Dog House: (English)
Short Story; Author: Deepak Budki
Translator: J L Bhat
Right from my childhood, I had a deep aversion to
pet animals. The fact is that in my early school days, I had read a story of a
pet dog and a wild wolf who were friends. The pet dog lived in his master's
house where he was looked after very well while the wild wolf lived in an open
forest. One day the dog told his friend about the comforts available to him in
his master’s house. He told him that his master loved him much and took great
care of him. He slept on a comfortable sofa in an air-conditioned room and
was given special delicious foods to eat which included fresh bony mutton
almost every day. In the event of falling ill, he was given specialized
treatment in a dog hospital.
The wolf heard him patiently and said after
heaving a deep sigh. “You are very lucky to live in such a house with a kind
person as your master. My life is very hard. I face all vagaries of nature like
rain and snow all year round. To fill my stomach I’ve to put my life at risk
daily following my prey and am often compelled to pass many days without food.”
“Ah! Your life is really very hard and risky. I
suggest you also learn to be more gentle and docile and also learn obedience to
a master as I do.”
While the wolf was talking to his friend,
suddenly he caught sight of the collar around the neck of his friend, the dog.
He asked, “What is this that you are wearing around your neck, I never noticed
it before?”
“Nothing extraordinary, it's just a collar. My
master puts a chain in it whenever he takes me out for a walk in the morning or
when he wants me to stay put at a place. It’s nothing, not of any importance;
I’m free to do whatever I wish to ----.”
“Oh, no, my friend! It means you are a slave to
the wishes of your master, not free. I spit on such a life that is bound by the slavery of someone else. Friend, I am happy at my place. To me, a few days of
freedom are far better than a hundred years of slavery. I never like to enjoy
the comforts of life as you do, I am fine as I am.”
The dog was dumbfounded by the oratory of his
friend, the wolf. He had no words in reply to the bare truth of life. He ran
instantly to the comforts of his master’s house absorbed in deep thought.
From that day on I resolved never to put an
animal or a bird in captivity for my pleasure or any other purpose whatsoever.
It always pained me to see caged animals or birds on sale by the roadside, in
malls, or in the house of my friends. I always wished to see them all free and
enjoy their freedom as we wish for ourselves.
But with advancing age, lots of compromises have
to be made. My children were aware of my preference for the freedom of animals and
would never think of pampering to their own taste by keeping a pet animal or a
bird in their home. Unfortunately, this inflexibility came under pressure
when I went out on an official tour for about a week.
Taking advantage of my absence, my son, an
employed adult, went on a holiday in the hills with his girlfriend, now his
wife. During the journey, he stopped his car near a wayside eatery to have some
tea and get refreshed for further travel. Meanwhile, his friend caught sight of
a litter of newborn puppies surrounding their mother. She got so madly
attracted to them that she earnestly suggested to her friend to request the
owner to part with one of the puppies and take it home for rearing it.
“Oh no, Dad is deadly against keeping pets at
home, he would in no circumstances allow it!”
“You see how cute these small creatures are! They
seem to be of a good breed. Please manage his displeasure anyway! You have got a big
house, keep this little thing for my sake.”
My son had no option but to succumb to the wishes
of his sweetheart and the puppy reached my home the same evening, though in my
absence.
The next day morning my son called me on my cell to
first ask my welfare and then to deliver the tidings of a new arrival at our
home.
“What....!!” I cried at the top of my voice, “You
know I dislike keeping animals in detention. It is sheer injustice to them. Do
one thing at the earliest. Take it back wherefrom you have picked it up, that’s
final.”
“Dad! That’s two hundred kilometres from here.
How can I travel such a distance again? The pup is so cute; you’ll love to keep
it once you see it.”
The wheel of time had turned full circle. I had
reached the stage in life where one is obligated to make compromises one
would never think of before; be it a cherished ideal or a belief close to one’s
heart. As such, I suppressed my anger
and chose not to argue further with my son.
On reaching home, I showed no resentment and
reluctantly took on with the new arrival in my house. The little dog was really
cute and seemed to be of a good breed. It was given the name Tiger though it
came to light later on that it was a Rottweiler, a breed that is very
aggressive and because of its belligerent behaviour, it is banned for raring at
home in many western countries.
Soon Tiger became an important member of our
family and it also seemed to grow very fast. Within a year or so Tiger grew
into quite a big animal with a very fearful countenance, though very docile to
every family member especially me. In the case of an outsider, it was very
aggressive and didn’t bear his or her presence in the house. A lot of care was
taken not to expose him to strangers within or without the house, yet in a few
year's time, it had injured not less than half a dozen of them for intrusion into
the house or touching my son which he thought was an attempt to attack him.
In total contrast to my earlier negative tendency
about pets, I very soon got much proximity to Tiger and soon it took a very
important place of affection both in my home as well as my heart. I now fed him
myself very affectionately and took him to a vet clinic whenever the need arose. It
also responded with great love; often rolled around my legs and sat mostly
around me and more often in my lap.
Now, once it came about that we had to attend the wedding ceremony of the son of my nearest relation at Jammu and we were all
obliged to urgently attend all their ceremonies. It meant clearly that we had
to keep our house locked for at least a week till we returned.
