Ignoring his mother’s admirations, Mayank had dashed outside to investigate. Sure enough, there was a cute, fat, mud-coloured puppy, crouching near the gate. It must have crept into their house from underneath.
Mayank fell in love with it instantly. It had a moist, black nose, and liquid brown eyes. There was something so wholesome and attractive about it. The boy let out a shout of joy as he tried to get closer to it. His mind was racing. How would he convince his parents to keep this dog? After all it was stray dog, however cute it might be. A wave of anxiety swept through his mind. But he liked the pup so much. With renewed determination he began to call out to it. Somehow, he would convince his mother and father. As an only child, he knew his advantages.
“Doggy, doggy, doggy… here, here, Aa jao,” Mayank called. But the dog ran in the opposite direction. It scampered into the garage and hid under the car, tail between its legs. When Mayank edged nearer, it began to whine loudly. Mayank got down on all fours to get a glimpse of the pup. There it was, lurking under the radiator. Again, he called out to it. This time he thought of a name, the first one that came to his mind – “Tommy, Tommy, Tommy, come here, come…” he called.
But the dog refused. Mayank reached out under the car to try to touch it. It shrank away and moved further back. Mayank felt hurt and disappointed. He wondered what to do. Then he had a brain wave. “It’s probably hungry. It needs food. F-O-O-D. Why didn’t I think of that before?” the wondered.
In he went, running to his mother. “Mummy, Mummy, may I please have a slice of bread? There’s a beautiful puppy outside and he’s very hungry.” Mayank’s mother paused for a moment before replying: “There you go again, chasing pups and kittens. Why don’t you let them alone? Once you start feeding them, they’ll come every day. I don’t want a nuisance in my house.” Mayank used all his persuasive skills to plead with his mother. “Please, Mummy, just want him to have a little bit of bread before he is driven away.”
Still muttering her disapproval, his mother gave him a slice. Then on a generous impulse, she also gave him a couple of glucose biscuits. “Here, try these on him. But don’t be too long, okay? Your father will be coming back any minute.” Mayank’s mother was loving, yet strict enough not to let her son get spoiled. Though she instinctively disapproved of Mayank’s latest adventure with the stray pup, she let him go ahead. “Perhaps he’ll learn something,” she thought to herself. “Certainly, it’s not wrong to love animals and plants. It makes children sensitive.”
So Mayank got his way. Armed with the tempting snacks, he made a renewed bid on the pup. He called it many names, even “Tiger”, he threw little crumbs of the biscuits and bread in front of it. The puppy went round and round the car, always moving as far away from the child as possible. It ignored the food.
The shadows lengthened. Dusk fell. Mayank had been trying to make friends with the pup for nearly two hours. He felt tired dispirited. The dog had rejected all his advances. And he had tried so hard. What was baffling was that a stray dog was spurning food, love, and shelter. What was its future going to be? It would roam around like other stray dogs – fed occasionally but most often kicked and insulted. What a life!
Finally, Mayank gave up. Quietly, he went inside. Going to his room, he gently shut the door behind him. He took out his homework but found that he couldn’t study. His mother noticed him going in but didn’t stop him. She had guessed that his adventure with the puppy hadn’t quite taken off, though she didn’t know exactly what had gone wrong. She thought it best not to broach the topic just yet. Children don’t like to be reminded of their failures, she knew.
No matter how hard he tried to forget the pup, Mayank’s mind kept wandering back to it. Why had it behaved that way? Why did it refuse to eat? Why was it always trying to run away from him? He felt upset and confused. Somehow he managed to go through his homework but his mind was uneasy. He was on the verge of tears.
Just then his mother opened the door. It was time for dinner. His father had already come back. He had changed, had his cup of tea and the usual chat with Mummy. Now both of them were waiting for him. Mayank quickly controlled himself.
His mother gave him a kiss and both of them went to the drawing room silently. Mayank’s father was in his early forties, a fairly successful executive in a large company. He was a great reader of books and had a warm, sensitive face. He instantly welcomed Mayank and stroked his hair affectionately. “What’s the matter? Why are you looking so glum?” he asked.
Mayank didn’t say anything for a while. His mother gently broached the subject of the stray dog. Then Mayank found himself opening up to his father, telling him about his experience in great detail. Mayank’s father looked thoughtful. At last he said, “If you are so much for the dog, let’s go out and look for it.” Mayank let out a squeal of joy. Mayank’s father took a flashlight just in case and they turned on all the lights outside. The three of them looked everywhere in their small yard and under the car, in the garage. At last they were convinced that the dog had disappeared, perhaps going out the same way it came, from under the gate.
The whole outing ended in an anti-climax. But it served to bring them closer together. They sat down to dinner, ate quietly, reflecting on the episode of the reluctant pup. Mayank thought about why he wanted the dog so badly. It was not just to give it a home but also for the pleasure of owning it. He wanted somebody he could love exclusively. This didn’t make him feel very good about himself.
Mayank’s father said: “You know, son, you had your own reasons for wanting to help the dog. But the dog had other plans. Perhaps it could not discriminate between the possibility of a secure home and the prospect of being a stray dog for the rest of its life. In any case, you cannot automatically assume that your plans for the pup were better that its plans, for itself.”
It was left to Mayank’s mother to have what she thought must surely be the last word. “Some dogs prefer to remain strays. We must allow them to go their way, while we go ours.”
Mayank heard but his soul was restless.
“You mean that we don’t have the power even to do good to others against their will? That they have the freedom even to destroy themselves while we watch helplessly? Then this world must indeed be a very cruel place.”
Startled and silent, the two parents looked upon their only child with concern. Instead of an innocent boy’s recognition, they found a kindred, adult gaze being returned to them.
Makarand Parajape
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