of the home like a let loose bull, flits ferociously towards the gate whenever the sound of doorbell rings, peeps out of the crevices between steel gate border and the concrete gate pillar. Though he never bites yet the ubiquitous ill reputation of canine bite instills an innate fear in the minds of our guests so much that before visiting, they make sure to call us to chain the dog.
Max is a pampered kid at ours. When I happen to walk by I see a no. of stray dogs in very nook and corner of the town. They are most unhygienic and ill kept breeds , maybe some of them are infected with rabies. The dogs are not to be blamed for that. It is we who have not evolved a system to checkmate the growth of stray dogs. Copulating dogs are a common scene on the streets and causes a derisive embarrassment to the fair sex passer byes. We have not built shelters for them. Like burgeoning traffic they are let loose everywhere. They are never to be blamed as we are responsible for their plight.
Honestly the cruelest sight for me is when I see kids’ often throwing stones at stray dogs either to shoo them away or just a fun time to hit and hurt the innocent palindrome of God. For me they are as bad as the infamous Kashmiri stone throwers (Patharbaaz) who furl stones at our Army on duty. It will remain a permanent stigma on the face of a civilized world that we have been all the time ignoring these hapless creatures of the Almighty. O man, let us be little considerate; let us be a little kind to these little wanderers. These small loyalist and loveliest animal kind won’t ever complain of their pain or hunger to anyone but we ought to remember what Emily Dickinson said that: Dogs know but do not tell!
feedbackexcelsior@gmail.com
Follow our WhatsApp channel