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A Pet of Mine

Around 6 years ago, after I had completed my 10th board exams, I had gone to Mumbai with my brother and mom to visit my dad. We had stayed there for around two weeks during April. We boarded an evening flight back to Chennai and reached home late at night. I unlocked the gate and stepped in. The car was parked between the gate and the door of the house. I walked beside the car and turned the outside lights on. Then, I heard noises from under the car.


It was a puppy. It scurried out from under the car and ran out of the gate. I was surprised as it wasn’t something I had expected. I quickly turned to my mom and gave a wide smile. She retorted by asking me to open the door quickly. She wasn’t very fond of the idea of keeping a pet. That night was a mixed bag, because I was missing my dad a lot and wondered if that puppy would come back the next day.


The next morning, the puppy did come back. But it was badly injured. Its hip had been dislocated and struggled to walk properly. Moreover, the other dogs on the street had been chasing it and trying to bite. She landed right at my house again, and took shelter under the car after squeezing herself through the gates. I was quite happy to see the puppy come back home. It meant I could take care of her, and finally realize a long-time dream of having a pet dog.


But mom had other plans. We came to a compromise to take care of the puppy as long as it didn’t enter the house. I did not name the puppy and I don’t remember why I didn’t. It was a female puppy. I made her comfortable right outside the gate, where she could sleep in the tree’s shade and walk around near the house. I fed her biscuits and milk regularly because she looked really frail and weak. Slowly, she started gaining mass and began to look healthy. Staying right outside the gate most of the time, she would bark (more like yap) at anybody she didn’t know who was approaching the house. Big dogs never scared her anymore; she made the road segment in front of my house as her territory. They were growled and barked at, whenever they tried to make a move coming close to her or the house. Soon the other dogs learned to not mess around nor trouble her and often ignored her presence.


In almost a month, she managed to recover and her hip was almost normal again. Since it was after boards and the middle of summer, I didn’t have to worry about not seeing her. She had also grown a lot since I had first seen her under the car. The next few days had gone almost uneventful, where I’d usually pet her or play with her until my mom saw it and would scold me.


One morning, I saw the puppy walk on the road like she usually would, sniffing around and exploring. After some time, either mom or my brother had called me to check on her. She was limping and struggling to walk. She ended up with the same hip injury again. I suspected that a car had hit her while she’d been walking. It saddened me a lot and I was desperate to get her treated. I had called up Blue Cross and requested them to send their ambulance to take her and get her treated. They refused saying they don’t bring the ambulance for puppies and its usually for adult dogs. Somehow, I had convinced them to bring the ambulance and it came roughly an hour later. We got her into the cage safely and the ambulance rode away with her to the Blue Cross Society. I never got to hear about her again.


I do not remember how long she had been with us. The last few days had been bleak for me and I decided to write about something that would cheer me up. Dogs were an obvious choice that put a smile on my face everytime I’d talk about them. So I decided to write about her, I don’t remember much about her. Neither did I photograph everything she did, like an excited pet owner. I’m atleast grateful to these two photographs I have of her –

Ignore the cringy watermark – 6 years ago, I thought it was cool to brand myself ssquare


Skandha

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