Everything was fine, but where to keep Tiger all
these days was a question to which I found no answer. It could neither be kept
in the house of a neighbour or a relative nor locked up in our own house. Finding
no solution I asked my son about it. He had a hearty laugh and responded
in a very light tone, “That’s no problem, Dad, the times have changed, we have a solution to every problem these days, especially in big cities,”
“I’m worried about Tiger, tell me, where to keep
him safe all these days?!”
“Oh Dad, you get worried over trifles. There’s
nothing serious about it. There are many Dog Houses in the city where people
can keep their pets whenever they are out of their houses for a long time. They
charge some money and keep the pets very nicely. They’ve veterinary doctors and
other specialists with them so it is no problem. I’ll look for one near to our
locality and talk to them.”
So on the day before we were scheduled to leave
for Jammu, my son took Tiger to a nearby Dog care home called 'Dog House' and left him there. I, in my
heart of hearts, felt much concern for Tiger thinking all the time about him.
How the people there might be looking after him? Whether they would be taking
care of him properly, feeding him well, and above all, he must be missing us all
terribly. These were the questions that teased me all the way to our
destination and during our stay there. So I anxiously waited for the day of our
return so that Tiger gets back to his home safe and sound. Gradually I began to
understand that the bonds of care can sometimes be stronger than the bonds of
blood.
After about a week we were back home. Before
doing anything else my son rushed to the Dog House to fetch Tiger and in less
than an hour, Tiger was with us. On meeting us all his joy seemed to know no
bounds and the same was with us too. I began to examine Tiger from all sides to
see how much weak he has grown in our absence. It seemed to me he must have
skipped many meals while missing us. Instantly I moved out to the butcher to
get some bony meat for him. In a couple of days, our routine with Tiger was
restored and everything was normal with us.
With this experience, Tiger had to be kept in the
Dog House many a time whenever we moved out for a holiday in the hills or some
wedding at some relative in Jammu, Pune, or Bengaluru.
In this way, life moved on. Eight years passed by.
Tiger had grown old. It had lost its earlier glow and agility. Its responses
and quickness to comprehend things had also reduced and it showed little
interest in eating now.
Again, in order to attend a ceremony in Pune, we
left Tiger in the Dog House as usual and left for Pune. While we were busy in
the affairs there we got a call from the owner of the Dog House informing us that
Tiger had suddenly taken ill seriously and had to be shifted to the Pet
Hospital. All of us feeling very concerned for Tiger cut short our visit and
returned immediately to find Tiger in a very serious condition. We were
informed it had developed a tumour in its brain and had to be operated on soon for
its removal. I was especially moved on seeing the condition of Tiger who had
reduced to a skeleton and looked very keenly into my eyes seeking my help in his
critical condition. Immediately Tiger was moved to the operation theatre for
surgery. In an hour or so we were informed that Tiger couldn’t survive the
surgery and breathed his last on the operation table itself.
It was a real tragedy as we had lost a very
important member of our family. The impact of this event remained for a long
time with all of us especially me. I missed Tiger very much and occasionally
felt his presence here and there in the house which welled tears in my eyes.
Whenever I heard some dog bark at a distance I always felt that it was Tiger calling me.
Many a time my son suggested to me to get another
pet dog in the house so that it would compensate for the absence of Tiger but I
refused entirely because on the one hand, I was dejected over the death of Tiger and
on the other, we were living now in a flat where we humans had to live in a
cramped condition and keeping a pet was quite an impossibility.
The clock went on ticking and the time passed on
unnoticeably! I had retired from my
service for more than fifteen years now and my health conditions had
deteriorated considerably. Not only my movements had become difficult but my eyesight and hearing also got worse. I had become completely dependent and had
to seek help in almost everything. Gradually I was becoming a burden on my
children and as such, I wished to have an early end of my life. But the more I
wished to die, the more Death seemed to ignore me.
One evening suddenly I overheard the conversation
between my son and his wife in another room.
My daughter-in-law was saying,” The wedding of my
sister’s daughter is going to be held in Bengaluru next month. We all will have
to attend.”
“Okay, what’s the problem? Let us plan our travel
as you suggest!” replied my son.
“I want us to extend our tour by some days more and
visit some important places around Bengaluru like Mysore, Ooty, Kodaikanal, etc.
I’ve already planned our trip for fifteen days as I want to have elaborate
sightseeing with children who would surely enjoy greatly.”
“That’s fantastic, give me details of your plan
and accordingly, I’ll book air travel and hotel bookings!”
“But there is a problem!” said my daughter-in-law
rather hesitatingly.
“What problem, I don’t see any!”
“What to do about Papa, he is so weak and needs
help in everything? We can’t take him along nor can we keep him here alone?”
My son stopped a while and said later on, “You
are right but I’ve got a solution. He can be kept in an old age home during these
days. There are some good old homes in the city where such old people are kept
for some time or even permanently. They take very good care of such oldies. I’ll
soon find out one where we can keep Papa for a fortnight or even more.
And before they left for Bengaluru I was put in
one of the reputed old homes of the city, 'Special Care Old Age Home'. It was a
painful and melancholic experience. Alone by myself! No one around. Every face
around a stranger, every word uttered artificially and every action mechanical.
During the days of my stay at home, every moment I remembered Tiger. How he would have missed his home and members of the family and how he must have passed his days there away from all of us.
***
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