THE STREET DOG

  THE STREET DOG  

               

 Ruchi was busy in the kitchen when suddenly she heard hulabaloo
,a kind of loud bickering outside her gate .Suhi ,a lovely ,sixteen years old, coy ,shy and reserve in nature but a street dog lover left everything and ran towards the loud noise as she heard Sheepu crying , crying painfully and bitterly like a child who has been denied a chocolate.

   "Mummy;mummy........come out, come out, look what has happened ?Mummmmmmmeeeee......,"Suhi  shouted at the top of her voice . " Always worried about these street puppies, wasting time and energy....." ."mummeeeeeee...," came a shreiking voice and this time Ruchi who was busy winding up her kitchen work had to leave everything and rush outside to see what the hell had happened ".what's therrrr.......,?," Ruchi was dumbshocked to see sheepu who had been butchered badly by a rash car driver.The compassionate soul, mrs.Sharma was making hue and cry about the hit and run case. Some other dog lovers of their neighbourhood had gathered there to join mrs Sharma in criticising not only their neighbour who had fled the place without trying to even see whether the puppy was alive or dead but the butt of condemnation was Ruchi's mother-in-law also who had turned the puppies out of the adjacent house saying,"enough is enough and the puppies were grown up enough to take care of their own.They should learn to survive in the streets.After all they were street dogs ,meant to live in streets and they should not be allowed to capture somebody's property....chee...these dirty creatures." Mrs Sharma who was running helter and skelter, shouting , cribbing didn't know that Ruchi was standing at her back listening to everything she had been saying.

    Suhi was all in tears when she saw her mother .As Ruchi tried to console Suhi, mrs Sharma saw her and ran to bring a glass of warm turmeric milk .Sharma auntie picked up the injured puppy i.e Sheepu and took it to a side. She tried to feed sheepu with a spoon as Sheepu was not able to bear the pain and was groaning incessantly with unbearable pain. Ruchi loved the puppies, fed them regularly , took them to a vet. whenever they were unwell, even cleaned their poop very often but couldn't dare to pick up Sheepu who was bleeding profusely. She didn't understand whether Sheepu would survive or not.' Ooooooooaaaa...aaoo' ,the howling of Sheepu interrupted her meditation and she saw that Suhi was applying soframycin ointment on the wounds of Sheepu and it was breathing very heavily. She also started complaining to Ruchi, " mumm..ee..ee ,if Sheepu and Tedu had not been thrown out of the house , then Sheepu would not have met this fate. ' Ruchi felt helpless as she had braved her mother-in -law for two and a half months and now she was not ready to accomodate these wretched souls in the veranda of mr .Mohan's house as she was the caretaker of that propery till his nephew came to take the possession of that house . Actually after mr and mrs. Mohan's death , he was the only heir of this property as the couple was childless.

         "Mumm..eeee.", .... sobbed  Suhi and pleaded to give shelter to  Sheepu and Tedu once again in mr. Mohan's house. Ruchi became impulsive and brought the keys from inside. She unlocked the gate  and Suhi picked up the injured Sheepu and took it  inside. She lay it on the rug spread in the veranda. By now Sheepu's continuous groaning and shreiking had turned into occasional whimpering. Perhaps it had started accepting its fate that it was at the mercy of God and  would not be able to move with its  hind legs. ."Mumm...eee.".......,Suhi  shook Ruchi vigorously, " Look what has happened to our Sheepu? Why do the people drive so insanely?  At the top of it, why do they consider street dogs as lifeless souls?Hea....aaart less fellows......!.." her sobbing continued."Do you know who has done this? " ,interrupted Shagun, another lady from neighbourhood ." Whooo..? " inquired all in unison. "It's mr. Verma, mr.  Rohit's tenant."  ''hein....sachhi...?," Sharma auntie almost shouted in disbelief."  Oh how insane ,how unconcerned he is......", everybody started clicking their tongue just condemning mr. Verma but Ruchi was just observing Sheepu helplessly pondering whether it would survive or not. One hour had passed .Auntie and Suhi had made all efforts to reduce Sheepu's pain .Now auntie got up after covering Sheepu with a warm rug and said,' let's move and let it rest .Leave everything to God.' With this everybody started returning back to their cosy abodes and the gate was locked.

