Sunday 10 January, 2016

Help Always comes to Those Who Seek It

It is sad to see street dogs on one hand - scrawny, unloved and hungry - and well bred pet dogs on the other who are pampered and obese. If you are looking for cute appearance, loving and friendly nature, and a playful mate in your pet dog, then I do not see why stray Indie dogs can be any less than the usual foreign breeds. 

Few days ago, during the Christmas time I was filled with unprecedented determination to do something for the humble stray dogs near my society. On Facebook I got in touch with people who provided coats for dogs at very subsidized and unbelievably low prices. I am a student, and had recently earned some money with online content writing, and I used that to buy some coats. Those people did not deliver coats as it is not a commercial venture. And their area was not in immediate reach of metro. I am very thankful to my father who gave me a ride till their place and back home, even though he was running very late for some official work.

So I had the coats, but the main task was yet to begin. For two days I faced a problem asking nearby friends to help me put the coat on dogs. I had been bitten by a pet dog in my childhood, and had been cautious since then in dealing with unfamiliar dogs. I gave one coat to the watchmen of my society who befriend a street dog. I am very thankful to them for putting on the coat on him. One night I bumped into a girl from my society who had been out of station for many years for higher studies. I was jubilant to find her, and I wasted no time to ask her to accompany me to the big DDA park outside our society where a mother-doggie was staying with her three puppies. She had readily agreed!



On Christmas, I went with her to the doggie to clothe her. It was then that we found a young couple playing with the pups. They had already brought two large earthen bowls for this doggie family. We spoke to them a little and went ahead with our task of clothing the mother doggie. My friend was brave and we were sufficiently successful in our attempt. The next day when I went with milk for the mother-doggie I again got a chance to meet the woman we met the previous day with her husband.



I learnt that they were there for a few days at her parents' place in a neighbouring society, and soon they would be back to their home in Uttarakhand. I exchanged numbers with her in my bid to seek some help in clothing more dogs. However the following day I was to face something unexpected. I found a puppy bleeding profusely from the nose, just outside my society's gate. His mother-doggie was crying too. I tried to pick up the puppy but I was unable to as he kept running away in pain. This happened in the middle of the road. There were mobile cars while I was running around the puppy or halting the cars with my hand to protect him,

From nowhere a guy came and asked what I wanted to do. He was heading to the metro station. but he stopped, held the puppy and accompanied me to a vet a kilometre from where we were. He was at his feet once the puppy started getting care from the doctor. It was very kind of him. I do not knowanythong about him, not even his name. I appreciate a lot what he did for the puppy. As this was a commercial vet, he suggested me to take the pup to this charitable veterinary hospital in Noida. Now I was unable to get an NCR auto, nor did I have an android phone to hail a cab.  I called the woman I met in park, and explained the situation. She was willing to take him there in her car. We got him admitted. We visited the puppy a couple of days later as we were asked to. We called from time time to inquire about his health. On 2nd January I received a message that the puppy was no more. I regretted I could not return him to his crying mother. 

We got back to taking care of the three puppies and their mother from the big park. We had some surprises here from some of our human folks! The dogs' coats were stolen. It was hard to imagine why anyone would steal dog coats! The mother and the three pups were bare again without their warm coats. We were disgusted. In a few days one of these three pups got her hind leg badly injured. The woman took great care of her. She was giving the puppy antibiotics from time to time. She used to get her dressing changed, got her vaccinations for pain and swelling. I am still awestruck reviewing what this selfless lady does for these helpless beings. I have learnt many lessons in the past few days in course of my brief ventures with dogs.



There is a saying in Hogwarts, the school of witchcraft and wizardry, by J.K. Rowling — 'Help will always be given at Hogwarts to those who ask for it'.  And there is this book by the Portugese author Mr. Paulo Coelho called The Valkyries that talks about angels and their existence. I combined these two thoughts and figured out that angels do exist, in every possible form as per the circumstances, be it in a rainbow or a human being you have never even met before; and help does come to those who seek it for the just and humane purpose. We just need to keep doing our bit without giving up. Take initiative, and at least, begin! Who knows what surprises await you in the journey and what networks you may build. Networks of humanity.

P.S. I am looking for a loving family to adopt these protagonist puppies of my story. Please share their pictures if you have friends looking to adopt a pet for life. 

Also check out http://www.youthkiawaaz.com/ for more real and empowering stories!

1 comment:

Unknown said...

My mom and me always ready help for dogs and other animals. My mother is kind person, she is soft hearted. I work in 24 hour Des Moines Towing company. It is available in USA. I really like dogs.

Who Am I

My photo
A graduate in Journalism and a postgraduate in Political Science from Delhi University.

Select Readers!

You Ought To Check These Out!