Swara woke up with a grin on her face. Her childhood friend Rahul was coming to her town on official work. Thanks to social media, they had reconnected. Rahul was her mischief partner in childhood. It had been years and she was looking forward to meeting him for lunch that day. She finished all her work and called Rahul. He told her he’d pick her up in an hour. Swara thought she could use the time to sit down and write.
“Hey there!
This episode is going to be about me and dogs! No, I am not talking about my pet, though as a kid I always wanted a puppy. This one is rather strange. It is about how I got chased by many dogs, twice in the same month, when I was a child.
I was in the first standard. It was winter, evenings were pleasant, so we walked back home from school. I always walked at a faster pace than my mom and sister and got home first. Then I would sit on the front porch waiting for them to reach. This was the routine.
This evening too, I reached first. The gate was closed and as usual, I wriggled under the gate to get inside the compound. Being puny I could squeeze myself easily through the narrow space between the gate and the ground. I found pleasure in doing that every day! We had a spacious courtyard. On entering, I was flabbergasted to see 4 or 5 stray dogs in our compound!
I froze for a moment looking at the ferocious dogs and then screamed. Seeing me, the dogs came running towards me, barking. I took off in an instant, running all around the front yard, yelling hysterically, the dogs tailing me! Hearing my screams , a couple of our neighbours jumped into our compound and shooed the dogs away. My mom and sister reached our gate soon and they were astounded to see what had happened. The whole neighborhood had gathered by then. I was shivering and sobbing. My parents had a tough time consoling me. For a few days, I refused to go alone outside the house fearing those dogs would come after me again!
Ironically, within a month, another incident happened. My uncle and family visited us unexpectedly. I was very close to my cousin Neha and we were almost the same age . Since we were running short of milk, mom sent both of us to get milk. Our milkman had a small hotel very close to my house and we were supposed to go there & buy milk. We both went, hand in hand, laughing merrily, completely lost in our worlds.
Since it was early evening, the main gate to the hotel was closed. We promptly took the side gate, which was also the entry gate to their house. Little did we know that their humongous Alsatian was unleashed. As soon as we entered, he started barking and came after us. My cousin and I, both scurried. I ran for my life, my previous brush with the dogs still afresh in my memory. I stumbled upon a rock and fell. The dog jumped right over me to chase after Neha.
Poor Neha, she was still running, she too fell on the thorny bamboo fence surrounding the milkman’s backyard and a thorn from the fence pierced her. Meanwhile, this commotion alerted my milkman, who called his dog back and soon everything was back to normal. They comforted us saying their dog does not bite! I was a kid, still did I believe that? No way! We were both crying and the milkman dropped us home. He narrated this incident and he had a difficult time convincing and assuring our parents that the injuries we had sustained weren’t his dog’s bite or scratch of its paw. My knee was hurt too, from the fall.
After this second incident, I completely stopped going out alone as I always feared a dog was out there somewhere waiting to pounce on me! I guess it took me a couple of months to get back to normal.
I ought to mention yet another incident here now! After I got married, I was in Delhi for a friend’s wedding. They had a dog – a German Shepherd. He was very friendly, playing with all of us and I finally mustered the courage to pat him. I had this sudden urge to feel his nose! This irritated him and he snapped at me. Scared, I quickly pulled my hand but his teeth brushed the index finger of my right hand leading to a lot of blood oozing out. He was vaccinated, so I didn’t have to take any injection, but yes, I had to take a tetanus injection for sure! I didn’t enjoy the wedding as I was in pain. (The tetanus shot, administered on the muscle, hurts)
I can never accept the idea of owning a dog. I won’t say I’m still scared of them, but dogs remind me of these three incidents. I do love puppies, but from a distance!
Well, that’s all for now. See you soon”
It was time for Swara to dress up and leave.