      But Suhi couldn't be pacified. "Mummy...why did this happen to Sheepu?  will it survive or not ?Let's take it to doctor tomorrow.....please."  "Suhi.....iiiiii ,control your emotions," Ruchi chided Suhi although she herself was unable to endure this unknown suffering she was going through.  "What can't be cured must be endured. You know these street dogs have to encounter such accidents .If God wills, definitely it would survive. You should relax and go to bed now."  " But will it have to drag and pull itself forever if it survives?" , inquired Suhi with a heavy heart. " It's better if it dies instead of lurching in between" ,suggested his grandmother. "Actually this is the law of nature .Every bitch delivers five to six puppies each time and it delivers umpteen number of times. Think of their number. .If street dogs don't die , they would out  number the  human beings and would bite them to death. So don't brood unnecessarily."   Her grandmother who was devoid of any emotions for animals, specially street dogs,  rubbed salt to the grieving and inconsolable soul of Suhi .Her mother gestured her  to be quiet and avoid any argument.

  That night, both Suhi  and Ruchi couldn't sleep a wink .Both of them kept on listening desolately  to the intermittent wailing of Sheepu, not knowing what to do to relieve Sheepu of his pain.Next morning, both Ruchi and Suhi unlocked the gate to check Sheepu's condition. Both of them could not bear that sight of Sheepu who was languishing in pain.A day ago only, Sheepu had been a jumping jack with white ,furry hair and cute sheep like looks.That's why it had got it's name 'Sheepu'. Both the puppies were unusually cute, chubby, winsome and lovely, unlike their street parteners because of a lot of care  and rich diet ,they had been raised with .They won everybody's heart at the first sight by jumping as high as they could and remain on their hinds for long. Suhit almost broke down seeing Sheepu trying to slither and its white ,fair  skin suddenly turning into dirty one as it's hind part was paralysed.It had become soiled and untidy overnight .But there was one solace that at least Sheepu was alive.Ruchi's heart ached excruciatingly at the harrowing plight of  Sheepu but she bridled her tormenting heart so as to soothe Suhi and assure her that everything would be alright  although in her heart of heart ,she didn't know how would Sheepu survive like that." OOOO.....ooooaawww" , the whimpering of Sheepu , once again made both of them distressed and clueless.

       "Ruchiiiiii...,where are you?," Ruchi's husband came searching for her." What happened? Why are you letting the hell loose?" retorted Ruchi ." Sunny bhaiya has invited us for breakfast .Actually it's babita bhabh's birthday.So get ready soo...ooon ", he stammered as he saw Sheepu whimpering and trying to sllither here and there unable to accept its loss." "Ohhhh..,now it will have to live like that only." " No, papa,we will take it to doctor and get it treated.I believe the Vet. can surely plaster it's fractured bone and it may be able to walk.''  "Okkkk...we will see,first be ready,i'll be back soon with a cake to be presented to bhabhi"  ...saying this Suhi's papa who loved the puppies from a distance ,who felt bad for Sheepu but momentarily and who accepted this merely as an accident which couldn't be avoided,went out towards his car. He didn't take this mishap as a setback. Actually he was a happy go lucky man who believed in enjoying every moment of his life like a carefree bird.Suhi wanted to convince his papa to take an initiative but Ruchi suggested her to be quiet at that time and wait for an appropriate moment to strike the conversation with him.

