Stray dogs – Are they our best friends?

Stray dogs  

Are they man's best friends? 

 

Exactly six weeks are left for the Bangalore NGOs involved in the programme to combat stray dogs to file an action-taken report  to the High Court as advised by the division bench headed by Chief Justice Vikramajit Sen. 

Deadline is September 27

Status as on date…. 

The other day, in the afternoon, I stepped out the Café that I visit regularly, to take a nicotine break from my laptop keyboard. A school bus stopped and offloaded a boy, ten years old or so. His home was just a few steps away, a hundred metres, at the most. He surprised me by coming to me – a complete stranger – with pleading eyes, “Uncle, could you walk with me upto my gate?”

Another incident I vividly remember occurred, also a few days back. This was a pretty – thirty or about – lady, dressed in a dignified saree. As she was parking the scooty at the kerb, a few familiar strays wanted to make a sport of her. Scared, she stepped backward tripped over her bike and fell with her splaying legs pointed skyward.

A few weeks ago, I was on my way to the club for an early morning tee-off. There was this gentle old man who had come recently to live with his son, who has a flat in our block. He was a retired professor from Calicut University, whose wife had recently passed away. A teacher respected by generations of pupils. He was running towards my car, in his underwear, his traditional mundu was snatched away by dogs. I took him back to the basement car park, gave him a pair of my trousers from my duffel and walked the frail old man to his flat.

All these incidents occurred in front of my eyes, a good strike rate for our best friends that prowl the street.

I love dogs.

We always had a string of them at home. I played with them, shared my thoughts with them and cried when they departed. But when these incidents occurred, I was overcome by rage, at these affronts to human dignity, and felt like Atticus Finch in the novel, To Kill a Mocking Bird, stepping out of his home with a shotgun.

Like many Bangaloreans, I will also wait, for the deadline given by the court, and earnestly hope that the NGOs come with a report, not another excuse requesting us to ‘svalpaa adjust maadi’. 

Until then have a few laughs, friends, read my earlier post, a short story – “The Day of the Dog”

http://saipapineni.blogspot.in/2012/07/day-of-dog.html