Stray Astray

I saw it for the first time on a Saturday evening. I had missed my pranayam in the morning and I thought, I could do it up on the terrace in the evening when the sun rays were milder on my skin. The clear sky was still my favourite blue and a gentle breeze was flowing through the mahilam tree that had golden yellow flowers blooming. 3rd std M - the boy who liked to dress up like gal and calls himself Lousiana, followed up stairs to the terrace as I sat to start my pranayam. With him was a brown dog. He had johnson’s baby shampoo and was pouring mugs of water on it and giving instructions to his jimmy with his wonderful hi-fi accent. I was amused to have company after a long Saturday of washing clothes and reading fiction and cooking a sole kadamba meal and eating all by myself after my roomie had vacated.

My eyes were still closed, when I felt something wet on my fingers. Jimmy was licking up my fingers. I got up and stood and it got between my legs and behind me to escape M. He was putting an orange blanket on it and trying to GodKnowsWhat do something to it. He asked, shall I throw it down? He is a cute little kid. I saw he was feeding the dog cashews and some biscuits. But he was like ordering it a bit too much. He had named it jimmy. He was like hitting it a bit too much. Kids never know what they are doing. Finally exasperated after all this jabberings, I asked him, how would he feel if, he were to be thrown from the terrace which was at the 3rd floor. He then dragged jimmy with the blanket down and that was it. I finished my pranayam and answered all calls under the beautiful sky.

2 days later, I heard a howling sound. I could not sleep that morning. It was 4 am kind and jimmy was howling its throat out. It reminded me of the nights post May 15 2007, when dogs howled past midnight till early mornings and gave me nightmares. I called up mom and disturbed her sleep as well, whining, how much this howling sound ate me alive. That night, I investigated and found jimmy was on the first floor junkyard. I had no gas over oven then. So I went out and got it a bun. The next day, I conveniently forgot about it. His ears and rear end were kinda infected. So our doctor uncle had asked his weekender grandson not to go anywhere near it. But for me, my sleep was sacrosanct. I would have done anything to stop it howling and crying at nights. So it started that way. Somehow, later, I could not eat my breakfast or dinner, if I had not given it something. My weekends out of station were full of remorse for having left jimmy to starve. So everyday, it was plain old bread and mixed fruit jam and water.

Later, I got the oven and filled gas, made extra rice and chappathi. It ate anything and everything. I checked with my cubicle mate, what dogs ate. I made it milk rice with sugar or chappathi with sugar and milk. Since, my down floor neighbour back home had told that sweety’s hair fell, if she was given salty food. Later when folks came home to stay for couple of days, mom and my chithi, used to admonish me stating, I should not bring jimmy’s bowl inside the house. It used to be always up there in that junkyard. It would wag its tail furiously and scratch its wonderful parts out and shake itself, when I was near it. It never came down the junkyard. But my 1st floor neighbour didn’t like it there. At times, it was prudent, it would throw the empty bowl down stairs, so that I don’t have to climb up and down and fill it with food.

All my neighbours wanted to shoo it away. But it never moved out anywhere. At times, it would bark at night and I would switch on the lights and see some shadow moving out hurriedly. Some times, when I opened the door, it would be waiting there patiently. Whenever, I went out, it would make so many pranks, running about for a short distance in a semicircle and then coming back, running and then again coming back. I decided not to talk to it, because, my neigbhours would hear it and say something. The other day, the opposite block neighbours were pouring buckets of water through the window to make it go away. To my knowledge, it howled only once that early morning. After that it was just stray barking, if someone came near the gate. But my neighbours kept complaining that the dog was howling the whole night. I checked with my dad and mom to see, if I had missed the howling sound, while I was asleep. They said, no it didn’t howl. There were at least 5-6 street dogs in our area. But jimmy was the leanest, diseased. Thought it got comparatively better now. I could not bear corporation folks killing it. But then, I have just this week. Who would take care of it, after I vacate? Blue cross? Then what about the other stray dogs? This morning, it enthusiastically accompanied me till BDA while I went for morning walk with dad on the railway parallel road. It gave me a gentle hit with its nose on my left calf against my jeans. Again, it gave me company till I boarded the office bus at 8:15. I really wonder, how it managed to cross 3 roads full of fast traffic and still follow me.

I can not take care of it till it is alive. No pets are allowed in the hostel. But is it bad to feed it while you can? Am I stealing its street smartness? But why does it not move away, even after I have long since stopped talking to it? What after this week?