     Around ten ,all of them reached Sunny bhaiya's house.All of them had a gala time there but Suhi couldn't stop brooding about Sheepu's plight.They returned back in the afternoon and vinay bhaiya's family accompanied them to their home.While they were all relaxing,Suhit again started requesting her father to take  Sheepu to a doctor for checkup. After so much of coaxing, Suhit's father had to relent and they took Sheepu to a nearby Vet. where it was x-rayed many times from different angles and it was diagnosed that Sheepu's hip bone had got fractured and had become crisscross. The only treatment was to get the Surgery done by a renowned vet.,Mr.Barwal, in a nearby town,Karnal .Although the vet. diagnosed Sheepu's situation rightly but he didn't miss the chance to fleece them  inspite of the fact that Sheepu was a street puppy. He didn't hesitate to charge good amount for the diagnosis. But  Suhi  returned back excited because there was a ray of hope for Sheepu's recovery. "Sheepu would be able to walk again if the surgery could be done......." ,Suhi was on cloud nine knowing that a little effort made by her and her family could cure Sheepu.

   That night,before going to bed,calls had been made to the doctor,appointment was fixed for the next day and estimated expenses were calculated.  "Ten thousand!" ,cried Ruchi . "All those concerned neighbours ,your colleagues,my friends  and of course we will contribute .''  "who will look after it after the surgery?How will we protect it from cold?What if someone hits it again?"  ,a volley of questions were fired by Ruchi but nothing could shake Suhi's  faith that everything would be all right. She  immediately framed a message requesting people to donate some amount to save a tormented soul and with a click,  it got forwarded to his friends' group,his mother's friends' group  and also to the neighbours.

  Next day morning ,Sharma  auntie who used to say," Actual worship is not visiting the temples and chanting God's name  ,actual worship is to serve these poor souls, " changed her stance and started saying,'These are street dogs,they would be hit again,then what? we are just retired people,much can't be expected from us.Sharma auntie counseled Suhi  to be wise and let Sheepu survive like that .....bla,bla,bla...." endless number of advices poured in from here and there.But Suhi and Ruchi both were determined to get Sheepu operated. When Ruchi checked her WhatsApp, none of her friends had   responded  but to her utter surprise,Suhit's, hello-high friends had contributed generously for the treatment of poor Sheepu. Ruchi realized how true were Markus Natten's words,'As chilhood vanishes, so does the innocence and with adulthood comes hypocrisy' .She remembered the "thumps up" ,thumped by the members of WhatsApp groups whenever any message to be compassionate popped up in the group .Anyways, Ruchi brushed aside those  thoughts and started getting ready to drive to karnal to get Sheepu operated. 

    Ruchi and Suhi ,accompanied by Arpit, the son of their family friend, drove to karnal with Sheepu after  many confirmations from the doctor that he would be available by 4 pm.Hoping to meet dr.Barwal as soon as they alighted from the car,they all rushed inside the govt. hospital for animals only to find that the doctor had already left for NDRI because his time was up."How callous! How selfish! ", thought Ruchi and felt that their efforts would go in vain.But hardly did she know about the crafted plans of the doctor .As they were about to leave dejected ,they were informed by the doctor's assistant that they could meet the doctor at his private clinic after 5.30 pm.

      Although enraged yet Ruchi decided to find the doctor's clinic. After all a drowning man can even clutch  a straw for survival. After waiting for around two hours, the doctor arrived at his clinic. All the preparations for the surgery had been already done by his  assistant. Within half an hour Sheepu got operated. Ruchi met the doctor but didn't utter a word against his behaviour. Ultimately the doctor showed some concern for the street dog and discounted his fees .Accompanied by an unconscious Sheepu and many instructions from the vet.,all of them returned with an elated heart. When they reached home ,Sharma auntie was really  ecstatic and blessed Ruchi and Suhi generously for saving the life of Sheepu. within a few days,it started moving again under the vigilant supervision of Sharma auntie, Suhi ,her sister and of course Ruchi .Whenever Ruchi and Suhi  saw Sheepu back on its feet,they felt extremely blissful. Ruchi always remembered an old hindi song...'kisi ki muskurahaton pe ho nisar,kisi ka dard mil sake to le udhaar,.......kisi ke vaaste ho tere dil me pyaa...r,jeena isi ka naam hai......'