29th October 2019
In all the cities where i have lived, perhaps Bhopal is my favorite, because i grew, as a person, and experimented with different things. But that's another story for another time.
Now, wherever i go, i have this indulgence of adopting stray dogs, who are an integral part of India. You will find them everywhere, sometimes cared and sometimes shooed off unnecessarily by people. No, they are so dirty...they bite... I am like, excuse me human, have you ever looked at yourself ? You disgusting piece of s**t ? Shooing off a harmless animal just for your entertainment ? Well, what i mean by adopting is that actually they adopt me. At one point of time, i actually used to hate dogs and was petrified by them, but that was a long long time back. Now, as per universe's rule, stray dogs end up with me, call it law of attraction, so to speak.
And i am used to giving them weird names like Murali, Sharada...well Sharada was a cat. Tojo, Jordan, Simran and now Appu Kuttan in Bhopal. I couldn't think of a cuter name for him, "Kuttan" is often a nickname in south indian houses, so my roots must have instructed me somehow to name him that.
So i used to live in a bungalow in a posh society called Rivera Town. In a shared house, where two of my housemates where almost permanently absent from the city, Appu Kuttan came as a companion, one day, outside my gate, and i just fed him two rotis. Gradually, Appu Kuttan made the porch of my house his permanent residence, and i started keeping a bowl of water for him during hot summer days. Appu Kuttan was cute, no doubt, but as the time passed, i got to see his angry and timid sides as well. Appu Kuttan used to follow me till the society gate in the morning, when i would catch the bus to the university, and never went outside the society gate, for he knew his boundaries. He knew that the world outside is dangerous. So, this one day, i was going for my evening smoke and Chai, to the nearby dhaba, and all my efforts to send him back from the society gate went in vain. I crossed the main road to reach the other side, and he followed me. After i had my tea, i started walking back home, and this poor guy was so petrified while crossing the road, that i had to carry him in my arms like a child. He never crossed the main gate again.
One day, in the morning, the janitor came to collect the garbage and Appu Kuttan got hold of the poor woman's saree, and tore it. That's when things began to get serious. As much as i was feeling sorry for the woman, the situation was hilarious, for he never bit me. I think in his own, cute way, he was trying to protect me from intruders.
One fine day in winters, i was reading a book, curled up in blanket, and i heard a loud barking and the helpless sounds of a man, he had come from the electricity office to note down the reading for that month. Appu Kuttan tore his pant.
"Bhaisaab, yeh kutta aapka hai ? "
"Haan, aisa hi samajh lijiye, isne mujhe apna samajh liya hai, yahin rehta hai".
The third incident, was a bad one, i was sleeping on a Sunday morning, getting late for my music class, and i heard screams of a woman from downstairs, i rushed outside to find my maid screaming in agony, holding her leg, and Appu Kuttan guiltily looking at me in his usual cute manner, as if all the innocence of this world had been accumulated into the divine body of this white canine.
Well, thankfully there was no incident after this, but by then, the society people had become annoyed by the poor creature. I left for vacations back home, when i came back, Appu Kuttan was gone. Later i came to know that it was thrown out of the society, by calling some people from Municipality. I felt really guilty, and helpless that instead of helping a poor dog, people choose to just kick it away. I was at fault too, for i could have contacted some dog shelter, and asked them to take it away.
Later, i moved from that society, but visited it because a friend stayed there, i searched for Appu Kuttan, but obviously, he was nowhere to be found.
Wherever you are buddy, hope you are happy.
"Appu Kuttan"
