Remember the night when we Calcuttans were being threatened (more by the news channels than by the weather) that a super-cyclone could be hitting us at a super-cyclonic speed at any time in the evening? It was the 15th of November 2007. Well, I had had a rough day… a fun one, but rather tiring! I had been to college, had attended one class and then sneaked out to Esplanade where I was just in time to catch a movie at New Empire! After all, it’s the film festival! So, I was really looking forward to a good night’s sleep at the end of the day… and the chill in the air around me was working better than a lullaby, as far as I’m concerned! But then, my mom decided to disrupt my pleasant hour and woke me up from my half-asleep state.
Actually, she had been hearing the cries of a small puppy who was somewhere down the road and was unable to reach his/her mother! The reason why he was unable to reach his mom baffled me and my mom alike and she was all for going out in that drenching weather, while the mercury kept dipping like a bungee-jumper. I, of course, tried to dissuade her… saying that since we weren’t being able to see the pup, the cries must be coming from somewhere far since this was more than a silent night! I said that we won’t be able to find the pup in this damned weather… but… my mom literally dragged me down with an umbrella on top of my head in that numbing chill…
And quite surprisingly (or was it?) we found the pup tied to a tree, desperately trying to break free since the tree cover was too inadequate to protect him from the steady drizzle and the chill! Surprisingly again, the other dogs were cozily rested in a portico kind of thing which the rickshaw-pullers have turned (quite recently) into a small temple of sorts. Actually, the initial decision of whoever might’ve tied that poor pup to that tree was pretty good, considering several poor pups have been run over by passing cars in the last year or so. And the rickshaw-pullers and the animal-lovers of the area had decided to keep the pup tied to the tree so that he won’t be in danger of being crushed by some blind wheels. (Of course, I came to know the details only after that night) Well, but the decision to keep the pup tied to the tree that night was too stupid since the pup would’ve died for sure had he been forced to stay there the whole night!
My mom released him, wiped up his fur while he kept shivering, and took him to the portico-temple where the poor lad went to his mommy and rested underneath her warm body. My mom tied him to a corner of the portico where he wouldn’t be able to come in any danger from the passing cars! As we stood there savoring the sweet scene of re-union (All this time, I was keeping an eye on two big dogs who were barking at us for meddling in their ‘doggy’ business!), the pup began feeding on his mommy’s milk, hungry as he was!
Well, cold as I was after returning from the midnight escapade, I also felt a certain amount of pleasure (for being a part of the adventure), and a huge amount of pride for my mom! If my mom had listened to me and had scrapped the plan of rescuing the poor pup, he would’ve died for sure by the next morning! And then, I guess… I would’ve been the one who should have been blamed… and I’m quite sure that the first one to blame me would’ve been a certain Jagannath Chakravarti.
Helping others, whether that’s a poor dog or a fellow human, comes easily to some people, and I daresay my mom happens to be one of them! But I dunno about myself… I don’t appear, to myself, as a sort of person who would give it all to help someone needy… I mean, I don’t offer my bus seat to frail old men… I generally don’t spare changes for beggars… and I don’t even come forward to rescue pups in stormy weather… I don’t do a lot of things that I should do… I appreciate those immensely who comes forward to do good stuff but I never try them myself… and I don’t know why…
So, the next day, as I boarded a bus to go to college, I did something that I’ve thought of doing before but I don’t think I have ever done… the old gentleman was indeed finding the inertia too much to bear, and although he wasn’t complaining and the others were least bothered (except another old fellow who was sitting near me and was advising the man to take an empty ladies’ seat, which the man wasn’t ready to do). So I decided to stand up and offer the seat to the man, which he accepted after a couple of ‘It’s okay’, ‘I can’t do that’, ‘You don’t have to do this’… next thing I know, I was standing… but somehow, I was more comfortable than I was while I was sitting down and watching the man groove to the mad beats of a crazy DJ.
Signing off,
Jagannath (Jesse)
P.S. The moment I stood up and offered the seat to the old gentleman, the second old gentleman asked me to take the vacant ladies’ seat too, which I refused politely. He went on about how women can sit on general seats and about the prejudices blah blah blah. Well, I have a take on this subject, too… but I guess that’s another story, isn’t it?
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