A Dog’s Life, Chapter 2

This is in continuation of the story about Tomy and Koonchu, the two street dogs in my colony.

Koonchu has become very close to me and I also had a soft corner for her. We used to have a lot of fun and there are many funny incidents which happened between us.

These dogs are also intelligent creatures and have feelings and emotions. They really understand things very nicely and are also clever. Everyday I used to give Koonchu chapatis (a traditional Indian bread made from wheat flour and water). Since these street dogs are never fed nicely and are never served anything freshly cooked, they always welcome what they get. These chapatis are very simple and tasteless, even we humans don’t eat it directly, we always take it with some spicy vegetable curry or anythings else. But given to dogs or cows, they immediately take it and sometimes pull from your hand. They mix the dry bread with their saliva and enjoy the taste.

I felt a little bad as giving the same thing again and again to her everyday where I enjoy different types of food back on dining table with family. So I decide to also give her some biscuits and crackers along with the bread. This change was very good and she welcomed it with great pleasure. She cannot speak or show any gesture of thankfulness, but I read a feeling of thanks and gratitude in her glittering eyes. That day she sat on our house gate the whole night, with her body pressed against the gate. In morning when I opened the door to come outside and take some fresh air, she on seeing me quickly get up and started waging her tail. This was very sweet. Ofcourse in morning I didn’t had the bread, so I just brought biscuits and crackers for her.

My mom complained, “those things are for us and not for dogs”. I just smiled at her and went outside to give Koonchu Biscuits. On seeing me, she was very excited and started wagging her tail very quickly and I could also notice her watering mouth. Her husband Tomy was also not there at that time, so she can enjoy the good stuff alone.

Thus everyday from then I used to give her not just chapatis but also biscuits and crackers. And yes I can’t be unfair, I used to give these things not just to Koochu but also to Tomy. Now they no more fight and understand the needs of each other nicely. Koonchu get used to this new change. So whenever I used to come with only chapatis, she never used to eat it. I have to persuade her very much in order to make her eat it. I used to put the chapati close to her mouth, infact touching her mouth so that she accept it. She used to turn her head this way and that way, left and right in order to not to eat it. Since they cannot speak and don’t want to show anger, so its a very polite and cute way of saying no. After being fed up of me doing this activity of putting the bread at her mouth, she slowly accept it and take it very softly from my hand but then put it at the ground and started looking at me. Her looks were very expressive, she never used to look at be directly. If I’m standing on her side, she would keep the face straight and every now and then keep turning her eyes to see what I’m doing. I understood what she wanted, so I went in and brought the Biscuits. She was extremely happy that at last she made me understand what she wanted.

Sometimes I used to tease her also. I used to bring both chapatis and biscuits form kitchen, but by the time I approach her at the gate I used to separate the two and hold them in different hands. I then used to offer chapati first, to she how she behaves. She used to smell the chapati all over the surface and in the end used to sniff hard and stand there watching my expressions. Again she would keep the face straight and would look at me by turning her eyes. This was really cute, after few seconds, I would bring in front my second hand in which I was holding the biscuits.

Her eyes would glitter and tail would wage, and with a watery tongue she would take.

To be Continued …