The Street’s Friend
by – Rimni Chakravarty (introduction at the end of the essay) Issue.XXX, Vol.III, July 2017
I meet him always on the road while slogging out for my daily morning routine. All in smiles.
He along with his friends greets me to boost my morale to continue for half an hour with my brisk walk. At times he comes forward and expects me to give him a pat on his back, at times he starts to join me to enter into a competition as to who walks faster. I don’t know what his source of energy is! He yells and moans and even barks to make our programme a fun. He energises me to remain positive in my weight loss programme or else I would have been bored up with the same routine again and again.
I don’t know his name but he has taken up voluntarily with the duties and responsibilities of a night guard of every home in our area. His white complexion and ever smiling looks make him stand out of the crowd. A mixed breed of stray and Labrador he without a shelter in any home is doing fine on the streets his own home, where the vast blue dome is his roof top. These days the flat culture has changed our lives .We become skeptic of providing shelter to domestic animals who can keep us mentally and physically fit with their love I dare not bring him home coz I know will have to bear the brunt of the others who will object to bringing a stray dog in the compound which may injure the sanitation and the sanctity of the compound. No wonder in the 19th century the great lake poet William Word worth had composed the lines:
“The world is too much with us…
We have no time to stand and stare at Nature that is ours
We have given away our hearts: a sordid boon!”
The word heart reminds me of the heart disease so common these days. In every half an hour, people all over the globe are struck up with an attack to land up in nursing homes, hospitals and pay a heavy bill before the discharge. The heart is also connected with our mind and the more shallow our mind the more agony. Pain, frustration. Depression and finally the heart stops to function in a normal mode.
Always in our hurry toward a busy day schedule we hardly notice how our neighbor is doing in neither health nor have time to let the old with stick in their hand pass the road safely nor we make them reach the other side of the road by offering our hand a token of a gesture towards the senior citizen. We can sympathise as I am doing now by this write-up.
Stray dogs, however, have time and generosity to protect the weak who need shelter .or else we would not have come across with incidents when a stray dog in search of her food protected an abandoned new born baby to find a home. A stray dog would not have then fed a kitten with her milk when that kitten lost her mother in a road accident. The stray dog never keeps up any old grudge as are always the same courteous with their offenders who love them but may have chided them at times. I may scold the white complexioned dog in my neighbour but he will always greet me in the same manner. In fact, with a playful mood, he will advance toward me to stroke him and pat him to shower my affection. Full of life he enjoys the sunrise and the fragrance of flowers, the twittering of the birds or the passing of the cat in the neighborhood to chase them and have fun.
The dogs enjoy their journey of life satisfied with what they are and have. They make their life more fun-loving as they chase a rider on the scooter to slow down their speed at the same teach a lesson to drive slow. The stray white dog compels me to write his story and hope if some animal lover find it worthy to reach this story to the readers I may not share it with the white naughty fellow but treat him with Marie biscuit his favorite food and pat him with a loving stroke at his back.
Introduction to the Author:
Miss Rimni Chakrav arty, Asst.Professor in English, Siliguri Institute of Technology, post graduated in English Literature from the University of North Bengal. Darjeeling interested in art, literature, travelling and photography.